Dead Man's Walk - The deadly way to the west

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Movie
German title Dead Man's Walk - The deadly way to the west
Original title Dead Man's Walk
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length approx. 272 ​​minutes
Rod
Director Yves Simoneau
script Larry McMurtry
Diana Ossana
production Patrick Curtis
music David Bell
camera Edward J. Pei
cut Michael D. Ornstein
occupation

Dead Man's Walk is a three-part western originally produced for US television from 1996. It is an adaptation of the book of the same name by the writer Larry McMurtry (* 1936).

action

The two young Texas rangers Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae, who have already gained their first frontier experience, volunteered to join Colonel Caleb Cobb's expedition in 1842, which aims to conquer Santa Fe , which belongs to Mexico, and its environs and annex to the Republic of Texas . The experienced frontiersmen “Bigfoot” Wallace and Shadrach as well as the prostitute “Mattie” Roberts are also part of the party.

The way to Santa Fe leads through the Comancheria , the area of ​​the Comanches , where the expedition members are exposed to their permanent attacks. When they stop at a river to get some fish, Woodrow F. Call kills a young Comanche warrior who was trying to approach him while floating in the water. With this act, Call not only acquires the name of rifle in the water from his tribal brothers , but also incurs the hatred of his father Buffalo Hump .

As the expedition advances into increasingly barren regions, it gets increasingly into supply difficulties. Other problems are caused by the fact that one has apparently taken the wrong path, the incessant attacks by Buffalo Hump, to which more and more expedition members are falling victim, his tribal brother Kicking Wolf, who manages to steal a considerable part of the expedition's horse population, and that Disappearance of Bes Das, the Indian scout of the expedition, with another part of the horses. In the face of these difficulties, Colonel Cobb turns out to be a completely incompetent leader, who can, however, act extremely underhanded and brutal at times. When he was camped on the edge of a ravine, the Comanches took this opportunity to start a prairie fire. In front of them the fire and behind them the abyss, the expedition members are finally forced to descend this to find protection from the fire. Quite a few of them pay for this venture with their lives; In addition, the expedition loses all of its food carts and the rest of its horses due to the fire.

Call, McCrae and Wallace, who were sent ahead as scouts, finally reach a Mexican settlement where they are arrested by a group of soldiers commanded by Capitán Salazar. You should be tried in the next town. As the soldiers camp with their prisoners on the way there, they are attacked by a grizzly bear , which allows the three prisoners to escape and reunite with the rest of the expedition.

The poor physical condition and the small number of remaining men, who make a conquest of Santa Fe hopeless, cause Colonel Cobb to surrender to the Mexican General Dimasio, who leads a far superior fighting force. Dimasio not only invites Cobb to breakfast, but also offers him an audience with the Mexican governor in Santa Fe. The fact that Cobb is apparently still being rewarded for his pathetic leadership qualities eventually makes Call lose his temper and attack him. Cobb survives and Call receives 100 lashes as a punishment for his act, which he miraculously survives.

While Cobb sets off to Santa Fe in the Mexican general's carriage and an escort, the other members of the expedition have to march there as prisoners, guarded by Salazar's soldiers. The grueling path through the desert region known as Jornada del Muerto claims numerous victims, both among the prisoners and the soldiers, due to exhaustion and the attacks of the Apache Gomez. On the way you come across General Dimasio and his companions, who were also attacked and killed by the Apaches. Only Colonel Cobb is still alive, but his eyes have been gouged out and his foot tendons cut. When Salazar reaches Cobb his gun so he can kill himself, Cobb shoots wildly and accidentally hits Shadrach, who dies as a result of the gunshot wound.

The few survivors finally reach a settlement on the Rio Grande , where they are received with little friendliness by Major Laroche and a detachment of Mexican soldiers. Laroche reprimands Capitán Salazar for his inability, which caused such high marching losses, and orders him to go back the same way. The prisoners are taken to the nearby leper colony of San Lazaro. There, Laroche has a macabre “lottery” organized for a specially brought Mexican public official by letting the few prisoners still alive draw from a jug of white and black beans. Whoever pulls a white bean is allowed to live and is free, whoever pulls a black bean will be executed. Call and McCrae survive, but "Bigfoot" Wallace and two others are shot.

The handful of survivors of the Cobb expedition finally made the acquaintance of Lady Lucinda Carey from Great Britain and her black servant. The two women, who were once Mexican prisoners, are still in San Lazaro because it is impossible to return to their homeland without escort. It is finally agreed that Call, McCrae and the others will escort the ladies through the wilderness, for which Lady Carey pays for the necessary equipment. On the way back they have to cross the Comancheria again , where Buffalo Hump and a few other warriors are already preparing for an attack. Due to the fearless and extremely strange demeanor of Lady Carey and her servant, Buffalo Hump sees an old prophecy fulfilled, whereupon he literally freezes in horror and refrains from attacking. In this way, the small tour group safely returns to Texas, where McCrae finally meets his lover again.

background

The plot of the film is based on the 1841 Texan Santa Fe Expedition , which was sent by the then President of the Republic of Texas , Mirabeau B. Lamar , to wrest Santa Fe from the Mexicans. The "lottery" occurring in the third part of the series, in which the surviving Texans have to decide for themselves by drawing black or white beans, which of them should be killed by a Mexican firing squad and who can stay alive, is taken from an episode that actually happened in the course of the Mier expedition of 1842.

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