A Masterpiece!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Like the original Lonesome Dove series, i'd say this one is about hardship, luck, and the diversity of characters that can fill up wild harsh times. The humour is really good and mostly revolves around the naivety of people in such dangerous unknown territory. The cast is the strongest thing about this series. I was expecting everyone to be attempting to fill in the traditional roles of a prequel (immitating the successful original's characters and mood) but this series has acting and characters that I've remembered for years after watching it as being all uniquely bizarre and also weirdly believable. The storytelling has a nice patience to it. It's a shame this isn't better known; I've read the original Lonesome Dove novel and loved it, and the same goes for the Robert Duvall Series (watch that first if u haven't already - it's really strong!), I enjoyed Return to lonesome Dove also but not as much as it gets a bit melodramatic and loses some of it's humour by that series. I've vaguely attempted to watch some of the other televised Lonesome Dove spinoffs/sequels (The Outlaw Years, namely) and couldn't get into them at all, rejecting them as crap pretty quickly. But Dead Man's Walk is a really nice thoughtful watch.

I have yet to understand exactly why this three-part western series fascinated me as it did. I haven't even seen part one yet, but apart from top notch performances from all (Carradine, Arquette, Abraham and Stanton are great, Childress truly touching, Olmos wonderfully understated as always, and Jonny Lee Miller showing himself as an unchallenged champion of micro-expression, with a face that speaks volumes without moving a muscle) I was swept off my seat by the lyrically philosophical undertow that became increasingly clarified - though never too explicit - as part two progressed. The rough rangers are gradually transformed into a Community of Saints (to quote Lionel Trilling's phrase), suffering patiently as they are subjected to random killings, first in the shape of a blind captain shooting right and left, later from a diabolic Apache assassin ("he's nibbling at us!", Carradine exclaims) and random executions as they arrive at their journey's end (without ever reaching their destination) - finally to be surprised by Grace Personified, in the shape of an opera-singing leprous lady.At first, after having seen the ending (and a marvelously abrupt ending it is, bringing Chaplin's "City Lights" to mind), I thought of comparing it to the best of Eastwood's later films or Ford's "The Searchers". But "Dead Man's Walk" is not just a western, and it quietly and modestly indicates a meaning that goes beyond the plot - I believe it is Theatre of the Absurd at its very best. Samuel Beckett might have written this, or Harold Pinter.Not even the tacky fade-outs to commercial breaks could ruin this ingenious gem for me.It not only stands up to the brilliant "Lonesome Dove" - in my mind this prequel surpasses it. I understand scriptwriter MacMurtry is also responsible for "Brokeback Mountain" which I have yet to see.

What a truly wonderful miniseries.I laughed, I cried and I even saw a British Lady riding nude through the desert. It scared the dickens out of the "savages." There was never a dull moment. From the time the series began to the end this band of Texans lost comrades but kept up the fight. How many ways can you kill a Texan? This picture shows you. Seriously; I really great epic to be enjoyed on DVD...all 270 minutes of it in one sitting.

In this prequel to "Lonesome Dove" based on the book by Larry McMurtry, we find a young Woodrow Call and Augustus Macrae just starting out as Texas Rangers and beginning to become men.David Arquette is fantastic as the young Macrae and really captures the gestures and mannerisms that Robert Duvall put too such good use in Lonesome Dove. I was very impressed with his performance and had no trouble believing that he was the young Gus Macrae.Johnny Lee Miller does not fare as well as the young Woodrow Call and it is hard to believe that this is the character that Tommy Lee Jones played in the original as there is little that ties their acting styles to the same role.Visually, this is quite well done and comes the closest to Lonesome Dove in grittiness and open plain shots. The young Rangers are surrounded by eccentric characters played with great aplomb by the likes of Brian Dennehy, F.Murray Abraham, Keith Carradine, Harry Dean Stanton and Edward James Olmos.Strong acting throughout and a crackling good story hilight this worthy sequel and it makes a fine addition to the lore that is Lonesome Dove.