Customer Reviews

Dead Man's Walk [VHS]

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Gus & Call: The Early Years. This prequel to Lonesome Dove detailing some of the adventures of the young Rangers, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, was written by Larry McMurtry and features all of his trademark specialities: complex heroes, pitiless & mean villains, politically incorrect fierce & merciless Apaches & Comanches, a wild trek lead by a half-mad pirate (F. Murray Abraham), a motley collection of wilderness folks, wise & unruffled Scouts (Keith Carradine & Harry Dean Stanton) and a young whore with more guts and heart than most men.

In short, it is a hell of a tale, well told. The cast is excellent all the way around, and the choices made for the young Woodrow Call (Johnny Lee Miller) and Gus McCrae (David Arquette) fortuitous. In Miller we see the beginnings of the stubborn iron will and dtermination of Woodrow Call, as well as his natural acceptance of responsibility and leadership. David Arquette catches the free spirit, insipient laziness and romantic dreamer in Gus.

The story of an ill-fated trek to wrest Santa Fe and thereby all of New Mexico from Mexico, becomes a hellish mess as one thing after another goes wrong, not the least of which is a determined Apache, Gomez, picking them off one by one. And, there is yet a worst trek after their failure in Santa Fe, and that is the Dead Man's Walk of the title, lead by a resolute and unswayable Mexican Officer (Edward J. Olmos), with other surprises to come.

If you liked Lonesome Dove, you will like this as well. If you didn't like Lonesome Dove (more's the pity on you), better give this a pass. 4-1/2 stars. Worth it.

Dead Man's Walk is based on Larry McMurtry's book by the same name. The main characters, Woodrow Call and Gus McRae (from his best known in this series - Lonesome Dove) are shown as young men - probably in their late teens or very early twenties. This one is a little bloody at times. David Arquette (fiancee of Courtney Cox and they guy on those goofy 10-10-321 commercials) is Gus McRae. Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting, Hackers, Afterglow) is Woodrow Call. Jonny Lee is the standout in this video. His interpretation of Woodrow Call is right on the money - he says so much with just an expression and since Woodrow doesn't say much - that's pretty important. We really enjoyed it but again, younger kids might want to skip this one.

'Dead Man's Walk' is a wonderful introduction to the characters of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call.I was most impressed by Johnny Lee Miller's Texas accent--he is one of England's rising stars and his accent was very believable.David Arquette captured Gus and his mannerisms perfectly and I thought that he and Johnny had great chemistry.Special mention has to go to Keith Carradine and his performance--he is one of America's finest actors. The picture quality was not as good as I had hoped as the video was in extended play format.I would like to know if there is a video in SP version.Other than that I would recommend 'Dead Man's Walk' to anyone who loves Westerns.

Back in 1989, U.S. television audiences were treated to LONESOME DOVE, perhaps the best miniseries ever made prior to the more recent BAND OF BROTHERS. I consider LONESOME DOVE the best western ever put on film. DEAD MAN'S WALK, aired several years later, is the prequel. STREETS OF LAREDO, which has also appeared on the small screen, is the final installment. All are screen adaptations of a trilogy of books written by Larry McMurtry.

The purpose of DMW, besides being a story in its own right, is to establish the characters of the young Texas Rangers, Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Woodrow Call, here played by David Arquette and Jonny Lee Miller respectively. DMW is set in 1842, and Texas is still an independent Republic. In LD, set some thirty years later, Gus and Woodrow (Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones respectively), drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana.

DMW does a credible job molding the personalities of young Gus and Woodrow, whether they're beset by Commanches, Apaches, the Mexican Army, starvation, or imprisonment. Even love, for that matter. The viewer can see in them the men they're to become decades later.

Whereas in LD McCrae and Call are the pre-eminent characters, in DMW the two are overshadowed by a large cast of more colorful personae. There are Shadrach (Harry Dean Stanton) and Bigfoot Walker (Keith Carradine), the grizzled mountain men. Then there's Mattie Roberts (Patricia Childress), the stout-hearted harlot nicknamed "Great Western", who accompanies the Texans' various expeditions into the hostile wilderness and, after a bath and fashion makeover, has a poignant self-revelation. F. Murray Abraham plays Caleb Cobb, a pirate turned soldier-of-fortune, who, with green parrot on his shoulder, plots the capture of Santa Fe from the Mexicans. And Lady Lucinda Carey (Haviland Morris), who, with a pet boa constrictor and a Lady Godiva-type ride, teaches Gus and Woodrow something about the nature of "wildness".

DMW also introduces us to Clara (Jennifer Garner) and Maggie (Gretchen Mol), the former a shopkeeper's daughter, and the latter a working girl with a heart of gold. In LD, Clara (played there by Angelica Huston) is a major force in the film and McCrae's life. Maggie, on the other hand, has been dead several years by then, but her son, Newt, is a character perhaps third behind Gus and Woodrow.

Unfortunately, DMW suffers from the comparison inevitably to be made with LD, and I'm sorry to award only three stars. LD moves along sprightly and is never dull. Its prequel makes the four and a half hour run time seem much longer. The characters expend too much effort literally walking their way into and out of tough spots. Both epics are notable for authentic period costuming and are faithful to the original novels. Unlike LD, on the other hand, the soundtrack of DMW is so nondescript that I didn't even notice it.

If you're a LONESOME DOVE fan, DEAD MAN'S WALK needs to be seen for the sake of completeness. But don't expect the sublime experience provided by the former.

Its about Gus and Call, when they're not yet 20. It has a different ending than the book, but, I thin its a good ending, if a little strange. The way Call was portrayed in Dead Man's Walk was a little akward, but it was a good way to portray him. He wasn't that social, but willing to learn, and he was probably akward to. It makes sense. A lot of people think he wasn't ever akward and he was always competent. Thats not true. The music isn't as good as Lonesome Dove's music, but still, this is a movie worth while.

As a fan of the original "Lonesome Dove" film with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, I enjoyed "Dead Man's Walk" on that alone, visiting those characters once again. I think sometimes we expect too much, wanting a sequel to be the same as the original. Having said that, I think this film can stand on it own merits. The actors playing the young Woodrow and Gus characters did a great job, keeping us entertained with their individual dispositions and antics. The settings, realism, color and harshness of a rough country in a hard time, as in Lonesome Dove, are all here. The stubbornness of the Mexican army officer to accomplish his goal under the circumstances,was a bit farfetched I thought. But even this made for great entertainment. As in "Return to Lonesome Dove" and "Streets of Laredo", "Dead Man's Walk" was recorded in EP and makes for poor quality video. Try to find it in SP if you can. This film depicts a rough, tough, mean and hard life in an unforgiving land. A very good western, a la Lonesome Dove.

I have already written a review on the VHS version of this great film. I will limit my remarks to the DVD version. Having totally enjoyed the film on VHS, with the exception of the poor quality video on the extended play tape, I found this DVD a refreshing improvement over the VHS. Put out by Hallmark Home Entertainment and distributed by Artisan, both the video quality and the stereo effects are high above the extended play VHS version. Even for picky viewers, this DVD is a great improvement over the VHS. This is a 2 disk film with the #2 disk being much shorter than the first. It seems there would have been plenty of space to insert more special features, something this version is certainly lacking. We only get a couple of short comments from a couple of the actors and thats about it. Even so, if you wish to buy "Dead Man's Walk," I suggest you spend the extra money for the DVD and forget about the less expensive VHS version. The video quality alone is well worth the money.

I worked in the filming of the movie here in Fort Davis, Texasand surrounding areas...(albeit as an extra). The director and crewtried real hard to meet the standards of Lonesome Dove and even Larry M. showed on the set. However the calibre of acting e.g. Lonesome Dove's Robert Duvall et. al., I don't think was ever met. A great deal of the exciting action scenes and great west Texas backgrounds ended up on the cutting room floor. The final, released product that made it to a short mini series on television was, alas, a far cry from a worthy successor to the wonderful "Lonesome Dove". That's just my opinion, I could be wrong. :o)

First of all ,it is worth taking the time to get the sequence sorted out.
Lonesome Dove, was the first written in 1985 ,and took place in the the 1860's when Woodrow was at the height of his career.It was the followed with a sequel in 1993,and took place in the 1890's and when Woodrow was in the twlight of his career.Then Dead Man's Walk was published in 1995,as a prequel to Lonesome Dove and took place in the 1840's when Woodrow was about 20 and in his early days as a Texas Ranger.
The main story is about an adventure ,a few years after the Alamo,when a force of about 100 leave Austin Texas,heading to Santa Fe ,to take this area from Mexico.
What we see is McMurtry at his best with great storytelling,amazing characrer developments,with and brutal action with all sorts of opposition along the way.The story is packed with action and one suspensful and surprising event following the last. Typically,when McMurtry gives us an epic,he starts off with a lot of people and characters of every description;and we witness the crowd being whittled down one by one in one gruesome scene after another.In the end, there are vew standing.
Gus and Woodrow survive and become the main characters in the other novels.
This novel had a great storyline,but not the high profile actors we see in the others.The scenes and photography are outstanding and you get a good picture what it was like in the 1840's when the west was being wrestled from the Comanches, Apaches and Mexicans in Texas , Mexico and New Mexico.
Personally, I prefer the movie versions these novels to reading the books,which I have also done. However;there is so much packed into the 4 hours of this movie ;it needs to be watched more than once.

dead man's walk is a preqeal to lonesome dove and alows us to meet gus and call as young men. once again we are sent into adventure with these two friends. while i will say that this isn't as good as the first,it is still lightyears ahead on "return ot lonesome dove",and if you like that or just a good western this is one to have.