«1923», Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford at the service of the Corriere.it saga

«There is no doubt between what is more important, between the marriage and the livestock. It is always the cattle»: it is there law of the Westis the motto of Dutton houseis the lesson that is passed on from mother to daughter, is the brand of «

Yellowstone». After the success of «1883»the Dutton family saga created by Taylor Sheridan continues with «1923» (eight episodes on Paramount+). Compared to the first prequel, Sheridan sets the story in the 1920s, in Montana. The First World War has just ended, the advance of technology contrasts with the frontier myththe cities are populated, the saloons are full of prostitutes and prohibition, smallpox and drought afflict the countryside and generate violence. Patriarch Jacob Dutton ( Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren) are the owners of the Yellowstone ranch.

A sudden shortage of weed causes constant tension with sheep farmers and the precipitation of events will attract the attention of the rich and unscrupulous Donald Withfield. Meanwhile, young Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar), a veteran of the Great War, is looking for one new life In Africa. The topic of the discount between cattle farmers and sheep farmers is part of thewestern epic (The law of the strongest1958, with Glenn Ford), but here the narrative lines (storylines) are different, as if they were separate stories: the struggle for survival in Montana, the adventures in Africa, the parochial school where the nuns practice harassment towards young people native-american (a voice-over is needed to connect the various events). The acting of the two takes care of keeping everything together “sacred monsters”, Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford. Just their presence on the screen to make sense of this long sagawhere they don’t exist heroeswhere everyone thinks only of their own survival and that of his family.