What makes it different from others?

Instant Favorite.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I'm not sure I've seen a movie truer to the book as this one. The first couple of scenes with David Arquette as Gus are brutal, but he gets better due to the fact he looks like a younger Gus. Overall it's a great tribute to a wonderful book!

There were some elements of this film that I found unrealistic and caused me to stop watching. Here are a few examples. At one point, a group of well armed men sit and watch with horror as an Indian on horseback chases down and scalps one of their own. They were carrying long rifles and the distance was clearly within range of a Hawkins type rifle (let's say 100 yards or so). Even if they had been out of range, they could have mounted horses and moved up. In any case, in that situation, I'm sure any frontiersman would have shot that Indian right off of his pony. Also, in one scene, one of the characters picks up a severed turtle head. It looks realistic enough but from the way he squeezes it and it caves in without any resistance, one can see that the head is hollow and made of rubber. A little more careful handling by the actor would not have given this away although we all know a real turtle head wasn't used in filming.

This is a great adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel. The script follows the novel very closely, which is the number one requirement of any film adaptation of McMurtry's work. McMurtry's dialogue compels readers to fall in love with the characters, so it must be preserved. David Arquette and Jonny Lee Miller are very believable as young versions of Gus McCrae and Woodrow McCall. Arquette has even picked up some of the physical mannerisms that Robert Duvall used earlier in Lonesome Dove. Patricia Childress really captures the role of the tender-hearted young prostitute Mattie Roberts. Eric Schweig is chilling as the dangerous Comanche Chief Buffalo Hump, and the stunt work by Judson Keith Linn when doubling for Schweig is fantastic. The sequence where he rides down one of the Texas Rangers and scalps him from horseback is thrilling and terrifying. An equally terrifying nighttime sequence involves Buffalo Hump chasing down Gus on foot during a lightning storm and spearing him with his lance. The cast is full of noted character actors including Brian Dennehy, Keith Carradine, Harry Dean Stanton, F. Murray Abraham, and Edward James Olmos. Olmos is particularly effective as Mexican Army Captain Salazar. I love this mini-series, but it should not be compared to Lonesome Dove. Every adaptation of McMurtry books is different, using different casts, etc. Don't compare them, just enjoy them!

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.