Westerns
I’ve been watching lots of westerns on DVD recently. Once Upon a Time in the West for one, and the second season of Deadwood for another. And, um, that’s it. So maybe not a lot, but hey, it was a whole season of Deadwood. The mustache on this guy here was inspired by a photo of the historical Seth Bullock, hero of Deadwood.
Once Upon a Time in the West is a classic spaghetti western by Sergio Leone, with Charles Bronson as a man with no name (but a different man with no name than the one Clint Eastwood played in other Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy) seeking revenge while he plays the movie’s background music on a harmonica. The harmonica is important, a hint about his secret past, the reason he wants revenge, and when that bit of backstory is revealed, it’s the cruelest damn thing I’ve ever seen in a movie. Henry Fonda is the villainous villain, in a great job of casting against type. Jason Robards is the less-villainous villain, the one we don’t mind cheering for.
Deadwood is fascinating to me for a few reasons. One, it’s all about power and law, and the establishment of law in an unlawful place. I’m always kinda fascinated by that. Another, it’s got a great main character in Al Swearengen. (You may think Seth, the hero, is the main character. You’d be wrong.) Just like in Once Upon a Time in the West, there are two villains (actually more, but two main ones), but Al’s the beating heart of the show, driving all the action, swindling and murdering and organizing, a joy to watch, an engine of swearing. Third, the dialog is fantastic. There’s a strong Shakespearean influence (If the Bard had been inordinately fond of the word “cocksucker”), with bits that sound like they might be iambic pentameter, lots of monologs, and bits of stage direction in the dialog. Here, a sample from the second season premiere, Al and his henchman Dan stand on Al’s balcony, watching telegraph poles being raised:
Al: Invisible messages from invisible sources, or what some people think of as progress. Dan: Ain’t the heathens used smoke signals all through recorded history? Al: How’s that a fucking recommendation? Dan: Well, it seems to me like, you know, letters posted one person to another is just a slower version of the same idea. Al: When’s the last time you got a fucking letter from a stranger? Dan: Bad news about Pa. Al: Bad news! Or tries against our interests is our sole communications from strangers, so by all means, let’s plant poles all across the country, festoon the cocksucker with wires to hurry the sorry word and blinker our judgments of motive, huh? Dan: You’ve given it more thought than me. Al: Ain’t the state of things cloudy enough? Don’t we face enough fucking imponderables? Dan: Well, by God, you give the word, Al, and them poles will be kindling.
By the end of the second season, Al’s even wandering around talking to a severed head. The third (and final) season isn’t out on DVD yet. I don’t know what the holdup is.