American Primeval / me v. Mormons

An early contender for 2025's top TV series, American Primeval immerses viewers in the horrors of the US Wild West. The age-old antagonists, pioneers and natives, are joined by a lesser-known adversary: murderous Mormons. 

 Our love affair with the Wild West

In 1950s and 1960s Edinburgh, Saturday matinees at the cinema or on TV were staple entertainment. For the post-war generation, heading to their local 'picture hoose' was a regular outing (the first half of the 20th century saw well over 100 cinemas opening in the capital.) Westerns were always popular.

Viewers were transported to the 19th century US frontier, a lawless but exciting realm inhabited by square-jawed sheriffs, ruthless outlaws, femme fatales with dinky six-shooters tucked into their garters, and the omnipresent threat of whooping 'savages' on the warpath, primed with 'fire water.' Audiences lapped up this heavily romanticized version of events in feature-length films or ongoing series, such as Bonanza or The Long Ranger.

During my own childhood, I would've been playing with my High Chaparral Airfix set, brandishing plastic revolvers, or barricading cowboys or Federal troops inside the amazing toy fort my father made for me one Christmas, ready to repel bloodthirsty Comanches, Confederates, or Afrika Korps with their Dalek allies. (Years before laptops or social media, our fertile imaginations conjured vivid scenarios!)

Myth and reality

There was always a dichotomy between myth and reality; Westerns as entertainment, and the same stories being told with a healthy dose of authenticity. My mum was always a sucker for the former. In later life, she spent many a Saturday afternoon engrossed in re-runs of the Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper, or Audie Murphy movies which might have captivated her during matinees at the George in Portobello, the Carlton in Piershill, or the Regent at Abbeyhill. Her taste in Westerns was a litmus test of the evolution of the genre. Those twee matinee stereotypes, the good guys invariably wearing white and the baddies black, eventually made way for rooting for more ambiguous characters. Clint Eastwood's broodingly silent assassin in Sergio Leone's 'spaghetti Westerns.' Paul Newman and Robert Redford's roguish homage to the Hole in the Wall Gang in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

As well as straightforward gunslinging dramas, Westerns became increasingly politicized. 1970's Soldier Blue, directed by Ralph Nelson, labelled 'the most savage film in history' on posters, depicted the real-life 1864 Sandy Creek massacre, when US cavalry slaughtered hundreds of Arapaho and Cheyenne villagers, two-thirds of whom were women and children. Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid (1972) portrayed 'the savagery of the American west from both sides,' this time centring on an Apache raid on settlers and its aftermath, nihilistic US troops pursuing ruthless natives. Both were seen as allegories to American participation in the Vietnam War. The tone was set for subsequent films, examining the frontier experience objectively. Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves (1990), featuring Lakota and Pawnee dialogue, won seven Academy Awards, and scooped over $400 million at the box office. 

Brutalized frontiersmen 

As well as indigenous tribes being given their own voice, the cosy filmsets of Hollywood's golden-era gave way to increasingly gritty settings. With recent examples, the storytelling has become even more graphic and intense. The Revenant (2015), directed by Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, based on the story of 19th century fur trapper, Philip Glass, presented an unflinching view of the North American frontier. Critics complained about the visceral violence - see my blog on that subject The Revenant, jaw dropping -  but filmmakers exposing dark truths should never feel tempted to sanitize history.

Which brings me to American Primeval. This 2025 TV mini-series, directed by Peter Berg, is set against the Utah War of 1857 - sidelined in history by the infinitely bloodier American Civil War four years later. Like Soldier Blue, the storyline's springboard is a real-life massacre, when 120 pioneers heading westwards were slaughtered by Mormon militia. The latter's Paiutes allies take scalps, while the armed Mormons ensure there will be no witnesses to testify about their part in this.

Berg's refusal to water down the violence of 19th century land-grabbing by supposedly Christian settlers is only one aspect of the evocative screenplay. Fort Bridger, a vital supply point for the California and Oregon-bound waggon trains, as well as the Mormon pioneers, is a ramshackle set of buildings constructed by non-carpenters. You can almost smell the funk of people wearing hides crudely hacked from livestock. The panoramic vistas, ranging from endless prairies to snow-blasted mountains give a vivid impression of the American hinterland's raw beauty.

But the central protagonists are what make American Primeval a worthy addition to the Western genre. In lawless times, where merely being a young female brought risks, the women are strong characters. Sara (Betty Gilpin) is a fugitive, but first-and-foremost a mother who'll stop at nothing to protect her disabled son, Devin. Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) is a Mormon settler initially devoted to her brethren. Through her eyes, we see the gradual realisation of what the relentless quest for territory and resources has done to the displaced Shoshone locals. There are also powerful performances by Taylor Kitsch, as Isaac, a taciturn mountain man brought up by the Shoshone to survive in the wilderness, and Derek Finkey as Red Feather, a Shoshone ever quick to daub warpaint, given the degree of ruin the 'white man' has brought to an ancient civilization.

If you prefer Westerns which endeavour to present an unsentimental view of the ugly transfer of power from the indigenous tribes to the better-armed and numerically superior settlers, this will have you hooked.

Me v The Mormons

A footnote. Back in 1990, one obvious symptom of a bipolar meltdown that resulted in my hospitalisation was the loss of my natural inhibitions. One time, I was approached by two besuited gentlemen in Princes Street. After catching my eye, they introduced themselves in Midwestern American burrs, informing me they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Sparking my curiosity, they asked if I'd be interested in watching one of their promotional videos. This chimed with the all the other manic ideas pinballing around my mind, so I duly gave them my address. This encounter had all but slipped my mind, when the doorbell went one afternoon (I was still living with my parents at the time). I answered, and there were the two Mormons, beaming ear to ear, brandishing the VHS tape they said was about to alter my outlook on life.

Inviting them in, I escorted them into the living room, where they declined my offer of coffees. Apparently their scriptures advise Mormons to avoid hot drinks (coffee or any tea other than herbal tea, and absolutely no alcohol of any kind). Their 'list of do's and don'ts have obviously come a long way since the days when the massacring of waggon trains was permissible.

The Mormon 'list of do's and don'ts have obviously come a long way since the days when waggon train massacres were permissible.

The generic footage was accompanied by dreamy muzak, and commenced with a potted history of the LDS (again, redacting any mention of Brigham Young, played by Kim Coates in American Primeval, the second LDS president and first governor of Utah Territory.) In the TV series, he calmly orders his lieutenants to hunt down Abish before she can identify his militia as the perpetrators.

In a 1990s remake of that Biblical scene where Jesus storms into a temple to confront moneylenders and traders, the door crashed open. My dad gave the affable visitors and the TV images a cursory glance, then stepped over to the video player and pressed 'eject.' Demanding they leave, Dad escorted them to the door, informing them his son was 'unwell' and needed to be medicated, not spiritually brainwashed.

​Compared to those California dreaming Utah pioneers, I got off lightly!