Here Was a Man (11 Apr. 2004)

Swearengen directs Farnum to buy back the Garret claim. Garret's wife, Alma, prevails on Calamity Jane and Wild Bill for help with the claim issue. Hickok's respect for Bullock grows and, ... See full summary »

Director:

Alan Taylor

Writers:

David Milch (creator), Elizabeth Sarnoff

Stars:

Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Olyphant	...	Seth Bullock
Ian McShane	...	Al Swearengen
Molly Parker	...	Alma Garret
Jim Beaver	...	Whitney Ellsworth
Brad Dourif	...	Doc Cochran
John Hawkes	...	Sol Star
Paula Malcomson	...	Trixie
Leon Rippy	...	Tom Nuttall
William Sanderson	...	E.B. Farnum
Robin Weigert	...	Calamity Jane
W. Earl Brown	...	Dan Dority
Dayton Callie	...	Charlie Utter
Powers Boothe	...	Cy Tolliver
Keith Carradine	...	Wild Bill Hickock
Jeffrey Jones	...	A.W. Merrick

Storyline

Swearengen directs Farnum to buy back the Garret claim. Garret's wife, Alma, prevails on Calamity Jane and Wild Bill for help with the claim issue. Hickok's respect for Bullock grows and, as a result, he commissions Bullock to do a review of the Garret claim. An ailing colleague, Andy Cramed, rejoins the Bella Union, and Wild Bill's run of luck at poker ends abruptly.

---

Plot Keywords:

19th century | shot in the back

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | History | Western

---

Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 April 2004 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Melody Ranch - 24715 Oak Creek Avenue, Newhall, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Red Board Productions, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

58 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

After Wild Bill is shot and falls out of his chair to the right, the chair falls straight back on the floor. When the camera angle changes. the chair is now on it's side behind Bill. When it changes again, it is on it's back again where it originally fell over.

---

Quotes

Al Swearengen: I got a healthy operation here, and I didn't build it brooding on the right and wrong of things. And I do not need the Pinkertons descending like locusts.

User Reviews

The end of Wild Bill Hickcock

In the wake of Brom Garret's death, his wife Alma dismisses the claims by Swearenegen's men that it was an accident. She enlists the help of Wild Bill Hickcock to find out what really happened to her husband, meanwhile, Swearengen, worried that the Pinkerton's might "descend like locusts" on the camp, instructs E.P. to purchase the gold claim off the widow to keep her happy and to hopefully move her along. Over on the Bella Union side of camp, an old friend of their's arrives back to them carrying with him a plague contracted from a whore somewhere. The Doc (Brad Douriff) is angered when he sees him, recognising the pandemic the camp could have on its hands. Calamity Janes continues to care for the little girl, while Wild Bill meets his end abruptly at a poker game when he is shot in the back of the neck by Jack McCaul, who is then captured by a mob. One of the best characters in the series has met his end prematurely in this episode, which in its own rights serves to testify how life was taken for granted and people were murdered with no regard whatsoever back in these lawless and violent days of the Wild West. The death of Hickcock leaves it open for a possible revenge saga as Seth is devastated by the death of his friend - who asked him to purchase the gold claim from the widow Garret before his murder - and the Bella Union man with the syphilis or whatever could unleash a pandemic on the camp.