Deadwood......The Movie

[Steve]

OK you C@<k $uckers........It's been a couple of days what did you Deadwood fans think? Was it a good wrap up, did you have Johnny put out the peaches with or without unauthorized cinnamon and enjoy it like I did.....Did Al actually die or might there be another episode or two down the road.........I know it might be hard as David Milch is now fighting Alzheimers but I sure could use some more. Weigh in with some thoughts.....

[Old Düsseldorf]

Good topic. After having my heart ripped out when they cancelled the series, I went into it with low expectations so I wouldn't be disappointed again. In fairness, I think it would have been impossible to match the intensity of the original series in one movie. And after one viewing, I think the movie was actually pretty good although I'm not sure it adds much for me. There were a lot of nice touches like the peaches and the gimp etc, and I want to re-watch because I know there were some good lines (especially from Al) I didn't fully catch.

But I could have used at least 10 minutes less of Trixie and a lot more of Bullock and Swearengen. I think they only had two scenes together in the two hour movie. It was really great that they had the entire cast back, but with so many to shoe-horn in I felt a lot of time was wasted doing that while adding little to any story line. Also I think it would have been more satisfying to see Swearengen go out with his boots on, rather than with a wimper. Overall the mood was sort of a happy storybook ending for Deadwood, and I think something dark would have been more powerful and consistent with the original show.

Even though a lot was left open, I didn't get the feeling they will come back for more at this point. Especially with the news of Milch's declining health. So I guess in the end I don't think it was bad but it sort of re-opens the wounds of having such a great show cancelled for really no good reason at all, without really adding something to wash away that bad taste in my mouth.

[terryfromkerry]

Struggling to retain brevity in expressing my delight of the much anticipated conclusion to this awesome epic I can but only verbally stumble in a feeble attempt to articulate my absolf##kinglute real sense of satisfaction and complete lack of even a smigen of disappointment in viewing the conclusion (albiet much delayed by more than a decade) of this f##king gritty memorable tale of survival in the old west.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6_hbH-73wA

(link above to the song)

The song at the end, "Hog of the Forsaken" was so spot on and funny that I thought producers McShane and Oliphant  had tasked a tune smith to craft it. 
However I found one Mike Hurley had penned it long before Deadwood:

And the Hog of the Forsaken got no reason to cry,
He got to chew the angels fallin' from on high,
He ain't waitin' for no answers, bakin' woeful pie...
And the Hog of the Forsaken he ain't like you and I,
...He is the Pork of Crime.
The Hog of the Forsaken, he is the hog for me!

It got me thinking, is there a secondary angle to the series, that the city of Deadwood is Life writ small and it's all a religious metaphor?
That Wu is Saint Peter and the hogs the heavenly portal for all the sad sinners of Deadwood they eat?
The Hope/Hog of the Forsaken is all they got at the end of the day?
That Al is Satan the arch angel cast out of heaven, vying with God over this cruel world He created?
So cruel that Al is disgusted with the Big Guy's work, and while Al's criminal tactics can be horrorific in the moment , just maybe they are what's needed in the long run?
Hence Al's last comment that God should be staying up in heaven? 
 So is the message, if you don't get on board Al's train there is no hope for the Living today, rather it's the Hog of the Forsaken coming your way?
just a thought, maybe I'm wrong.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Struggling to retain brevity in expressing my delight of the much anticipated conclusion to this awesome epic I can but only verbally stumble in a feeble attempt to articulate my absolf##kinglute real sense of satisfaction and complete lack of even a smigen of disappointment in viewing the conclusion (albiet much delayed by more than a decade) of this f##king gritty memorable tale of survival in the old west.

TerryfromKerry,
The above is funny as f***.

[terryfromkerry]

Cheers nephew Dobie !