It's not that they would have been more subtle, just that "crap", "shit", "damn", and "hell" were more shocking back then, and the F-word, the C-word, and Mr. Wu's favorite word weren't as much in circulation until later in the 19th century and into the early 20th. Basically, Deadwood takes place near the time when profanity in the English language was transitioning from blasphemy to sexuality.
I don't have a problem with the swearing, but I am skeptical that the swears they use are really period appropriate. I wish they'd go for period accuracy rather than modern shock value. Otherwise they feel less like crude settlers and more like shock jockeys.
The reason Milch went with modern rather than period profanity was because he wanted to drive home the raw, lawless frontier environment these people were operating in. Visitors to the Deadwood camp in 1876 were shocked by the crude language... but the crude language of that period is mild by our present-day standards; "shit" doesn't merit an R-rating, and ABC even allowed NYPD Blue one use of the word per week during its later seasons. Deadwood got its point across just fine, and at no point did anyone confuse Bullock or Swearengen with shock jocks.
That makes sense, thanks. So it's anachronistic in that sense, but done in an artful manner. I guess I still would have preferred a bit of a transition towards what different usage of language. As an aside, what's interesting is how much of what's allowed on broadcast TV now vs Cable networks. At least in Canada, I've seen regular broadcast networks drop the F-Bomb several times, when even just a few years ago wouldn't have been a thing.
I would tend to agree although Calamity Jane's and Mr Wu's use of the word "cocksucker" are wonderfully funny to me.
Wow, I'm impressed by the number of people who have returned. That's a testament of how much they clearly loved the show despite Timothy Olyphant's skepticism that this movie would ever happen. It's just a shame it didn't happen sooner so Powers Boothe could be involved, too.
Great news. Glad everyone is coming back. I once described the writing to a friend as "It's a great show about the old west but my guess is they write the dialog and hand it to the actors and say 'Try to jam the word fuck in here about 20 times.'"
Ah, you beat me to it. I was about to post the same thing. Hopefully we'll get a proper trailer soon.
Ian McShane says May release: https://amp/amp.denofgeek.com/us/tv/hbo/279665/deadwood-movie-release-date
The “A love letter to the series” title in the article makes me twitch a little bit. I really wish they didn’t say that exact sentence. Remember that Berman said that Enterprise’s TATV was supposed to be “a love letter to the fans” or some such nonsense. I really REALLY hope they know what that phrase means this time. Although it’s hard to believe that, after all this time, it will happen the same absurd way that Enterprise ended. Crossing my fingers.