Deadwood anyone? (page 2)

jamiebowers

My husband and I never missed an episode when it first aired on HBO. You can certainly pick up some ineresting dirty words by watching it!

FlyingHighNow

LOL. That is the result of what you feed your mind. Must be a liberal thing.

GW Bush has a filthy mouth. So does Rush. I haven't even heard of Deadwood. What is it?

Dagney

Aw Beks, it is just awesome. I watched it when I first got dish...and couldn't figure out what was going on but couldn't turn away.

Then I got the dvd's through Netflix and watched the whole series and commentaries and extras which made it all the more interesting. The writer explains about the language and the manners of the time; as with most HBO, it is very authentic. I also read online about Deadwood and why it was such an interesting story to tell. You will get so much more out of it even just reading Wikipedia. Most of the characters and what they do are real. It is just a fascinating time in history, a truly lawless town, making it up as they went along...and fast too!!

I love it. I'm so glad you like it. Try the DVD's...they are awesome.

(I'm doing the second season of Rome on DVD through Netflix. Another fascinating time in history.)

Nathan Natas

Deadwood depicts the era of Charles Taze Russell in the American Mid-West; it wasn't all glitz and glamor and New Jerusalem descending from on high like in a Marx brothers movie.

What kind of hoople-headed sheep humper watches Deadwood? I did, on HBO when it first came out. Great acting, great violence. That 'Swegin" was some character! It's difficult for me to see Ian McShane and not thing "Swegin!" Tim Olyphant completely changed his appearance when he worked in the movies "Live Free or Die Hard" and "Hitman." And Robin Weigart's version of Calamity Jane - well, it's not the version Beaver Cleaver watched in the 1950's, is it?

What a great show!

From wikipedia:

Set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, the show is set before and after the area's annexation by the Dakota Territory. The series charts Deadwood's growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to western capitalism. The show features a large ensemble cast, and many historical figures—such as Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen, Wild Bill Hickok, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter, and George Hearst—appear as characters on the show. The plotlines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they may have been based on actual persons.

Gregor

Watched the series when originally shown. Absolutely one of the most entertaining shows ever. Love the structured dialogue and the characters. The language was so over the top but supposedly authentic for the time.

Nathan Natas

Actually, the language was not authentic for the time in the sense of which obscene words were used.

Back then rough and obscene language was much much milder than what we hear and say today.

Wikipedia says,

From its debut Deadwood has drawn attention for its use of extremely explicit, modern profanity, especially among the more coarse characters. It is a deliberate anachronism on the part of the creator with a twofold intent. As Milch has explained in several interviews and on the DVD commentary tracks, originally the characters were to use period slang and swear words. Such words, however, were based heavily on the era's deep religious roots and tended to be more blasphemous than scatological. Instead of being shockingly crude (in keeping with the tone of a frontier mining camp), the results sounded downright comical. As one commentator puts it "… if you put words like "goldarn" into the mouths of the characters on "Deadwood," they'd all wind up sounding like Yosemite Sam.". [ 6 ]
Instead, it was decided the show would use current profanity in order for the words to have the same impact on modern audiences as the blasphemous ones did back in the 1870s. In fact, in early episodes, the character of Mr. Wu seems to know only three words of English — the mangled name of one character ("Swedgin"), "San Francisco", and his favorite derogatory term for those he dislikes, "cocksucka".
The other intent in regards to the frequency of the swearing was to signal to the audience the lawlessness of the camp in much the same way that the original inhabitants used it to show they were very self-aware of the fact they were living outside the bounds of "civil society."
The issue of the authenticity of Deadwood's dialogue has even been alluded to in the show itself. Early in the second season, after E.B. Farnum has fleeced Mr. Wolcott of $10,000, Farnum tries to console the geologist:
EB: Some ancient Italian maxim fits our situation, whose particulars escape me.
Wolcott: Is the gist that I’m shit outta luck?
EB: Did they speak that way then?[2]
The word "fuck" was said 43 times in the first hour of the show. [ 7 ] It has also been reported that the series had a total count of 2980 "fucks" , and a cumulative FPM [ 8 ] of 1.56. [ 9 ]

hillbilly

Deadwood ... about the only nice thing I could say about it ... the set-dressers did well with weapons , tack and accoutrements.

Nathan Natas cites Wilkipedia. I associate with Western Re-enactors a bit... as a group most will tell you the language is a bit over the top from a historical perspective.

Hill

undercover

Deadwood is great. I was so disappointed when they canceled it.

At first I wasn't a fan of Bullock but he grew on me. And Sweringen (spelling?) was a great character. I liked how Wu always said his name, "Swe-GIN"

BurnTheShips

The word "fuck" was said 43 times in the first hour of the show. [ 7 ] It has also been reported that the series had a total count of 2980 " fucks " , and a cumulative FPM [ 8 ] of 1.56. [ 9 ]

That's a lot of "fucks."

Wow that probably beats Scarface. Here is the condensed version. Two minute "fuck."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKFkbns4bs

Deadwood anyone?

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