- Dan Dority’s character Deadwood reflects an exploration of violence and the cost of building the American West.
- The brutal fight scene between Dan and Turner highlights the true nature of the “Wild” West, conquered through violence.
- Swearengen’s disregard for Dan’s trauma demonstrates the harsh reality that America was built on bloodshed.
Towards the third season David Milchfamous HBO series Deadwood, the titular city is turned upside down by two warring despots. On the one hand there is Ian McShaneThe famous Al Swearengen, criminal thug/saloon owner and de facto social leader. On the other side Gerald McRaney’s George Hearst, titan of industry and disruptor who brought modern big business to the gold mining town. The show uses the traditions of the Western genre to reflect real-world events, but always depicts a particularly grounded version of the pre-industrial American West. When two powerful figures finally come to blows, it is not directly, but through their minions. The fight that follows is one of the most brutal scenes in the series (or any Western for that matter) and changes Dan Dority forever (W. Earl Brown), Swearengen’s henchman and one of the most interesting characters in the series.
Deadwood
The show, set in the late 1800s, revolves around characters in Deadwood, South Dakota; a city of deep corruption and crime.
Dan Dority is at the core of what makes Deadwood great
Dan, who is always excellent W. Earl Brown seems relatively simple at first. Compared with Timothy Olyphant’s Seething Sheriff Seth Bullock or Powers BoothSlimy Cy Tolliver, Dan seems modest. Simply put, he is a killer. Always loyal and working under the orders of Swearengen, who runs the city as both a mob boss and mayor, Dan does the dirty work. Brutal and a little smarter than he lets on, he tends to be Swearengen’s most reliable pistol. For a while, that’s all he is. However, as the show progresses, it deeply explores the role of violence in the construction of the West. Dan thus becomes a crucial character in shaping the show’s themes. When George Hearst comes to town to expand his mining empire, he predictably changes the dynamics of the previously independent town of Deadwood and irritates its residents. Swearengen is most offended by Hirst’s presence. First, Swearengen is ideologically opposed to what Hirst represents. Hirst totalizes power, the effect of modern industry, which compresses and limits the individual. Secondly, and simply put, Hearst is competitive. The famously vulgar Swearengen, no less a capitalist, is in danger of becoming obsolete with Hearst’s arrival in town. But if the titanic Hearst is a bona fide robber baron, then what remains for the ordinary old robber?
And then Dan comes on stage. On the surface, Dan’s character represents the essence of the series. If Bullock and Swearengen’s polar moral views on how to build society constitute great themes DeadwoodDan presents the tools and cost of this building. Swearengen appoints Dan as his representative to deal with Hearst, who in turn appoints his own goon named Turner. The two spend the first half of the episode coming to terms with the fight ahead. It seems that no matter who runs this city, whose vision of civilization is built on, there must always be Dan to do the dirty work. In this episode, a bitter irony occurs to the viewer: no matter who wins the impending fight, we already know who won the war. Hearst became the winner, preserving such a huge legacy that his name remains a household name to this day. He brought modern industry (and media) to America using the same tool that Swearengen used to control the crime of Deadwood – violent people who could and would kill on command. They’re still just men though. Many Westerns have explored the trauma at the core of the concept of America, but this heartbreaking scene forces us to consider not only how that trauma is inflicted, but also who should bear the burden of it. When the time comes, Dan prepares. He walks out of the bar onto the street, his hands already dirty (literally!)
Dan and Turner don’t exchange a word before turning on each other. There’s no music to punctuate the script and it’s modestly shot, allowing the carnage to be entirely legible and barely stylized. Deadwood I’ve always been interested in realism. The series is fairly loose with the true stories that inspired it, but this fight scene centers on one truth that the series has never stopped exploring: that the “Wild” West was not conquered, despite the violence, but through This. Dan and Turner switch places dozens of times throughout the scene. Every time one gains the upper hand, the other takes the lead again. Dan and Turner roll around in the mud in front of the entire town, cringing along with the viewer at every crunch of bones and slap of skin against skin. There are no rules in this fight, no sense of cowboy honor, just raw, vicious resourcefulness. Turner takes over. He bites Dan’s face, drowns him in a muddy puddle, and eventually starts banging his head on a jagged rock. While all this is happening, each man is looking at his boss. Swearengen watches what is happening from the balcony, and Hirst from the roof. They must be no more than a few yards apart, but they don’t even glance at each other. Instead, they stare at the battle below. The power dynamic between these four characters couldn’t be more apparent.
Ian McShane calls Deadwood’s most shocking scene one of its darkest
Just when it looks like it’s all over for Dan, he turns the fight into one of the most frightening and disgusting displays of violence in any Western. He pokes out Turner’s eye. The gore effects here aren’t exactly grindhouse-y either. This is not the kind of joyful hyperviolence Quentin Tarantino enjoyed Django Unchained. This is the type of on-screen violence that turns your stomach into knots. It’s hard not to look away as Turner shouts into the retreating crowd. Before Dan finishes Turner off with a heavy log, he looks at the two figures watching their bid. He looks into each of them’s eyes. First, to justify himself, he looks at Hearst. Then, looking for direction, he looks at Swearengen. It’s hard to read every man’s facial expression. Hearst seems worried, perhaps even humiliated. Swearengen looks coldly and indifferently. Dan just looks exhausted. However, perhaps the key difference is what’s on their faces. Swearengen is clean and combed and looks at his subordinate. Dan’s face was covered in scars, bruises, blood and dirt. The most disturbing part of this scene isn’t even the disgusting, visceral violence when the eye comes out of the head. The point is that Dan has more in common with the man he just beat to death than with the man who forced him to do it.
The cavalier manner in which Swearengen treats this grotesque spectacle is simply disgusting. Dan will have to live through this experience for the rest of his life. This changes him as a person, but hardly changes the course of the ongoing power struggle. The worst thing is that this painful meeting for Dan was just a political maneuver by Swearengen. Later in the episode, when another subordinate asks what happens next, Al coldly replies, “To see what hell breaks loose.” The trauma caused by this fight haunts Dan for the rest of the series and even lingers into excellent episodes. Deadwood: The Movie, in which all the characters struggle with bloodshed in their lives. It is hard to imagine Deadwood without Dan Dority. He may not be as complex as Seth Bullock or as charismatic as Al Swearengen, but he clearly represents the show’s core argument: America was built on blood, and the cost of that cannot be overlooked.
Deadwood streaming on Max in the US
Watch on Max
Source: Collider