From the Sweetwater County Historical Museum
With people spending more time at home, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum announced a new Internet outreach feature Thursday.
Museum director Brie Blasi said “History Screenshots,” short videos posted on the Museum’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, reviews feature films, television shows, and documentaries about history or that have historical themes and provides information on where to watch them.
Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Yidio, Tubi, Vudu, Amazon, and Crackle are readily available online. Some are pay services, while others are free. Several offer a selection of free films, but require payment for others.
Another streaming service, called Hoopla, is available through the Sweetwater County Library system website with a valid library card, and its movies are all free.
All seven episodes of Ken Burns’ America, for instance, are available on Amazon Prime. Martin Scorcese’s controversial film about the death of Jimmy Hoffa, The Irishman, is on Netflix. The Jeff Bridges version of True Grit is running on Hulu, and Glory, the Civil War story of the African-American 54th Massachusetts infantry regiment, is available free on Crackle.
“History Screenshots” first feature highlights 1975’s “Bite the Bullet,” starring Gene Hackman, James Coburn, and Candice Bergen. Set in the west of 1906, it’s the story of a grueling 700-mile endurance horse race. Hackman and Coburn play two former Spanish-American Rough Riders, friends who are now competitors with the race’s big cash prize at stake.
Solidly cast, fast-paced, and well written, Bite the Bullet is an excellent film with great cinematography evocative of an era of western history that is often overlooked. According to a SCHM media release, you can watch it for free on Tubi or on Hoopla, if you have a Sweetwater County library card.
Though no state is identified in the film, the story is based on a real event. The Great Endurance Race of 1908, sponsored by the Denver Post, ran from Evanston past Green River, Rock Springs, and Point of Rocks to Cheyenne, then south to the finish line in Denver, a distance of over 500 miles. At the finish line in Denver after six arduous days, the result was declared a dead heat; Charlie Workman of Cody on his horse Teddy and “Dode” Wykert, a Colorado man aboard a roan named Sam, were judged the joint first place winners.
To view the Museum’s website, go to http://www.sweetwatermuseum.org.
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