Legends of the West.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Perhaps a serious consideration of the demythologizing of the Old West is overdue, but this video is not it. Narrated by actors Jack Palance and Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman (of "Dances with Wolves"), it purports to tell the "real" story behind Billy the Kid, the gunfight at the OK Corral, and Custer's Last Stand. Oddly, the method chosen is to patch together clips from various movies on the subjects, then run this paste-pot job as if it were a documentary.

What viewers wind up with is watching bits and pieces of performances by such widely varying actors as Roy Rogers, Johnny Mack Brown, Paul Newman, and Val Kilmer portraying Billy as, respectively, a singing hero, Western Robin Hood, misunderstood youth, and vicious psychopath, while Palance valiantly tries to fit the narrative to this loony cinematic collage. The OK Corral segment brings Henry Fonda, Randolph Scott, Burt Lancaster, and James Stewart's performances as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas and Victor Mature's as Doc Holliday - all being properly heroic on screen as Palance tries to debunk the gunfight as a cowardly, back-shooting debacle.

The Little Big Horn comes off no better, despite the respectful recitation of Indian traditions by...