I missed the first installment of Texas Rising as I was out of town, but picked up the second part of the History Channel’s mini-series.  I must admit I was disappointed.

While I favor historical movies and westerns, this one left me perplexed because of its historical inaccuracies, which far exceed acceptable dramatic license in my view, and most especially because of its inaccurate settings.  I have been to most of the sites associated with Texas war for independence and they are nothing like the desert landscapes used in Texas Rising.

While other landscapes have often substituted for Texas in Hollywood’s vision of the Lone Star State, most notably with Monument Valley in John Ford’s classic The Searchers, generally the plot or the characters helped overcome the geographic inaccuracies.  Nothing I saw in the second installment allowed me to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy the so called re-telling of the Texas story, especially in an alien landscape.

In reviewing the mini-series for Texas Monthly, Stephen Harrigan said there’s so little genuine Texas history in the production that the History Channel, which seven years ago re-branded itself simply “History,” should consider another name change to just “Channel.”  Well said!

Texas Rising may be enthralling for those with little knowledge of Texas history, but it is most annoying for those of us with a little knowledge of the state’s heritage.