Author Topic: Hell on wheels tonight!  (Read 4940 times)

Offline rbertalotto

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Hell on wheels tonight!
« on: August 02, 2014, 04:05:40 PM »
9 p.m. Eastern Time. AMC network.
Roy B
South of Boston
www.rvbprecision.com
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Offline Hargrave

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2014, 09:02:20 AM »
Aside from being a fantastically well told story .... The set and costume design are great ... One of my favorite shows to watch
"Prairie Smoke" Jake
Houston, TX
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
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Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2014, 11:23:16 AM »
The current issue of "Cowboys & Indians" magazine has an article on the show and an interview with Anson Mount. He has a family history going back to the ACW and did a lot of reading and research on the era to play the role.

I like the show as the language is inoffensive, the sets believable (except for the constantly muddy street). I like the fact that it doesn't gloss over history, putting lipstick on a pig. I also like the location, not far from Calgary where I grew up, spending many happy hours waging war on the gopher population.

My wife is a period clothes hog of the first order and loves the wardrobes of the actors. Some of the characters look like they would smell if you got down wind of them. Life was hard back then, especially for the women.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #3 on: Today at 09:06:47 AM »

Offline RattlesnakeJack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2014, 12:35:27 PM »
Yep, exterior locations have all been in southwestern Alberta, near Calgary ....

But of course other westerns with gorgeous scenery have been filmed here - e.g. River of No Return, Little Big Man, Unforgiven, Legends of the Fall, Open Range .....
Rattlesnake Jack Robson, Scout, Rocky Mountain Rangers, North West Canada, 1885
Major John M. Robson, Royal Scots of Canada, 1883-1901
Sgt. John Robson, Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, 1885
Bvt. Col, Commanding International Dept. and Div.  of Canada, Grand Army of the Frontier

Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2014, 02:26:23 PM »
I keep hoping that Paul Gross will take it on to produce a movie on the 1885 Rebellion, filming it in the actual southern Alberta region.

If he could pull of "Passchendaele", it ought to be a cake walk by comparison.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

Offline Garand

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2014, 07:02:33 PM »
I was priviledged to be invited to the opening of Passchendale along with a number of friends who starred in the movie as extras, I was never more insulted in my life. Paul Gross did nothing to portray the typical soldier in WW1. Mind you if you enjoyed "Gunless", well you will like anybody.
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Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2014, 08:08:00 PM »
In fact, I DID enjoy "Gunless" for what it was - a spoof on the typical gunfighter-of -the-old-west-genre.

I don't understand your comment re: Gross NOT portraying the life of a WWI soldier. Define "typical soldier of WWI". What more could he have done?

With MILLIONS of soldiers in the conflict on all sides, I can't imagine a "typical" individual.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

Offline Garand

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2014, 10:32:10 PM »
Jumping a nurse right behind the front lines while the battle was going on was hardly realistic, the cross based on a false rumor spread by the allied propaganda machine. I somehow don't see my grandfather spending his time on the Western Front like that.
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Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2014, 10:56:14 AM »
For crying out loud - IT WAS A MOVIE! It's called artistic licence.

Think of all the great war movies you've seen and tell me that they were done in docu-drama style. Was Gary Cooper's experience in "For Whom The Bell Tolls" an accurate portrayal of the typical American volunteer Republican soldier of the Spanish Civil War?

Was the experience of Tom Hank's Ranger squad in "Saving Private Ryan" typical of a GI's experience in Normandy? Or that of the characters in Remarque's "All Quiet On The Western Front"?

One thing that life has taught me is that NOTHING Hollywood could come up with is as bizarre as real life can be. If the human mind can conceive of it, someone sure as hell has done it at some time or place. Or will.

In retrospect, I think I'd rather have Anson Mount produce a movie on the 1885 Rebellion. I wonder if he'd take a little artistic licence as is being done in "Hell On Wheels"? No reason to believe that anything we see in that series is based on actual people, happenings and events. It's just a STORY, a fantasy like we indulge in.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

Offline Blair

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2014, 11:17:18 AM »
Roy B,

I was just wondering if any improvements were made with the firearms from previous seasons?
That is something that could be corrected easily enough.
My best,
 Blair
A Time for Prayer.
"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things right,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted"
by Rudyard Kipling.
Blair Taylor
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Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2014, 11:20:58 AM »
We're seeing a lot of Henrys, at least in the hands of the Mormons. The Cavalry types were carrying lever action rifles that appeared to be blued Winchesters!

The new government 'carpet bagger' baddies in the show are packing brass framed '51 Navy's and '49's.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

Offline Blair

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2014, 11:51:43 AM »
PJ,

Thanks, that is kind of what I was hopping for when this thread was first posted.
I don't watch TV any longer, but I did still have it when the first episode or two of this program started.
I stopped watching it because of the poor ID of the firearms.
Mot point now I suppose. I thought the program had good potential. I was hopping they would make changes with new seasons.
My best,
 Blair
A Time for Prayer.
"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things right,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted"
by Rudyard Kipling.
Blair Taylor
Life-C 21

Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2014, 02:00:01 PM »
Guns aside, it's the characterizations that I really enjoy. ALL of the major players are just great in their roles.

The baddies are nasty, the women (whores and ladies alike) are strong, the navvies believable, etc. The only disappoint for me has been the portrayal of the soldiers. John Wayne would not have approved ..... ;>)
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

Offline Jayhawker

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2014, 06:51:34 PM »
I record this show and keep them until they come out on DVD..a great western, IMHO...
HOWEVER..In this seasons second episode I caught a goof and had to smile....
During the opening scenes as the cavalry is riding up to the Mormon fort, the camera pans down to the horses hooves and what do I see? Tire tracks in the mud...
Doesn't make me hate the series...just made me grin... ;D
Life is NOT like a box of chocolates...it more like a jalapeno...what you do today might burn your butt tomorrow...

Offline PJ Hardtack

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Re: Hell on wheels tonight!
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2014, 09:01:34 PM »
Good eye! I missed that.

Picking fly sh!t out of pepper, looking for goofs in movies used to be something that I enjoyed doing. Now I am less critical, preferring to get caught up in the story.

As long as the makers make a reasonable effort (i.e no '73 Colts or Winchesters in Civil War era movies), I'm happy.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

 

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