FALL 2019
than a bang, which in some ways exem-
plified how this wasn’t the archetypal
show about life on the frontier. Thegood
guys—if you can call them that giventheir
various dubious deeds—survived, butthey
didn’t exactly “win,” and more thana few
loose ends were left hanging.
Fast-forward to 2019 and Deadwood:
The Movie addressed those loose endsina
way only show creator David Milchcould,
despite his recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis.For
anyone who feared that the movie wouldn’t
have the same edge only needed to lookas
far as one of HBO’s promo posters, which
boldly proclaimed, “Welcome the F***
Back,” with a Colt covering the profanity.
Instead of dancing around the timethat
passed, Milch embraced it, with the movie
takingplacein1889,a fulldecadeafterthe
eventsofthelastepisode.Thefilmbegins
withSouthDakotabecominganofficial
stateandgoesontoincludea murder,a
funeral,a wedding,a betrayal,redemption
andevensomethingresemblingjustice.
A Different Trail
March of 2004, it was unlike any Western
to date. This was a show where the good
guys weren’t always that good, the bad guys
didn’t typically wear black hats, and the
saloons were filled with ladies who cer-
tainly weren’t just “dancing girls”—unlike
in Gunsmoke, where it was only hinted that
Marshal Matt Dillon went to “visit” Miss
Kitty every once in a while.
Deadwood was also a departure from typ-
ical Westerns in that it was set in the Black
Hills of the Dakota Territory, with the first
season taking place in 1876, just six months
after the founding of the mining camp.
Instead of the dust-filled streets on the High
Plains or Southwestern desert that have been
iconic for Westerns, this one featured streets
of mud, filth and God only knows what else.
There was some irony, too, that one of
the show’s main characters was named Al
DEADWOOD RETURNS
16 GUNS OF THE OLD WEST
Deadwood:The Movie
addressed those
in a
wa yonly show creator
David Milch couldÉ
