HOLY CRAP! Pete, are you watching?
Just watched "The Virginian" - The Price of Love - I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful corpse death scene in my life! Damnation, everything I see from that man blows me away - how did he not know how wonderful he was?! If he can move me to tears even after three replays, how could he not know?
He was so bloody beautiful, and so believable, as a scarred young man who knows no other way to protect his mentor than to kill anyone who threatens the man. "You said I done wrong, but it's all I could do."
I expected -- I know, unfairly -- to see a little of Hannibal Heyes in both characters Pete played on "The Virginian." Jim Dewey and Denny Todd are totally different people, and totally different from Heyes. Jim was a cold, smooth, user of people; Denny was a hot-headed psychopath. They even looked different, dammit! How can one man change so much from one role to the next, when he has the same haircut, practically the same clothing from Wardrobe, and the same clean-shaven holy-shit!-beautiful face?
That final scene in this episode - the only word I can bring to mind is "GUH!" Denny is shot, and Pete just goes totally limp -- you know how actors doing death scenes usually try to "help" the other actor lift them up? Pete just wilts like a lovely pasta noodle, and his hair falls down, and I'm already crying before I see John McIntyre with tears in his eyes. And Denny shot at Grainger to make Grainger kill him, because Grainger said he'd done something bad by killing those other people! And then Pete says "It doesn't hurt. it's OK," and his bangs blow over his eyes, and I lose it! OMFG I've got tears in my eyes just thinking about the scene -- Pete, you arsehole, you were a bloody genius on the screen and the acting world has had a huge fucking hole in it for the past forty years!
Shit, four watchings ... I gotta shut off the YouTube before I wear it out. Where are the damn tissues?
I'm going to have to buy the DVD of the series when they finally get around to season 6 and 7 - I have a great need to see that silky mop flying about that sharp face, and those brown eyes peering out from beneath the shaggy bangs! The online version is too damn blurry to suit me.
Snarks:
1) Why is Denny Todd (season 7) riding Jim Dewey's (season 6) horse? Was Jim reincarnated whole, along with his horse? If that can happen, I'm quitting my job and going out to look for Pete!
2) And why, if Denny lived with the Graingers for three years, didn't anybody recognize Jim Dewey when he showed up? "Say, son, you look just like a fellow we almost adopted back in Texas! Oh wait, we heard the lad ran off and became a famous outlaw -- that'd make you Hannibal Heyes!"
3) Contrariwise, why didn't anybody recognize Denny from the first moment? "Say, son, you look just like an outlaw who was murdered in our barn! Of course, we never found the body, so I suppose you came back to the ranch to get your horse, right?"
4) And of course, they just let Holly ride off alone with him -- not to say that any red-blooded American woman wouldn't have ridden anywhere with a man who looked like that, holy crap! -- but you'd think somebody would have remembered she was in love with the man last season and suspect something was going on. "Oh, Uncle Clay, you're too busy -- I'll show Denny around the ranch!!" And she didn't recognize Jim Dewey - "Say, Denny, you look like a man I almost lost my virginity to last season -- wanna finish the job?"
5) What's really funny is that Lom Trevors -- obviously he used the alias "The Virginian" because he was still an outlaw when he worked on the Grainger ranch (don't get me started on Maynard G-for-Gilligan Crebs, either!) -- didn't recognize Heyes either! "Say, fellow, you look just like an outlaw I used to ride with before I decided to become a ranch foreman!"
I can believe that Heyes/Dewey/Todd wouldn't have let on -- god knows Heyes is a scoundrel, and he'd have been howling with laughter watching everybody blunder around without recognizing him. I kept throwing ad libs into the dialogue, too.
So, evidently, (judging from "The Virginian") Hannibal Heyes was born back East somewhere, orphaned at a young age (twice), enslaved (twice), and taken in as a starving preteen by the Graingers. After he ran away from their ranch, he used the alias Jim Dewey until he became too well known, at which time he staged his death and started using the name Hannibal Heyes. After he met up with the Graingers again by accident, he let them think he was still "Denny Todd." He met Lom Trevors on their ranch, where the outlaw was working as foreman -- shortly thereafter, Lom evidently decided to stay honest, and was elected sheriff of Portersville. There was no funeral shown at the end of this episode, so I'm figuring Clay Grainger staged Denny's death to throw the sheriff off his trail again. He must have then gone to Kansas and met The Kid.
He was so bloody beautiful, and so believable, as a scarred young man who knows no other way to protect his mentor than to kill anyone who threatens the man. "You said I done wrong, but it's all I could do."
I expected -- I know, unfairly -- to see a little of Hannibal Heyes in both characters Pete played on "The Virginian." Jim Dewey and Denny Todd are totally different people, and totally different from Heyes. Jim was a cold, smooth, user of people; Denny was a hot-headed psychopath. They even looked different, dammit! How can one man change so much from one role to the next, when he has the same haircut, practically the same clothing from Wardrobe, and the same clean-shaven holy-shit!-beautiful face?
That final scene in this episode - the only word I can bring to mind is "GUH!" Denny is shot, and Pete just goes totally limp -- you know how actors doing death scenes usually try to "help" the other actor lift them up? Pete just wilts like a lovely pasta noodle, and his hair falls down, and I'm already crying before I see John McIntyre with tears in his eyes. And Denny shot at Grainger to make Grainger kill him, because Grainger said he'd done something bad by killing those other people! And then Pete says "It doesn't hurt. it's OK," and his bangs blow over his eyes, and I lose it! OMFG I've got tears in my eyes just thinking about the scene -- Pete, you arsehole, you were a bloody genius on the screen and the acting world has had a huge fucking hole in it for the past forty years!
Shit, four watchings ... I gotta shut off the YouTube before I wear it out. Where are the damn tissues?
I'm going to have to buy the DVD of the series when they finally get around to season 6 and 7 - I have a great need to see that silky mop flying about that sharp face, and those brown eyes peering out from beneath the shaggy bangs! The online version is too damn blurry to suit me.
Snarks:
1) Why is Denny Todd (season 7) riding Jim Dewey's (season 6) horse? Was Jim reincarnated whole, along with his horse? If that can happen, I'm quitting my job and going out to look for Pete!
2) And why, if Denny lived with the Graingers for three years, didn't anybody recognize Jim Dewey when he showed up? "Say, son, you look just like a fellow we almost adopted back in Texas! Oh wait, we heard the lad ran off and became a famous outlaw -- that'd make you Hannibal Heyes!"
3) Contrariwise, why didn't anybody recognize Denny from the first moment? "Say, son, you look just like an outlaw who was murdered in our barn! Of course, we never found the body, so I suppose you came back to the ranch to get your horse, right?"
4) And of course, they just let Holly ride off alone with him -- not to say that any red-blooded American woman wouldn't have ridden anywhere with a man who looked like that, holy crap! -- but you'd think somebody would have remembered she was in love with the man last season and suspect something was going on. "Oh, Uncle Clay, you're too busy -- I'll show Denny around the ranch!!" And she didn't recognize Jim Dewey - "Say, Denny, you look like a man I almost lost my virginity to last season -- wanna finish the job?"
5) What's really funny is that Lom Trevors -- obviously he used the alias "The Virginian" because he was still an outlaw when he worked on the Grainger ranch (don't get me started on Maynard G-for-Gilligan Crebs, either!) -- didn't recognize Heyes either! "Say, fellow, you look just like an outlaw I used to ride with before I decided to become a ranch foreman!"
I can believe that Heyes/Dewey/Todd wouldn't have let on -- god knows Heyes is a scoundrel, and he'd have been howling with laughter watching everybody blunder around without recognizing him. I kept throwing ad libs into the dialogue, too.
- "So, Dewey--er-- DENNY, that's a real nice horse. Haven't I seen that animal somewhere -- like out on our pastures?!"
- "I'll show Denny around the ranch, Uncle Clay!" "The HELL you will, young lady!"
- "Son, we need to go talk to the sheriff." "WHAT? Do you know I got TWENTY YEARS coming to me?!"
- "Say, Holly, remember how last time I had a sore arm? Well it's not sore now, so c'mere!"
- "Men - always thinking about food and drink." (insert Heyes grin) "And cocks ... we think about cocks a lot."
- "I'm real thirsty -- and this damn bar don't even have an egg I can stand on end!"
So, evidently, (judging from "The Virginian") Hannibal Heyes was born back East somewhere, orphaned at a young age (twice), enslaved (twice), and taken in as a starving preteen by the Graingers. After he ran away from their ranch, he used the alias Jim Dewey until he became too well known, at which time he staged his death and started using the name Hannibal Heyes. After he met up with the Graingers again by accident, he let them think he was still "Denny Todd." He met Lom Trevors on their ranch, where the outlaw was working as foreman -- shortly thereafter, Lom evidently decided to stay honest, and was elected sheriff of Portersville. There was no funeral shown at the end of this episode, so I'm figuring Clay Grainger staged Denny's death to throw the sheriff off his trail again. He must have then gone to Kansas and met The Kid.