Godless, The Most Brutal Western I Have Ever Seen: Netflix

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The first episode opens with a sheriff's posse riding into a town, dead rotting bodies everywhere, Next at night a lady confronts a stranger who doesn't "declare himself" so she shoots him out of the saddle. An "badman" and his owl hoot henchmen visit a Doctor in the middle of the night. The "badman" tells the doctor he has been shot. Next you see the Doc looking at the wound in his arm and you can see through the bullet hole out the other side and the Doc explains that he has to amputate the Badman tells him to go ahead. The scene shifts outside. A pair of gunman are talking while this is going on you hear the Badman screaming in agony as the Doc cuts off his arm. That is just how is starts out. Is there such a thing as a Gothic Western if there is this is one. It reminds me of Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973) only much, much darker and fantastically more brutal. As I watch this western I am thinking to myself zombie gunslinger cowboys would not be out of place on this one.

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High production values. Well-written and acted. OTT sex and violence. Anyone recognize this formula?

To be fair, sex not prominent in the one episode I've watched. One rape, and no nudity even.
 
One of the things I like about Godless is the lighting. All natural light. Back when this story was set it was dark indoors out of the sun. With modern CCD camera, one can now shoot in natural light.
 
I meant to mention the photography. In addition to the natural indoor look, there is great reliance on high-key effects. Lots of drama and flare to the shots (pun intended).

Someone had a great time shooting a OTT slo-mo of riders crossing a stream at speed, kicking up huge clouds of golden drops in the sun. Overly-flashy, but undeniably impressive.
 
2nd episode. Photography less flashy. 1st episode must have been the pilot. Still hardly any nudity, just a long shot of a naked lady from behind, and later she flashes some schoolkids, but only they see it, we don't. Netflix is definitely leaving that to HBO.

Not a whole lot of violence this time either. Big dramatic scene where the robber baron faces the townswomen in high-stakes negotiation was--anticlimactic.
 
I've seen some really graphic violence on netflix. Seems to be an option for them.
 
The town in the movie, for some yet unexplained reason, only has women living there. There is one brief scene where prospective husbands have arrived on stage to interview for possible marriage. One of the ladies looks between buildings and on the other side in the distance, you see a totally naked woman going fishing. The scene is so out of context that you wonder what the director was thinking.
 
The town in the movie, for some yet unexplained reason, only has women living there. There is one brief scene where prospective husbands have arrived on stage to interview for possible marriage. One of the ladies looks between buildings and on the other side in the distance, you see a totally naked woman going fishing. The scene is so out of context that you wonder what the director was thinking.
What I heard, something about a miming disaster where most of the menfolk foolishly locked themselves in an invisible box and suffocated.
 
I watched the whole series and really enjoyed it. Jeff Daniels surprised me. He did an excellent job as Frank Griffin.
 
Mining is a dangerous job choice.
Mining? That's very different. Never mind.

But seriously, folks,
Miming is a choice, mining often the only opportunity available. Dangerous, yes, but so was farming. Mining is as dangerous as the enforcement of safety standards permit.

Farming, mining, and associated support was the cash cow economic base whence I came. An active art community there later had a mime troup, fwiw.
 
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Mining? That's very different. Never mind.

But seriously, folks,
Miming is a choice, mining often the only opportunity available. Dangerous, yes, but so was farming. Mining is as dangerous as the enforcement of safety standards permit.

About the only safety standards for mining in that timeframe was sending a caged carary down there to detect gas.
 
Kennecott was always threatening to shut the copper mine next union strike. They did have a pretty decent safety record especially compared to the coal mines.
Kennecott sponsored the only local television movie of the week in the early 1950s, a big deal. The commercials were informative presentations of various aspects of ore mining and refinery operations. Many of the fo!ks we knew worked directly in one of the other.

Apologies for the diversion, back to the scheduled thread.
 
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