Poll: Did you side with the Hatfields or the McCoys?

I did not stand with either of them, actually.
The main problem of this mini-series are, in fact, the unlikeable characters.
Neither family had people I loved; they were mostly loathsome individuals.
I did not cheer when a family killed members of the other.
Of course, there were a few characters which I was glad died, such as Uncle Jim and Frank. But it was very sad to see the innocent kids of either family being killed off for a battle between their fathers. I just couldn't cheer on that.

Overall, there were only 3-4 characters I kind of liked: Hanse' brother, Roseanna, at the beginning Johnse, and maybe Hanse himself.
Hanse' brother was a very good man, and was killed by Randall's stupid kids for no reason, so yeah, they deserved to be killed, although their execution scene was hard to digest (if you try to symphatize with the McCoys).
Roseanna was a pitiful and tragic character who lived some miserable years before dying, got betrayed by her family, lover and cousin, and even lost her baby... of course, you can't help but feeling sorry for her. She was a sweet, innocent girl who did not deserve any of that pain.
As for Johnse, I only liked him in the first episode. When he left Roseanna and cheated on her with that slut Nancy, I stopped finding him likeable. He wasn't "bad" but his actions were shallow and kind of reckless. I did appreciate his continuous efforts in trying to be together with Roseanna even though she refused him every time.
Hanse, I liked mostly for being played by Kevin Costner, haha. At least he wasn't a God-freak like Randall McCoy. Still a bastard though.

I hated how Roseanna's family refused her for being in love with a Hatfield.
Randall McCoy was mentally unstable and too Christian/obsessed, he treated Roseanna like *beep* also, I wanted to kill his wife - what a hateful cold hag!
Hanse and his kids were more badass than the McCoys.
So overall the Hatfields sucked slightly less. Except not really.
Hanse considered killing his own son, and the whole family just let Cotton Top be hanged to save their asses. Hanse let his beloved brother's son be killed without care. Wow. Your bro would be happy to know how much you protected his son. The definition of a despicable act.
So yeah, back to my first line - I did not stand with either family.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)

It's hard for me to be objective because I read the book before watching the mini-series. The show portrayed the Hatfields more sympathetically than they really were. Looking at the facts as they unfolded, the Hatfields were lawless and sadistic.

To start, Anse was a deserter who threatened to shoot his friend in order to escape. His son impregnated and basically abandoned McCoy's daughter. They surrounded the McCoy house and killed an innocent girl as she tried to flee. In real life, Alifair was disabled. She left the house to try to get water because they had been trapped in there for days. And they shot her.

There was also an incident where some Hatfields broke into the house of an elderly McCoy relative and beat her with some kind of animal limb. True story.

None of them were perfect, but look at the statistics. The McCoy boys kill one Hatfield in a fight and how many of them ar slaughtered with virtually no trial? Three?

They tried to make Anse look noble and sane and reasonable and McCoy slightly crazed. But that was not the truth.

I feel sorry for the McCoys, they suffered a little more.-
Any thougths

[deleted]

Hard one.

I kind of sided with the Hatfields because while both sides contributed to escalating the conflict, Devil Anse always seemed to be trying to negociate peace, while Randall McCoy seemed to still be holding a grudge for having been a war prisoner after/while Devil Anse had deserted.

I understand losing all kind of respect for someone after he deserted, but it seemed as if the McCoys were simply jealous of the well-off Hatfields and used every opportunity to get at them. Then again, it all started with a McCoy being killed by a Hatfield...

This is why they say war doesn't tell who was right or wrong, it only tells who survived. In the end, both sides had motive for acting the way they did, based on their own perspective.

Still, Randall McCoy seemed to overreact a lot, like banishing his "favorite" daughter after she spent a single night under the Hatfield roof, so I'll go with the Hatfields.

Id say both sides had their bad guys and good guys. Based upon the movie, I would side with the Hatfields.


A lot of things could have achieved peace. Had Anse given the three boys back to McCoy and told him "I trust you will do what is right...on the life of my brother whose life they took"...would rely upon McCoy's honor. He would hate the duty but would turn his boys in and respect that mercy had been shown...especially given the nature of the murder they committed.

I felt like it was a closer call when McCoy didn't want Carrot-top killed. He said something to the effect of "Let him go. Hes the only one who didn't do anything..let him go". He basically had the mind of a child and McCoy knew it. It did settle a lot of the bad blood.


"You're in China. Get out, go see the sights, climb the great wall, stand in front of a tank."

They both suck, but I'm going with Hatfields. Anse tried to mend the bridge initially, but Randall wasn't having it. He "started it" by trying to swindle Anse out of his land, and then perpetuated it by being an a** about Johnse's romance with Rosie. The attack on the McCoy home was awful, but the girl's death was (as portrayed by the film) accidental. The McCoys prompted it by kidnapping people from church, which is pretty despicable.

They are both awful in many different ways.



What I've got in my head you can't buy, steal, or borrow. I believe in live and let live.