Deadwood
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Paula Malcolmson, Molly Parker, Gerald McRaney, Dayton Callie, Robin Weigert, John Hawkes, Kim Dickens, Anna Gunn, Brad Dourif, Franklyn Ajaye
Director: Daniel Minahan
A few disclaimers at the top: 1) This is billed as Deadwood: The Movie, but what it really is, is a 13-years-belated series finale for a show that never got one. This is not a film for neophytes. If you have not seen the three seasons of the show, you might be somewhat lost. 2) Given these circumstances, this review will contain spoilers for the three seasons of Deadwood that aired on HBO from 2004-2006. 3) There will be cursing. Said profanity is very much in the spirit of the show and therefore I feel fully justified (Timothy Olyphant pun!) using it. If said language offends you, then allow me to assure you that Deadwood is not the fuck for you.
HBO’s Deadwood debuted in 2004 amidst the network’s first wave of must-see programming alongside The Sopranos and Sex and the City. The TV Western has a long history with the likes of Gunsmoke and Bonanza running for long periods in the mid-20th century. Deadwood was not your daddy’s Western. Brutal R-rated violence alongside anachronistic profanity of the highest fucking order. (The denizens of the American frontier did indeed use strong language without shame but in the era it was more blasphemous than scatological and would probably sound a bit silly to our modern ears. Hence “motherfucker” and “cocksucker” fly with frequency before their adoption into the common vernacular of vulgarity.) But alongside the cursing was highly literate dialogue of a certain poetic quality. It ran for three seasons of high critical acclaim and was then somewhat unceremoniously cancelled. Talk of a concluding film persisted but with the cast heavily in demand and many cast in subsequent acclaimed programs (Justified, American Gods, Ray Donovan, Sons of Anarchy, Treme, and many many others) the logistics never really worked out. Until now.
It’s 1889, approximately ten years out from the finale of the series. Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) is once again a U.S. Marshall, having lost the sheriff’s election to Harry Manning (Brent Sexton). South Dakota is a state now and Deadwood is in celebration. Telephone lines are coming through and with them the return of former resident George Hearst (Gerald McRaney), now the junior senator from California. Given his role in the murder of beloved prospector Whitney Ellsworth (Jim Beaver in recycled footage from the show), Bullock is none too happy to see him again. Nor is brothel owner Al Swearingen (Ian McShane), older and suffering from the ill health effects of a lifetime of drinking. When another devastating murder occurs to advance Hearst’s interests, the camp becomes a powder keg.
Due to my moving into a dorm without HBO in 2006 I never saw the third season, but in the lead-up to this movie I decided to binge the whole thing. So, to me, this was just the epic conclusion of the binge-watch. Meaning I had about a day to process the loss of Ellsworth in the penultimate episode before yet another character gets killed. So that was not fun. With the recent end of Game of Thrones I am reminded of some of that show’s themes of power and morality; the idea that the clear moral choice and the smart one may not be the same. I am more-so reminded how much subtler Deadwood dealt with those themes. It is a crime that it never got to resolve properly. Sadly, Powers Boothe passed away a couple years ago so the story of Cy Toliver’s impotent rage as Hearst’s representative in town will never be resolved. (Tolliver’s historical inspiration, Tom Miller, had gone bankrupt by 1889 anyway.) Barring similar circumstances (or the shooting schedule of Bosch which kept Titus Welliver too busy to participate) all the familiar characters get their due. I could watch more but this is likely to be the final word on our favorite frontier town. In addition to several of the characters coming from the history books (and therefore having set destinies), series creator David Milch released some tragic news. He is battling Alzheimer’s and that is not a battle people really win. I mourn the loss of a gifted mind but celebrate his swan song.
A- for the movie
A+ for the whole thing