Hell On Wheels

[Capt.Virgil Russo]

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Finally caught the first episode online tonight, I have to say I wasn't too impressed. Anson Mount as the main character Bohannon looks the part but that all flies out the window when he opens his mouth. He's too soft spoken and has absolutely no southern accent. I'm no fan of rap music but I was pleasantly surprised by Common, he gave a far better peformance as as Ferguson, a recently emancipated slave. There were a few bright spots from other cast members but I'm not sure this show can go the distance.

Any thoughts?

[Johnny McCrae]

I wasn't too impressed either and fell asleep while watching it. I was really looking forward to this series and maybe expected too much.

[Lucky R. K.]

I also fell asleep when I watched it but I did record it.  Went back later and watched the entire episode.  I think it has promise.

Lucky 

[joec]

First episode of most series tend to be a little slow due mostly to developing characters. I like to give a series at least 1 season before I really decide. So far this one look good to me as I did find it entertaining.

[Capt.Virgil Russo]

I wasn't too impressed either and fell asleep while watching it. I was really looking forward to this series and maybe expected too much.

Exactly what I thought. Our options for this type of programming are slim so we tend to place a high, maybe too high, expectation. Hopefully things will develop.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

This is another series that was filmed just outside of Calgary.  I'm advised that the location is in the area of where the Bow River meets the Sheep River.

[Cutter Carl]

AMC has a rerun (encore) of the first week Saturday night after rerun of Open Range.  Not sure of the time.

[Galloway]

I liked it, that first episode had more action than some seasons of deadwood.

[RickB]

Well, just let me add this.

I watched the first show with my son (he's 16 years old) and I liked it, but he loved it. This show has the potential to turn on a whole new generation to the old west and the cowboy era.

Sure it has the same problems most hollywood westerns do, but if you stop being such sticklers for authenticity in TV shows (I hold Movies to a higher level because they have more money to do it right) then you just might enjoy it for some escapist entertainment. My son is now looking forward to watching this every Sunday night with me. It's not just getting him interested in westerns (which I have tried to get him into for a while) but now he wants to enjoy the show with me and his mom. So it's going to become a family event.

So, even though it's not totally authentic like we would like, it has possibilities and is bringing at least one of the new generation into the fold. He's even talked about NCOWS and maybe wanting to attend a shoot to see what it's like.

Now, I will forgive the show some for at least getting kids interested in the old west.

[Delmonico]

I just took the time to watch the first one, see there is a thread going one elsewhere picking the guns apart so I was curious.

Well I can tell you from a true historical view there are way more things wrong with it than the guns by far, not to be unexpected.

See the UP building started from Omaha, not Council Bluff Iowa, no sense in building a couple miles of track that ended in the bluffs east of town or at the river which would have no bridge for years.   Can't figure out why they were blasting on fairly level ground with no rock.  Have no idea why the surveyer and his wife were working on that steep hill since they built it on the flat going up creek drainage's in Nebraska, remember it all had to be built on a 1% grade, you went around hills not over them.   

With that, I did set  up the thingy on the box to record the whole series since my wife already has cable and it won't cost me any extra to watch it.  It has to be the best fiction I've seen on TV in years, but then I've never watched Deadwood since even though we do decide to have cable sometimes we never went the extra for HBO.

I doubt I'd pay extra for it, yeah the brass framed 51 Navy ain't a G&G, but it beats sending Little Joe for the 92 Winny with the forestock removed and the receiver spray painted gold.

[Slickshot]

I myself was pretty psyched up for the show.  You could not have expected what happened in the church..I didn't see it coming.

It was a bit slow moving, but I think the series will come together and hopefully get better.  As for someone's comment on the main charectors accent...I didn't notice it too much.  At least he looks the part.

The part with that woman ending that Indians life after he killed her husband was good - basic survival there, would have done the same thing and kinda thought she'd do it.

I hope the next episode is better.  Deadwood was very good, but had way too much swearing in it for my taste.

Slickshot

[Delmonico]

Not sure where I saw it or read it, but my understanding is that what we call the Southern Accent developed after the Civil War. 

[Capt.Virgil Russo]

Not sure where I saw it or read it, but my understanding is that what we call the Southern Accent developed after the Civil War. 

Agreed, to a point. No doubt what we consider a "southern accent" in 2011 differs from that of 1865. People continue to evolve, time doesn't stand still. The fact remains there were marked differences in regional dialect even in 1865 which were attributable to factors too numerous to cite here. 

IMO based upon this first episode, the actor playing Bohannon, Anson Mount, has delivered a somewhat lacking performance. There's more to good acting than just looking the part. I eagerly await the next episodes in hope of improvement.

[Delmonico]

Agreed, to a point. No doubt what we consider a "southern accent" in 2011 differs from that of 1865. People continue to evolve, time doesn't stand still. The fact remains there were marked differences in regional dialect even in 1865 which were attributable to factors too numerous to cite here. 

IMO based upon this first episode, the actor playing Bohannon, Anson Mount, has delivered a somewhat lacking performance. There's more to good acting than just looking the part. I eagerly await the next episodes in hope of improvement.

As for the acting, that's true, but if the person was well educated a lot of the regional accent was all but beat out of them in school.  Remember it is said that folks could tell Lincoln was an uneducated person from the Midwest by the way he spoke.  Proper speaking was pushed real hard in that time.

[Major 2]

"I just took the time to watch the first one, see there is a thread going one elsewhere picking the guns apart so I was curious....
.....yeah the brass framed 51 Navy ain't a G&G, but it beats sending Little Joe for the 92 Winny with the forestock removed and the receiver spray painted gold "


Just for clearifcation ...I mentioned the Griswald ( Griswald & Gunnison I'd assume )
It was not the show, I was picking apart at that point I had not seen it , ONLY THE TRAILER .

In the trailer, the Propmaster, intends to inform us the BRASS FRAME 1860 (look at the bore) Army he is holding to show us, is the
Griswald (& Gunnison) he'd like you to believe it is  

I lost any interest in HIS ability to research his job or attempt to inform others of his knowledge.  Having Held the Job of Propmaster myself I know what goes into good research.
That was my comments meaning.

As stated I had not seen the Show, at that point.... when I did this morning I saw the Brass Frame Remington  

I also wondered why Cut Diggers were using Picks on soft already dug disgarded dirt !  

[Delmonico]

I wasn't refewring to you Major, just the ones who's historical knowledge don't go beyond the guns. 

As for the experts, well they were low budget TV experts, "and for the price of shipping and handling only, you can have another one free."

After thought I wish they'd of turned the barrel down on the brass frame G&G/Colt/whatever, every hero has to have his Excaliber and the more I think about it a plain ol Colt wouldn't do, Kinda like Steve McQueen's mare leg or the Dukes large lever 92 or "fill in the blank."

[Major 2]

I wasn't singling you out , Del

Just clearifying my comment.....  

The video they run on line , has the Prop Master suppose to inform/educate the uninformed viewer of his knowledge...
of 19th century firearms.
Granted there have been no 92 Winchesters or 73 Colts (so far)....
Still, he lost my attention to his knowledge of his craft .... when on camera he displays a gun that never existed (Brass frame 1860 Army) and attempts to pass it off a Griswald  ( Griswald & Gunnison ).

I'd like to read the script, the writer may call for the Griswald to be the hero's "Excaliber"
But,  the Prop Master blew it , then proved he blew it on Video  


Pietta's Replica Griswald & Gunnison below is $179 @ Cabela's and with $20 buck off for orders over $150 = $159
and an Original.... what could have been and on Budget !

[Capt.Virgil Russo]

As for the acting, that's true, but if the person was well educated a lot of the regional accent was all but beat out of them in school.  Remember it is said that folks could tell Lincoln was an uneducated person from the Midwest by the way he spoke.  Proper speaking was pushed real hard in that time.

Which is the largest issue to me. This is theater intended to entertain so I can accept less than accurate weaponry or accenting as long as the acting is engaging, which for Mr. Mount has yet to happen. Disappointing because he really does look the part, maybe the producers are targetting the female audience.   

I have to be up at 3AM for work but I'll try to make it through tonight's episode.

[Lead Zeppelin]

I think in the first episode the writers are trying a little too hard to make him into "The man with no name" - too many scenes of him making scary faces, and not much talking.  I think that's a mistake, one of the things that makes Clint Eastwood films so great is the combination of scary glances AND great dialogue.  "Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?"  "In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig." etc, etc, ETC!!!  
 

[Mako]

I wasn't singling you out , Del

Just clearifying my comment.....  

The video they run on line , has the Prop Master suppose to inform/educate the uninformed viewer of his knowledge...
of 19th century firearms.
Granted there have been no 92 Winchesters or 73 Colts (so far)....
Still, he lost my attention to his knowledge of his craft .... when on camera he displays a gun that never existed (Brass frame 1860 Army) and attempts to pass it off a Griswald  ( Griswald & Gunnison ).

I'd like to read the script, the writer may call for the Griswald to be the hero's "Excaliber"
But,  the Prop Master blew it , then proved he blew it on Video  


Pietta's Replica Griswald & Gunnison below is $179 @ Cabela's and with $20 buck off for orders over $150 = $159
and an Original.... what could have been and on Budget !

Major,
I wholeheartedly agree with you on this.  I don't know if you've been reading the other threads but it appears we are in violent "agreement" on this.  I'm glad to have someone who has actually served as a property master to speak up on this.

I have a close friend who has been involved in this since 1984 which is where I have gained most of my insight to the inner workings of the process of getting the props as right as possible.  In fact I even earned a contract check once serving as a technical consultant for a movie that was being pitched.  I was brought in because I had particular experience in the area they were trying to portray.  That's when I learned the successful consultant firms and prop houses often brought in outside resources to assure they were meeting the "texture and believability" factors. 

I also learned about the "guiding documents" they contracted and used as their touchstone as the production progressed.  They used these documents to maintain their perspective, because once they got moving they quickly lost sight of the forest because of the trees.  At the end of their storyboard sessions, they review their plans against their guiding documents to make sure they aren't getting into the weeds.

I also learned they do somethings they will admit are incorrect because it has become expected.  Popular misconceptions are often hard to overcome, so they go with the flow.  That is the primary reason I get irritated they use things like the Brass Frame 1860s when Griswold and Gunnison reproductions are so easy to come by.  You and I have both pointed out you can buy them at Cabelas.  Once this gets into the popular mythos it is almost impossible to eradicate. 

I enjoyed last nights episode and they did a good job setting up ongoing conflict that now exists between the Swede and Cullen.  They also are creating some good sub plots with the Irish brothers, Cullen's interactions with the former slaves on the work crew and several more with Lily.  All in all I liked it.

Regards,
Mako

[Lead Zeppelin]

Every time they have a scene with the preacher, all I can think of is the creepy preacher, Henry Kane from Poltergeist II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuet7GRv7Bo

So - I guess we can assume that Swede gave Bohannon back his G&G after he gets the new job??
 

[Mako]

So - I guess we can assume that Swede gave Bohannon back his G&G after he gets the new job??
 

Naaaaahh...the prop department has plenty, they hand them out like candy...




~Mako

I actually wondered the same thing.

[Marshal Deadwood]

Just wanted to say a bit about the leads southern accent. Actually, it's just about right. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the south talks like Foghorn Leghorn. I feel as if I'm listening to one'a the guys down at the store talk about deer huntin' when I hear Cullen talk. Very real, not overdone like one hears a lot of time on film when someone is emulating someone from the south.

Lot's of the other, I'm having a good time learning from you guys about what 'might be kinda incorrect or is kinda right.'

I really enjoy the show. I believe the depth of the characters will grow as it progresses.

MD

[Skyrider]

The wife and I watched for the first time last night, I'll give it a 7 on the scale of 1 to 10. 

Now if Tom Horn or Professionals or any other top notch Western, I would watch those instead, even though I have seen them 20 dozen times or more. Mountain Men, Jeremiah Johnson or SHANE would also get my attention in a big hurry.

[Border Ruffian]

I liked it, I know in the first few episodes they are still setting the scene, I did enjoy a fomer Confederate as a hero, does not happen too often in our PC world.