Dead Man's Walk (1996)

Memorable, crazy movie

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

Larry McMurtry always takes some liberties with history; however, he went off the reservation when dealing with Dead Man's walk. He portrayed the Mier Expedition as a "small undertaking" including having Big Foot Wallace and 3 others executed during the black bean selection. This whole section of the story was full of inaccuracies. There were 17 men executed --- and Big Foot Wallace wasn't one of them --- he lived to a ripe old age. Its a good story, however the cast was somewhat lackluster. I've read all of the McMurtry books and can see the characters come to life as in Lonesome Dove. I couldn't say the same for this adaption.

I just spent 5 hours of my life watching total crap. The story was boring, the acting sucked, and the ending was terrible. The only thing good about this movie is that it was a Western, and had characters named Woodrow Call, Gus McCrae, and Clara Allen. Well, having Jennifer Garner in the cast didn't hurt, but we only see her for about 10 minutes. Outside of that, it does nothing to tell a back-story or anything.I rented this because I'm a huge Lonesome Dove fan and thought that while I'm sure it wouldn't measure up to the original, that it would be worth my time. I was VERY wrong.

While the previous comments praise the actors' style and likeness in terms of their forebears (Jones and Duvall), this movie is a pleasure to watch by way of the incredible scenery and the presence of several veteran character actors like Harry Dean Stanton, Keith Carradine, and the always awesome, Edward James Olmos. Fans of "O Brother Where Art Thou" will be pleased to see Ray McKinnon and Tim Blake Nelson featured prominently. I also noticed all of the previous comments were written by Yankees, so I might point out that the landscapes are a bit flawed (albeit beautiful) in terms of Texas-New Mexico geography. I've been to all of the places described in the book... believe me, most of West Texas is flatter than they let on! The sunsets are accurate, as are the rocky buttes, but they're using the Davis Mountains of the Big Bend region as the backdrop for most of the film, and that's a bit of a stretch. If you ever want to see some of the most beautiful scenery in West Texas, visit there sometime. The real places they traveled weren't always so pretty. I found that the actors didn't seem to be struggling for food and water as much as the characters in the book. Survival (man vs. nature) is a big part of the novel, and doesn't feature too prominently here. I kept getting hungry and thirsty while reading it! McMurtry mixes in a lot of real events with the narrative. You might think this stuff is fiction... it's not! Bigfoot Wallace was a real character and was known to have done many of the things this character experiences. The real Bigfoot survived to tell the tales as a seasoned old fart. The Santa Fe expedition is real.. and what happens to them is real. The Comanches as the lords of the plains? You bet! The were the kings of the Llano Estacado for 200 years. Buffalo Hump was real Comanche chief... his real name, Hard Penis, was too much for 19th century Texans so they gave him the new moniker. The descriptions of torture? McMurtry uses real sources.. he doesn't have to make this stuff up to be shocking... it really happened! The timeline is a bit compressed for drama, but the Texans of the 1840's lived this stuff. The Black Bean drawing is also real, but it happened in Saltillo Mexico and 17 guys drew black.For a dose of Texas History, you can't beat Dead Man's Walk. Read the book! But don't be afraid to read James Haley's "Texas: From Frontier to Spindletop". It's the real deal and includes just as much gore, drama, and adventure.