"...a story that was cruelly interrupted after three seasons."
You nailed the Shakespearean bit, but are so wrong w this. Deadwood was sublime seasons one and two; the wheels came off and came off immediately w season three.
By the by -- always get a kick how historical films try to recreate that historical time by filming in the historical place -- but that place is hundreds of years older; walls in Delft in the 1600s (Girl w the Pear Earring) looked newer than they did 400 years later. My favorite is Appaloosa (2008), wherein Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris frame a house -- using wood they purchased at Home Depot.
Deadwood had no such problem -- the town would be constructed of new wood. (Not from Home Depot.)
1
Brilliant show. Stunningly graphic. Amazing language.
Who can forget how Al Swearengen's infection got treated?
I don't think GOT ever went that far.
1
David Milch's eloquent language, grounded by profanity, will remain the highlight of this movie production for me. It speaks as our higher angels still struggling with our here and now realities.
Such realities extend beyond language to reflect the times and frustrations felt today in our ubertrumpian world. Gerald McRaney's Hearst, self-serving man-child businessman turned senator, stops at nothing, including the apparent murder of good philosopher Charlie Utter, who would stand in his way. Seemingly above the law, who could not share in getting in a few kicks at Hearst, if even briefly, before a conflicted sheriff Bullock does the right thing and applies the law, if again even briefly.
Deadwood the movie gives us a breath in which to release our pent-up frustrations about it's unresolved run up. We're still waiting to exhale about our real-time frustrations.
4
My biggest disappointment in the series, which I just watched, not even knowing there was a movie, was that Alma didn’t choose to unite with Seth, and that he didn’t make it happen. Their passion was palpable and rarely found in life.
3
I liked Deadwood: the movie, but it really did seem like a half hearted attempt to jam in a season's worth of plot into 90 minutes of fandom wrap-ups.
I can see how it could have rolled out in a satisfying way over the course of a season, but this movie version was both a 'smorgasbord' and an 'appetizer' at the same time.
So many set pieces of character conflicts and signature lines just littered the landscape of what passes for plot.
The sense of rushing for the finish, while tagging all the appropriate bases on the way home, outweighed the craft of story-telling, if you ask me.
I enjoyed seeing it, but the experience of weekly installments of 'Game of Thrones' has me waiting for next week's episode, which sadly is not the future.
Great show, unfinished.
5
Just a shout out and regret that the wonderful actor Powers Boothe is no longer with us to be part of this reunion. I'm glad that Keith Carradine is still among the living, but his Wild Bill was shot to death in the original series so he, too, will be missed. Otherwise, I can't wait to watch the movie. Deadwood was one of a kind, as is David Milch.
7
Giving up Deadwood for John of Cincinnati was an epic error in judgment that the movie only partially ameliorates. This was better than no closure, but not what this series and its avid fans deserved.
11
I had so been looking to a return to Deadwood...Trixie, Al, Doc, Joanie, Jane, Seth's temper....
But why oh why did they need to over-age the characters 20+ years when only 10 years had passed? There was absolutely no need to add the gray, the lines, the wrinkles. The actors were already aged. Naturally. The gaff came off as a poor production flaw and ruined an otherwise fun (yes, fun) reunion. Fail.
2
@Pragmatist
I don't think it was poor production, by the contrary. People aged much faster in those days, specially people who were living in less civilized parts of the country. Imagine all the sun and wind and hard water, without the moisturizers.
3
Stealing a line from John Waters - Deadwood is not only the best TV series ever it’s better than any future series.
6
The dialog was pure poetry, awash with meaning and life. It carried the bittersweetness of inevitable and unexpected death with shock and a kind of familiar inevitability.
"Wu, feed him to the pigs."
16
You'll never see the likes of this in a movie theatre. And it's why the movie theatres don't see me.
5
Well written -- the review and the series. I shall see the movie too.
Deadwood portrayed the true west, the characters having the flaws that humans have.
Of all the characters I will miss Al Swearengen most of all.
He was the breath that filled Deadwood's lungs.
8
Any writer with a failed project on her hands will instantly diagnose the condition: someone ran out of ideas, thereby revealing Deadwood for what it always was: a profane piece of frontier sentimentality, full of lovables and high redeeming principles amidst f-bombs, churning mud and inverted syntax.
Having Jewel, who had always wanted to dance, appear at the end singing Waltzing Mathilda was a master touch.
I'll forgive HBO I guess for having ended Deadwood in order to to launch John from Cincinnati.
3
The whole thing left me unimpressed. The neverwas speech patterns were phony and contrived, the "plot" near-nonexistent and the acting, for the most part, uninspired and flabby. Not every lost tv show needs closure. Deadwood was dead -- and wooden.
3
@gradyjerome I thought it was great!
3
@Bryan Still a free country -- For the moment
.
1
Swearengen & Charlie Utter & Calamity Jane & Doc & Trixie & Sol and so many others...oh my! Lovely to see, and especially to hear, them all again (especially Al, lordy that voice, that gorgeous cursing!).
Thank you Mr. Milch. We can but wish you peace and harmony in the days ahead.
17
@moosemaps
But Swearengen was a real guy! That was, in fact, his actual name.
4
Just a wonderful sendoff - and anyone who didn't shed a tear at Waltzing Matilda is made of wood.
Thank you Mr. Milch, and thanks to the entire cast.
7
Deadwood's finale was not perfect, but a privilege to view and experience
4
Excellent review. I admit to getting tears at the end, and just as I feared Al would end too cuddly, there he was with last word blaspheme. Best of luck to Mr. Milch.
10
@Jack lovelace I have to second Jack's great review comment. I was glad HBO resurrected this (even if just for a finale), it was a nice vacation from bland characters and dialogue from the cliche factory. Most of the characters had an edge to them that is seldom seen convening at one place, and at the end of it I wished the writer was writing our present day political history and the current day villains got the same kind of comeuppance that he gave to the bad guys.
6