Pioneer Woman (1973) Reviews

• Salvaging the dream

  bkoganbing2015-09-22

  I've always thought of Joanna Pettet as one of the most beautiful and glamorous women of the big screen and small in the latter half of the last century. So it's a pleasant surprise that in Pioneer Woman Pettet ditches the glamor and becomes a hard working Pioneer Woman who salvages her husband's dream of going west. She faces some real problems as she and husband William Shatner sell all they have in Indiana move west on land Shatner bought from the railroad. Shatner does this unilaterally without consulting Pettet, in those days that is how it was done. First Shatner gets uprooted from his land by some brothers who've been working it for seven years now. Then he's killed homesteading new land in Wyoming territory. Pettet makes some critical choices for herself and kids Helen Hunt and Russell Baer. Hard work, a little luck and an understanding an hunky neighbor in rancher David Janssen make her believe that staying might be the best idea. Pioneer Woman is a sober assessment of what pioneer life was like on the American frontier. Even without Indian wars it was still a rugged existence especially for a woman. Pettet shows she has the right stuff. In fact this G rated film is actually quite the feminist manifesto. A great film for family and feminist audiences if you can believe that.

• a good insight into the tough life of how the west was won

  spj-42008-03-18

  I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. It presents well the vulnerability of the individual in settling the pioneering lands of vastness. Especially for a woman who has children to care for where survival is rough & tough & against the odds! I thought these insights were effectively described in the diaries of the woman attempting to farm the harsh lands amidst con-men, the well-meaning and hillsides of buffalo. But every time, it's a case of a struggle to make more steps forward, against the obstacles forcing the determined back, through natural and man-made catastrophes. Along the way, the vastness of the raw scenery is impressive in creating a sense of the difficulties of this "pioneer woman" and those around her. Well worth a look!

• Fresh and Genuine

  Uriah432012-10-08

  This film was much better than I originally expected. Set in the post-Civil War era, it depicts the plight of a small family in Indiana setting out west to start a farm. "John Sergeant" (played by William Shatner) gambles everything on some land in Nebraska in the hope for a brand new life. His wife, "Maggie Sergeant" (Joanna Pettet) is reluctant to leave but does the best she can to support her husband. Along the way out west, they encounter hardship and disappointment which this film displays in a very realistic manner. And while William Shatner gives a decent performance, it is Joanna Pettet who is the real star of this picture as her acting was first-rate. David Janssen (as "Robert Douglas") is also quite good playing the part of a free-range cowboy in a supporting role. The weaknesses in this movie are few, but if I had to list one it would probably be that the ending could have been drawn out a bit more. All things considered though, there are plenty of westerns which have a great deal more violence and action than this particular film. But if you're looking for a movie that is fresh and genuine then this is a fine candidate, especially for family viewing.

• Pioneer Woman

  paulbehrer221732009-01-05

  I saw this film on Encore Westerns at 7:10 a.m. yesterday morning, and its plot was: Maggie Sergeant (Joanna Pettet) is chronicling in her diary the hardships that she, her husband John (William Shatner) and their 2 children (Helen Hunt and Russell Baer) faced, starting with their move to Nebraska in March of 1867 (March 10, in fact) to settle on land that John had bought there, only to find on arriving there in late April that the area had been settled 7 years ago. In the argument between John and the people already settled there, Maggie suffers a miscarriage, which forces John to relinquish the property rights and ask Maggie if she wants to go to Wyoming and settle there instead. They arrive at a parcel of land next to a ranch owned by Robert Douglas (David Janssen), just outside the town of Big Pines, and settle there, planting wheat and vegetables. One day, John is returned to Maggie and the children by Mr. Douglas, who found him dead after he drowned in a flash flood while returning home from filing their settlement claim. Maggie takes on caring for her family, even banding together with her neighbors to save all that everyone owned from a prairie fire. While in town the following day, Maggie runs into Mr. Douglas, who asks her if she's heading back east with her kids. She says no, that that they're staying, and the story ends with her August 21, 1867 diary entry in which she says that she's sending for a teacher to establish a school for the children of the Pines Ridge community, and a minister to attend to the religious needs of all the families there, adding that she doesn't feel like an outsider anymore. I found this to be one of Ms. Pettet's best roles in her acting career since she was portraying a character determined to overcome the challenges presented to her. I even wept several times over the film's course. I'd really like to find this film on DVD, so I can view it again and again. Spoiler Alert: This wasn't Ms. Pettet's only appearance alongside David Janssen. She appeared in an episode of The Fugitive 7 years prior to this film, and in 3 episodes of Harry-O after this film aired on CBS.

• A series pilot in disguise

  Wizard-82003-10-23

  It's pretty clear that "Pioneer Woman" was actually a pilot for a proposed series. Probably it was for the best it wasn't picked up, because there aren't any signs that this would have been especially engaging or surprising. It does get some historical details more exact than a lot of other westerns - for example, it's correct in showing that covered wagons used oxen for the most part and not horses, and that settlers often built houses with sod instead of logs. As well, the first half of the movie gives plenty of entertainment thanks to William Shatner, because he gives one of his hammier performances.