Deadwood
Decca -- Monday, April 05, 2004 -- 09:36:40 AMThe show that does for the Wild West what The Sopranos did for the mob.
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I'm surprised by how much I'm in to this show, but how historically accurate is it? All I know about western history is what I gleaned from Little House books, so I know the town must have been dismantled by the army at some point.
I watched part of the first episode, but it didn't appeal to me the way the Soprano's does. The cursing seemed really gratuitous, like they wrote dialogue that actually advance the story line, then added a fuck or cocksucker after every fourth word. We're recording it on TiVo, and will probably watch more eventually, so hopefully the story can overcome the pointless language.
I'm enjoying it but not as much as the other HBO dramas. In fact, doesn't the opening music here sound exactly like the "Carnivale" theme?
Oh, Wild Bill's litany of the c-word last night was almost painful to listen to.
Questions: Alma is taking some kind of opium tincture, I presume? Trixie was cutting callouses off of Al's feet?
What strikes me as odd here are the prices. $20,000 for a claim? That seems like more money than Pa Ingalls would have made in five lifetimes. Some kind of hardware/equipment in Bullock/Star store selling for $20? Seems mighty steep to me.
Alma's taking laudanum, the "medical" form of opium.
I believe the hardware prices -- all that stuff has to be brought in by wagon. I can't begin to think where the nearest train line would be at that point in history.
I also want to know what happens during the winter - does everyone pack up and go back east?
The swearing isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The commercials had way too much swearing, but show turned out to have a regular amount of swearing, to me.
My favorite line from last night:
Al, to new Saloon chick: "Pardon my french."
New Saloon chick: "oh, I speak french."
I'm going to have to use that some time.
"Oh, I speak French" was a good line.
One of two good bits in Episode 1: "Half price pussy for the rest of the night!" "Yay!" This may not be exact, but it gets quoted alot in my household.
The other good bit from Episode 1: Annoying poker guy to Wild Bill Hickok: "You must think I'm stupid." WBH: "No, but I haven't known you very long."
I have to wonder how accurate the cursing is. I'm sure they were foul mouthed so-and-so's, but since Laura Ingalls thought "golly" was wicked, I suspect the line for what is really foul-mouthed was in a different place than now. (Laura Ingalls Wilder is also my guide for 19th century American western culture). But I suppose you could make an argument for matching the tone and intent, rather than the actual words.
I like the show, but I'm not hooked.
Entertainment Weekly reports that the swearing is legit. As we all know, EW is reliable and accurate.
The other thing I want to know is how ownership of a claim gets established in the first place, if the land belongs to the Sioux and there's no US government. What exactly did the fancy rich dead guy purchase?
I like the show and am still absorbing it, and need to finish watching last night's episode.
Characters and acting are all great and I want to see how the storylines develop.
The swearing is evidently not matched to the time (heard that in a review on the radio). I bet the next season will have less swearing because the part about it that is not cool that they are not swearing correctly for the period. I would love to find out the accuracy of the period depiction.
(Edit: x-post, I don't remember the name of the reviewer who said the swearing didn't fit - but if EW says its so...)
Deadwood Chamber fields complaints over HBO show
About the price of goods: I bet there was wild inflation there. People were making money and then spending it right away.
Thank you! I've been trying to remember "laudanum" for three weeks, now.
I wish I could remember the source. But I remember hearing or reading something right before Deadwood premiered that corroborates EW and says the swearing is absolutely correct for the period. (I had an American History prof in college who read a passage from something written during the American Revolution, in which the work "fuck" was used in the context we understand it.)
I'll buy that people swore a lot back in those days, but Swearingen called someone a fucknut in the last episode. Has that term been around that long? Seems like a more recent word to me.
I found this article that included some stuff about the profanity. It requires registration, but that's why I keep throwaway email accounts.
Some relevant quotes:
...
....
Check this out - the show is more historically based than I thought.
Deadwood's official history site
Biographies of famous residents
The Oxford English Dictionary is sadly silent on the subject of "fucknut", which makes me suspect it is new, but if I'm reading the entry below correctly, cocksucker was in a dictionary as early as 1891.
I would think so; plus, slang and profane expressions might have taken longer to be noted.
I love the word "fellatrix". Maybe the saloon woman who "knows French" can use the term.
I was just looking at the links Decca put up. It'll be interesting to see if Calamity Jane does some of the same things she did in life on the show!
I wasn't either--it's too soon. I love this show. Just love it.
I guessed smallpox. Something makes me think it's going to make Al curse.
I was hoping it wouldn't be this soon, too. I was loving Keith Carradine's work.
In the real story of Deadwood, Seth Bullock arrived the day before Wild Bill was murdered; they probably never met.
Damn, I never thought of that!
I was wondering what he had.
Too bad they killed off Hickok. I was enjoying Carradine and his mustache. On the other hand, we don't have to listen to or look at that feller who shot him anymore.
Doc told her she has a gift when she helped with the little girl. Maybe he'll enlist her aid.
Well, there's that. I figured right away he'd be the one to shoot him because he was so damn annoying, but apparently next week the episode centers around his trial. It's interesting that the show has chosen the shooting of Wild Bill as the catalyst for getting some law and order - I think in real life it was theft, but I'd have to go back and check those website to know for sure.
Oh, rats, so he'll be there to annoy for at least another week.
I had given the Hickok page at the website a look, but I've trained myself to semi-forget things I read about movies and TV shows, so I was pretty startled when Bill was shot.
Don't Swearengen and Trixie have a speshul luv?
Man, I knew Wild Bill was going to die in this episode (read a spoiler elsewhere), but day-um! I liked the character, and I'm sharply disappointed he won't be around. I was hoping the show would take a little liberty with the facts and keep him around a while.
The actor who plays Jack McCall (the guy who shot Wild Bill) sorta reminds me of Peter Krause, the actor who plays Nate on Six Feet Under.
I don't like the way Calamity Jane is being played. No, I didn't expect Doris Day, but I hate the way the actress screws her mouth up. It looks weird, plus it makes her difficult to understand.
Swearengen is quickly turning into the man I love to hate. What a scuzz, but the show wouldn't be much without him.
I looked her up on imdb. She plays the Mormon woman from the diorama who comes to life to talk to Harper in Angels in America. I think that's just the way her mouth is.
Her striped socks made me laugh. The more I look at her and the little girl, the more I think we're supposed to see a resemblance -- not that they're related, but that something terrible happened to both their families. I'm thinking Al took her in at one point in her life.
I thought she looked familiar!
I wish Jane would do something besides bluster, drink, and nurture that spooky little blonde girl. From the bio, though, it looks like "damaged and drunk" is a valid interpretation.
The actor who plays Jack McCall (the guy who shot Wild Bill) sorta reminds me of Peter Krause, the actor who plays Nate on Six Feet Under.
A. Juli, I thought the same thing.
I like this show. The acting is not what you would call "nuanced" though, is it? All the characters seem to have one thing that they do, like "Montana" glowers, Jane either mutters curses or twinkles at Wild Bill (and I love it when she gets all fluttery over him), Swearingen scowls and raises his eyebrows a lot. I think we'll probably be seeing more nuances as the season progresses, though.
That Swearingen (the name makes me laugh, considering his colorful vocabulary) is really something. "I need to fuck something." he growls, then bellows for Trixie.
We've been playing "Who's that Guy?" a lot with this show. So far we've figured out that the guy who played Sebastian in Blade Runner is the guy who runs the front desk at the Gym (what the hell kind of name is that for a whorehouse/hotel/bar?) and that the guy who played Jim Jones in the made-for-tv movie is the owner of the new "genteel" whorehouse across the street. And every time Jack McCall (Wild Bill-killer) showed up on screen, one of us would call out "I'm not Peter Krause!"
He looks familiar, and I think he might be from the X-Files, Race. Let me go look him up and see what I can find out.
Wait, do you mean This Here Varmint?, Race? Or are we thinking about two different people?