Comanche Moon

K

kevwun

1,000+ Posts
I like some of the casting, but think they screwed up on using Steven Zahn as Gus. I just don't think he can pull it off. Granted it's impossible for anyone to live up to Robert Duval's performance in Lonesome Dove. I didn't like the book a great deal, so I'm not expecting much. I will watch all 3 episodes unless it's horrible, though.

It starts this Sunday on CBS and finishes up on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
I think he's going to be pretty bad as Gus. I don't think he can pull of the sass, for lack of a better word.
 
I agree that Steve Zahn might be a reach to play Gus. If I was casting this role, I'd focus on 3 things:
1) someone that is somewhat leathery - you know because they're cowboys and all
2) someone that likes to get laid - Gus likes his pokes
3) someone that can drink all day long

Lindsey Lohan??
 
I just finished watching the first episode and I have to say that that critic from Salon summed it up perfectly. I would say that Zahn does WAY better than most, including myself expected. I think he shines the most and I think he must have studied Duvall's portrayal quite a bit. Everybody else is pretty lackluster. The thing I was most dissappointed with was that the overall look and feel was just ******. It looked like they were working with a small budget or something. Just dissappointing. Not that I expected it to be great but, ya know.
 
I think Steve Zahn did a badass job of portraying Gus...he definitely studied Duval...his mannerisms, hand gestures, accent....all very well done.

Call was rough. But he's a tough character to act.

I think overall the series is good. As far as the "low budget" comment, I think they wanted to mirror Lonesome Dove in appearance. Thus, they brought back McMurtry and that female co-producer, both of whom worked on LD. Remember, LD was a bit low budget in that scenes were done mostly onsite, outside, and inside scenes weren't elaborate.

I'm really glad they didn't use a bunch of special effects and high budget scenery in Comanche Moon. The series should be about the plot, which will hold its own.

And how about Maggie..."Beth" from 40 Year Old Virgin...hot as a 2 dollar pistol! I didn't realize Jake Spoon was such a douche early on in life...
 
I watched 30 minutes of that steaming pile of crap before I turned it off.

Problems I had with it.
1. The opening sceen that I guess was supposed to be the council house fight was stupid. If you are going to do that right then you need to show the young female captive the Comanches brought in with her nose burned off that triggered the fight. It was pretty ****** to have the settlers play the Jap role in Pearl Harbor.

2. The thought of a group of Texas Rangers bumbling around the plain being led by a walking Kickapoo because they couldn't track is stupid. I love how they come across Buffalo Hump's 10 tent camp and are scared to go down there. That is such ********. Rangers were ******* brutal killers that scarred the **** out of Indians.

3. The rich lady acting like a ***** in Victorian Austin was stupid.

4. Austin looks like the Mojave Desert.

5. The dude playing Gus did as well as you can but Duvall has made it impossible for another actor to play that role. Call was horrible.

I didn't see the last hour and a half so maybe it got better.
 
Hey guys what is teleplay? Is that just the overall look and feel? If so I agree, it was terrible.
 
Don't know that it was awful, but then it's been a while since I read the book. The Call-Guss interchanges early on were definitely pretty contrived - OK, we get it, Gus is a lover and Call is a fighter, you don't have to have Gus literally tell us that.

And yeah, what's up with Austin being a dust bowl?
 
I haven't read the book, but since McMurtry worked on the project, I would assume the dialogue is pretty similar to the book, ala Lonesome Dove.

I think the fact this mini-series is airing in 2008 has something to do with the bad reviews. Everyone is used to HBO-type original programming, which didn't exist in the late 80's when Lonesome Dove aired. I personally think the two look pretty similar.
 
I agree that with the exception of Zahn, the acting and script are bad and the production feels low budget.

That said, I'm going to keep watching because the plot seems interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the Comanches on the war path.
 
you guys must understand that nothing will ever match the original so you must go in with no expectations. with that being said i was pretty impressed. i mean...it wasn't bad. Call and Gus were done quite well i thought.
 
It wasn't "Lonesome Dove" but then again the book wasn't either. However, I enjoyed it very much and look forward to the next two episodes.

I hadn't read the book in several years and I started reading it again today. So far it follows the book pretty well.
 
It has nothing to do with HBO. Lonesome Dove still kicks ***. I'm pissed that the Comanche get to be the intimidating, bad-***, noble savage. Comanche raiders were thieves, rapists, murderers, and kidnappers. They tortured women and children. Texas Rangers stumbling around the plains like idiots, it's offensive.
 
I have a question about something that happened Sunday...

When Gus and Call's group come up on the family that was killed (the man and boy) and taken (the woman and girls), they catch up to the Comanches who took the women. After the Comanches are killed, there is a comment about the woman that no one would want her now that the Comanches had had her. Was that the case with rape victims then? Once you've been raped, you were damaged goods to be ostracized?
 
Not to thread kill...for those who didn't think Steven Zahn had the acting chops check out Rescue Dawn (this is the movie that change my opinion of Zahn). I think he hangs in there with Christian Bale and is way better than Jeremy Davies.
 
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