Another classic 70's miniseries On arriving in New York as young catholic Irish teenage immigrant Joseph Armagh is left orphaned with his two younger siblings. Bitter but with an honorable sense of wanting to pay his way he is filled with ambition and convinced that money is all that really matters. He takes takes risk some illegal to realise his ambition and becomes wealthy and influentual but less human. Money and the power that comes with it make Joe a man that can manipulate political and world events. Along with other men like him he can make presidents. But ambition without compassion catches up eventually. Yes! We can see where Taylor Caldwell drew the storyline from but still a great miniseries.
Typical American TV-movie-making at its *best* I saw this teleplay when I was kid, back in 1976, and at the time I was enthralled. Watching it as an adult, however, was a somewhat disheartening experience.
The performances are all 'pretty good', no great acting here, but nice solid performances, I guess I'd say. Although for some reason I think Patty Duke won an Emmy. Her turn as Bernadette Armagh is somewhat affecting at times, but an Emmy? It's a rags-to-riches, family soap opera, with grim overtones about the plight of the Irish in America and secret international committees controlling the real power in the world to give it depth. (The teleplay in almost each instance suffers from melodrama-itis, where it differs from Ms. Caldwell's book. Especially, a very long death scene regarding a certain male character, which was definitely NOT in the book.)
The performances I like most are Perry King's and Jane Seymour's, but that's probably because I find their chemistry and star-crossed romance the most sympathetic (it's not like they are essentially better than anyone else in the cast). And the late Richard Jordan is good, particularly as an angry young man.
In sum, it's a fairly enjoyable production, but flawed by frequent melodramatic plot points and crashing theme music, and most assuredly not worth spending well over a hundred dollars to obtain the VHS tapes.
Disappointed Based upon the reviews at Amazon, my wife and I decided to watch this series. We were hopeful it would be as good as some of the Masterpiece Theatre and BBC stuff. After the first few minutes, I sensed that we might be in trouble. Thinking it might get better, and for my wife's interest, I perservered to the end of part one. When it was over, we both looked at each other and agreed, that was enough. The acting seemed stiff and wooden and unpleasant. Furthermore, the dialogue did not seem to help or be conducive to the acting either. Overall, it appeared to be too much of a contrived and glorified soap opera with no grittiness or heart, just slick, formulaic script. Good literature, or movies, makes you care about the characters. Here, all I cared about was getting it over.
An absolutely superb miniseries! I first saw this wonderful miniseries when it made its debut on NBC in the fall of 1976, and I recently bought and watched the video set of the series. After so many years, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the late Richard Jordan's portrayal of Joseph Armaugh. Armaugh, the penniless Irish immigrant boy at the start of the series(It begins in New York Harbor in 1857) ultimately became one of the nation's most wealthiest and powerful men, and ultimately paid a heavy personal price for his arrogance, and obsession with attempting to make his eldest son the first Irish Catholic President of the United States. As you watch the series, you can't but help note the similarities between Jordan's fictional Armaugh and the real-life Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Jordan should have received an Emmy for his fine portrayal of the hot-tempered and driven Irishman who wanted control over everything and everybody. Patty Duke was excellent as Joseph Armaugh's wife, who turned to the bottle to seek solace from a husband who did not love her, and eventually went insane when tragedy intervened and took a Son who died in the Spanish American war of 1898. Blair Brown did a wonderful job playing Joseph's mistress, whose failure to inform her son Courtney of the identity of his real father, resulted in tragedy for the Daughter of Joseph Armaugh. And the late great Henry Fonda had a brief role as an honorable and distinguished Senator who felt he had no choice but to take his own life after Armaugh's dispicable intention to blackmail the good Senator unless he dropped his support of a Labor reform bill (which would have cut into the profits of Armaugh, and his powerful cronies). Before the Senator died, he left Armaugh a message in which he cursed him and his family. And before the end of this series(It ends in the late Spring or Summer of 1912,) the curse robbed Joseph Armaugh of just about his entire family(and his only close friend) until he is seen alone sitting in his huge mansion, pondering the heavy price he had to pay. Other actors in the mini series include the late Vic Morrow (Sergeant Chip Saunders of the 1960s WW2 series Combat)as Senator Tom Hennessey, Armangh's detested enemy and ironically his Father-in-Law(whom he eventually destroyed!) and Robert Vaughn as Joseph Armaugh's business colleague, Charles Desmond. Desmond was one of the individuals who helped Armaugh to attain even more power by sponsoring his participation in a group of powerful and wealthy men who ruthlessly use their power to control events to gain even more wealth and power, regardless of the cost. And you'll discover as I did when I originally watched the series that anyone who opposes these men will pay a heavy and bloody price. A superbly acted, and fast-pace look at one man's attainment of wealth and power, and the tragic price ultimately paid. I strongly suggest that anyone who is even remotely interested in mid 19th to early 20th Century America buy this series based on Taylor Caldwell's novel as it effectively weaves fictional characters like Armaugh, and the others into the tapestry of American life from 1857-1912. A superb job all-around! Enjoy
forgotten classic This mini-series is a great powerful story, with a fantastic cast which as far as I am concered, ranks up their with Rich Man, poor man , Roots and the Thorn Birds. They just don't make them like this anymore.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
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