DVD : Deadwood - The Complete First Season

Rating: - One of HBO's Best Shows
David Milch, the head writer of the now defunct ABC show "NYPD Blue" is the creator of "Deadwood" the HBO hit Western-show that recieved notice because of the cussing. And, yes there is a lot of it. The show is one of the most entertaining and well thought out modern westerns I've seen and truly, I don't even like westerns that much. The cast is absolutely spectacular, the characters are well drawn out, the sets are great. The fact that HBO hasn't renewed the actors contracts for a 4th season (yet, I hope) is a damned travesty. Anyway, the show introduces us to a whole array of characters;
Seth Bullock (Timothy Olymphant, "The Girl Next Door"), Sol Star (John Hawkes, "Me and You and Everyone We Know"), Al Swearengen (Ian McShane, "Sexy Beast"), Will Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine), Calamity Jane (I'm not sure of the actresses name, but she's great in the role), Doc Cochran (I think it's Brad Dourif, but I'm not positive), Cy Tolliver (Powers Boothe, "U-Turn"), Eddie (Ricky Jay, "Magnolia"), Trixie, Alma Garrett, and E.B. Farmum; among other names I may have left out. If you haven't watched the show, these names are meaningless...But, I'll give you a quick synopsis of the show (I feel it's best to watch each episode without a preconceived notion of what's going to happen) which I'll follow with some comments on each episode. Seth Bullock and his partner Sol Star move from Montana, where Seth was sheriff, to the Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood is a lawless town that features a whole array of misfits. One of them is a saloon owner named Al Swearengen, who controls almost everything in the town and is basically the villain of the series. Right about the time Bullock and Star arrive, Will Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane do as well. Across the street from Swearengen's saloon, another saloon run by the unstable Cy Tolliver opens up and it features something the citizens of Deadwood have not seen before...A craps table, which is managed by Eddie. Meanwhile, Alma Garrett's husband is pressured into selling his gold claim by Swearengen and Farnum and eventually is killed over the debacle. That's about as far as I'll go getting into the series. Here's the episodes and some thoughts:

1. Deadwood-Cool pilot episode. Interesting twist at the end and a pretty good cliffhanger.
2. Deep Water-The dialouge is better than the 1st episode and it's funnier.
3. Reconnoitering the Rim-The first episode on the second disc is a big improvement on the other two episodes. The dialogue here is very well written and witty...Quick question though. Did people in the Old West really say the word "f**knut"?
4. Here Was a Man-Easily the best episode so far and features a well-known historical event involving Wild Bill Hickok.
5. The Trial of Jack McCall-Ian McShane gets better every episode. The title of the episode is decieving, because in the end you don't really care about the trial.
6. Plague-The dialogue, including that in the final scene, is some of the best...But, this episode is not my favorite of the bunch.
7. Bullock Returns to the Camp-My favorite episode so far. It's massively entertaining and has some of the best dialogue so far. Some new characters appear, which is nice.
8. Suffer the Little Children-One of the most intense scenes of the entire show haappens here...This is one of the best episodes and they just keep getting better.
9. No Other Sons or Daughters-This episode isn't bad, but it's one of the duller episodes...But, it's kind of funny at the same time.
10. Mister Wu-The Wu character is very funny, the first five minutes of the episode were hilarious. You also geet to see Ian McShane's character hit the peak of his evilness.
11. Jewel's Boot is Made for Walking-This episode was written by Ricky Jay and involves the handicapped chick Jewel, who works for Swearengen, trying to get a leg brace. Jay obviously knows the show pretty well and the end of the show is great.
12. Sold Under Sin-5/5-The final episode is great and I look forward to beginning the second season.

Hopefully, this review will inspire a couple people to check this show out. It's one of the best shows HBO has offered. Enjoy.
GRADE: A

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Rating: - Modern-day Shakespeare, with a lot of !@#$%$#@s thrown in!
We have a reputable Shakespeare company in Oregon, and my wife and I make annual pilgrimages to see their latest productions. I mention this autobiographical trivia because I couldn't put my finger on why DEADWOOD seemed so familiar to me. It was not because I've seen westerns before, because DEADWOOD is profoundly different from any western that's ever been made.

And then I realized it: This is the equivalent of modern-day Shakespeare.

Lest the good reader think I am overreaching, let's review DEADWOOD's merits: Layered storylines, exemplary casting and acting, pathos and comedy, gritty realism... but most importantly, the language, my God, the LANGUAGE!

Much has been made of DEADWOOD's incredibly salty lingo, but I think discourses on the show's profanity unfairly overshadow the fact that the lines these characters deliver are pure gold. In Deadwood, conversations are masterful displays of timing and wit, and even lowly characters like Farnum get delicious speeches that plumb their souls, please our ears, and stir us if we are willing to listen. Just like the Bard wrote!

In short, this is genuinely brilliant material. All praise to writer/creator David Milch (and be sure to watch the DVD extras where he is interviewed.)

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Rating: - 4.5 Stars
I just finished watching the first season. What a terrific show! However, it is excessively profane. First, let me address the profanity and then I'll get to the terrific aspects. David Milch, the show's creative talent, seems to forget that Deadwood is not Hell's Kitchen, NYC, in the 2000s. No doubt, towns like Deadwood were filled with profane people. Nevertheless, I have a PhD in early American history, and I can say with confidence that Westerners--even the worst killers such as those who populate this show--did not talk this way. There's a big difference between the profanity of the 1870s and today. "MFer" was simply not in common usage back then. The use of MFer and C-sucker is an affectation of the show's writers, nothing more. The show's intention regarding the language obviously is not historical accuracy, but to make these guys and gals seem tough. The show certainly makes its point. But as much could have been accomplished without using pervasive four and 12-letter words. After all, does anyone remember Eastwood swearing that much in his Westerns? Sure, it's HBO, and Deadwood should revel in its artistic freedom. But it gets carried away with its vulgarity. It was only until around WWII and after that such 12-letter words were used commonly. I mean, who even today uses C-sucker this much? The F-word certainly existed in the 1870s, but the more profane types were more prone to use G-damn and SOB. But rather than dispute the historical accuracy of the show's language, in using too much profanity, Milch makes a worse artistic mistake than a historical one. The swearing distracts us more than it underscores the drama and character development. Ian McShane's constant profanity is sometimes very funny and effective. At other times, it's unnecessary and distracting. I couldn't imagine anyone, no matter how tough or influential back then, telling an important politician to F-himself to his face. Even the most notorious criminals had more sense and diplomacy than that. And many of the characters talk the same way. Occasionally, we feel more like we're watching a David Mamet or Scorsese film than a Western--all the bad guys talk like a Bronx wiseguy. The show's excessive foul language aside, let me say that the merits far outwieght the in-your-face dialogue. For the most part, the historical details of the show are excellent. The sets, costumes, and props were carefully researched and are truly convincing. And many of the characters on Deadwood were real people, who really looked like they do on the show. It's nice to see people walking through muddy streets, just as they did in the 1800s. We see the West, warts and all. The show's greatest success, however, is in the energy, pacing, and performances. The ensemble cast is superb, made up of unknowns as well as familiar character actors. They all seem incapable of giving a bad performance. Much praise, and well deserved at that, has been given to the show's main characters of Al Swearingen, Seth Bullock, Cy Tolliver, and Wild Bill Hickock. However, my favorite character, and perhaps the most decent man to be found in Deadwood is the doctor, played by Brad Dourif (Exorcist III, Mississippi Burning). Also great is William Sanderson ("Larry" from the Newhart show), who, as the hotel proprietor (and later, mayor) E. B. Farnum, is as slimy and calculating as they come. But he, as with McShane's Swearingen, gets laughs even when doing the most reprehensible things. But Farnum, not to mention Powers Boothe's Tolliver, seems more evil than Swearingen because his wickedness is behind-the-scenes. As amoral as Swearingen is, he doesn't hide much, and he is capable at times of compassion and understanding. Unlike so many previous Westerns, which focus on loners (the Eastwood and John Wayne pictures), gunslingers (The Magnificent Seven), outlaw bands (The Wild Bunch) or do-gooders (Bonanza), Deadwood involves a whole community in the action. Thus, we get the excitement of a Spaghetti Western as well as the complexity of a western show like Little House on the Prairie. Deadwood is not about gunfights or cowboys versus Indians, and those fights that are featured are free of cliches. Here, the struggle to survive often blurs lines of good versus evil. Deadwood is more about how people act in a society where rules and morality are fluid. Deadwood is a place populated by brutal, selfish, and cruel people. There are some good souls, but none are without their flaws or free of suffering. Deadwood is about the birthpangs of American society. Even more so, it is about human nature and the struggle for people to bring civility to a wilderness. But at a more basic level, it is simply great drama. Deadwood contains some of the most memorable and moving (not to mention violent) characters and scenes I have ever seen in a TV show. We get a much richer sense of humanity than on any other TV Western. Unlike Bonanza, good does not necessarily triumph. If the motion picture industry has stopped making good Westerns, then let HBO make them. The first season of Deadwood is the best 12 hours of Western ever put on film.

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Rating: - Way too much swearing!
Don't get me wrong. I'm no saint but there is just too many swear words in the dialog. I find myself listening for the F words instead of paying attention to the story. I even counted the F words in one 30 minute stretch. (33) Sometimes there would be 2 F's in the same sentence. I don't think even the Irish swear that much!

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Rating: - The Best Show On Television
'Deadwood' replaces 'The Sopranos' as the best show on television and arguably one of the best dramatic series in the history of television.

Enough has been said about the rich and poetically vulgar dialogue that I don't need to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that Milch has scripted one of the most surprisingly original screenplays in a genre that may have been exploited to exhaustion. 'Deadwood' defies, spits in the face of, every western cliche', only to conclude brilliantly, with the consummate cliche' of the old west - the new sherrif in town. Sheer genius.

The acting is top-notch and an event unto itself. Most films or television series are lucky to have one or two dominant actors to carry the rest of the cast through. In 'Deadwood', in addition to the leads, which are cast perfectly in Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant, each supporting role is cast and performed brilliantly. From Keith Carradine as the legendary Wild Bill Hickok to, my personal favorite, Brad Dourif as Doc Cochran.

The characters and stories touch every nerve possible. The crude violence can make you flinch or even turn away, then the perfectly placed humor can make you laugh out loud (the appointment of E.B. Farnum as the ad-hoc "mayor" of Deadwood is one of the most hyterical moments I've ever witnessed on a screen). Al Swearingen, played unforgettably by McShane, is the richest, most complex bad guy since Tony Soprano.

This is a must see for anyone, particularly for the faithful of the western genre.