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Title: Not up to Sopranos-level
Review: Having just rewatched the Sopranos and Mad Man, I was in the mood for a high-quality serial drama. And as a big fan of post-modern westerns like Cormac McCarthy's novels and There Will Be Blood, I figured Deadwood would fit the bill. Unfortunately, the show disappoints. All the dialogue is dense bloviation, peppered with profanity. The actors often don't even seem to understand the words they're reading and the profanity, apparently, isn't historically accurate. Timothy Olyphant is miscast as a gritty former sheriff prone to violence.Whatever its faults, you have to credit Deadwood for a few truly great performances, especially Ian McShane as an amoral saloonkeeper, pimp and opium peddler. His voice is as cracked and leathery as an old saddle. The preacher and doctor are also great, the latter being essentially the doctor character from Kurosawa's Drunken Angel.
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