DEAD MAN'S WALK {PART 2 OF 2} (TV)

Summary

The second in this two-part Western miniseries, based on Larry McMurty's 1995 novel and serving as a prequel to the events of "Lonesome Dove," following a group of Texas Rangers as they embark upon the Texan Santa Fe Expedition in the 1840s. In this installment, the surviving Rangers emerge from the canyon after the fire, and Colonel Cobb is furious when Shadrach and Wallace wander off in pursuit of a deer. Elsewhere, scalphunter Kirker is captured and tortured by Kicking Wolf, seeking revenge for the murders of his family. Shadrach breaks up a knife fight between Cobb and Wallace, reminding them that they need one another to survive, and the men grow increasingly hungry as McCrae experiences disturbing dreams about the fearsome Buffalo Hump. When part of the group arrives in New Mexico, far from discovering a city full of "gold and silver,' they are immediately arrested by Mexican Army Captain Salazar. Back in the desert, however, Shadrach comforts Matilda, assuring her that able plainsman Wallace will soon return with Call and McCrae. In town, the men are surprised when Bes Das, their former interpreter, is executed for thievery, and when a bear attacks their campsite, the men flee back into the desert and encounter a startled Long Bill, who briefly fears that they are Comanches. They learn that Cobb and his men have still not found food, with Cobb even resorting to eating his beloved pet bird, Beelzebub.

Spotting a large group of Mexican soldiers, Cobb opts to have another "parlay" with their leader, who turns out to be Salazar. Cobb soon surrenders to Salazar, knowing that he has no other means of feeding his men, though Call stubborn refuses to accept their food and surrenders his gun only when Cobb threatens to shoot him as he did Falconer. Cobb, informing Call that "this little war is over," smugly prepares to head off to Santa Fe to greet the governor, and Call attacks him in a rage. Salazar pulls them apart, reminding Cobb that Call is his prisoner, and after some debate, Wallace, Shadrach and the rest of the Rangers surrender to Salazar as well, too hungry to consider fighting. Salazar informs Call that he is "brave but foolish" and sentences him to 100 lashes, and Call's friends are amazed when he somehow survives the brutal beating. Salazar orders his prisoners to cross through the dangerous Apache lands, and they are soon forced to burn their wagons for warmth and march on foot. When they come across a number of dead bodies, Salazar observes that fierce Apache warrior Gomez "knows no law," and they are stunned when they encounter Cobb, who was captured on his way to Santa Fe and blinded and hamstrung by the Apaches. Salazar coldly states that he is in no condition to accompany them on the Jornada del Muerto, or "Dead Man's Walk," through the desert to the Rio Grande, and Cobb sadly notes the irony of a pirate captain dying in the desert.

Instead of shooting himself, however, he defiantly fires at Salazar, but in the ensuing chaos, Cobb accidentally shoots and kills Shadrach before dying himself. Matilda is heartbroken by her "husband's" death, telling Call how Shadrach kindly cared for her after her parents' deaths many years ago. Call, still weakened from his flogging, struggles to survive through the harsh desert trek, and Salazar refuses to let his prisoners go, though agrees that his orders as "foolish" and deadly. Long Bill determinedly rescues Carthage when he falls behind, but Gomez continues tormenting the group, stealing Salazar's horses in the dead of night and forcing the group to continue through the desert on foot. Carthage, injured and exhausted, is strangely relieved when Gomez finds him alone at night, and when Wallace and Call find his mutilated body in the morning, they opt not to tell Long Bill of his friend's grim death at Gomez's hands and claim instead that he froze to death. Salazar executes another prisoner when he collapses, unable to walk on, though when Salazar, feeling that he is already disgraced by the deaths of so many of prisoners, challenges his surviving to kill him and make their escape, Wallace, Call, McCrae and Matilda all decline to pull the trigger.

The captives soon make an unpleasant soup from a dead cow, and as Matilda continues tending to Call and a jealous McCrae, Wallace notes with amusement that the former prostitute is now "a mother to two pups." He vows to kill Gomez himself when they find yet more of his victims along the way, and everyone is deeply relieved when they finally reach the Rio Grande. Before they can reach San Lazaro, however, they are met by Major Laroche, a Frenchman in the Mexican Army who demands to know why Salazar's prisoners are not restrained. Learning that Gomez has decimated the majority of the party, Laroche scolds Salazar for allowing a "savage" to best him and orders the captain to march all the way back to Santa Fe on foot. Laroche then orders the prisoners to bathe in the river to prepare for a "surprise" ceremony in San Lazaro, though several Mexican soldiers approach and, thinking they are trying to escape, kill several of the prisoners in the river. Upon arriving in San Lazaro, Wallace is terrified to encounter a walking "skeleton," and Laroche reveals that the town is, in fact, a leper colony.

Laroche declares that, in a show of "mercy," some of the seven remaining men will be spared via lottery. Call, McCrae and Long Bill are granted reprieve, but Wallace draws a black bean from the pot and bravely bids farewell to his heartbroken friends before being executed via firing squad. The survivors hear an eerily beautiful song, sung by a veiled woman, Lady Lucinda Carey, and she soon summons her fellow prisoners to a proper English tea. Call, McCrae, Long Bill and Matilda join the dignified woman, and though unnerved by her leprosy affliction – and by her pet snake – the group readily accepts her offer to escort her and her son Willy back to Austin. Lady Carey, a wealthy widow, gives them gold for supplies and horses, and Matilda is awed by her own beauty when Carey invites her to wash and dress herself in finery. Elsewhere, Gomez tries to trade with Buffalo Hump for some young women he has recently captured, and Buffalo Hump soon learns that a group of "white eyes," including "Gun-in-the-Water," the man who killed his son, are camped nearby.

Lady Carey, spotting the approaching Comanches, calmly declares that she will "disperse these savages" with a Lady Godiva-inspired approach, and she disrobes and, singing an aria, boldly rides towards Buffalo Hump and his men wearing only her veil and her pet snake. Buffalo Hump, spotting Carey's sword-wielding servant Emerald, is terrified to see the "dark woman on a white mare" about whom his grandmother warned him many years ago and, heeding her caution not to turn his back on the specter, flees back into the desert with his men. The Texas Rangers wonder why they have not killed their enemy once and for all, but they eventually make their way to Austin, and Lady Carey bids a kind farewell to Matilda and to Call, reminding him to embrace his "wild" side. McCrae happily reunites with Clara, who has not married in his absence after all, though Call cannot bring himself to share more than a longing look with his beloved Maggie. Includes commercials and promos.

Details

• NETWORK: ABC
• DATE: May 13, 1996 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 2:52:37
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:43341
• GENRE: Drama, western
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, western; Drama, historical; Literature - Adaptations; Native Americans; Indigenous Peoples Collection
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1996
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV - Commercials - "Tom and Huck" home video
  • TV - Commercials - ACE Hardware stores
  • TV - Commercials - American College of Gastroenterology heartburn information
  • TV - Commercials - American Heart Association
  • TV - Commercials - Behr house paints
  • TV - Commercials - Budweiser beers
  • TV - Commercials - Burger King restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Centrum vitamins
  • TV - Commercials - Circuit City stores
  • TV - Commercials - Clairol Herbal Essences shampoos
  • TV - Commercials - Claritin allergy medication
  • TV - Commercials - Dimetapp allergy medication
  • TV - Commercials - Dish Network television packages
  • TV - Commercials - Dodge automobiles
  • TV - Commercials - Duracell batteries
  • TV - Commercials - Fact Plus home pregnancy test
  • TV - Commercials - French's mustard
  • TV - Commercials - Fritos corn chips
  • TV - Commercials - General Foods International Coffees Suisse Mocha
  • TV - Commercials - Jell-O pudding
  • TV - Commercials - Kenmore dishwashers
  • TV - Commercials - Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Kodak film
  • TV - Commercials - L'Oréal Excellence Creme hair color
  • TV - Commercials - La-Z-Boy furniture
  • TV - Commercials - Lifesavers candies
  • TV - Commercials - Lysol disinfectant spray
  • TV - Commercials - MCI One telephone services
  • TV - Commercials - Mail Boxes Etc. office services
  • TV - Commercials - Mentadent toothpaste
  • TV - Commercials - Merrill Lynch financial services
  • TV - Commercials - Microsoft technologies
  • TV - Commercials - Neutrogena T-Gel shampoo
  • TV - Commercials - Orudis KT pain killers
  • TV - Commercials - Pepsi-Cola soft drinks
  • TV - Commercials - Pillsbury Crescent dinner rolls
  • TV - Commercials - Red Lobster restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Rogaine hair regrowth treatment
  • TV - Commercials - Shedd's Spread Easy Squeeze Country Crock spread
  • TV - Commercials - The Home Depot stores
  • TV - Commercials - Trident chewing gum
  • TV - Commercials - Tropicana orange juice
  • TV - Commercials - Wells Fargo banks
  • TV - Commercials - Wendy's restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Wisk laundry detergent
  • TV - Commercials - Zantac 75 heartburn medication
  • TV - Promos - "20/20"
  • TV - Promos - "Ellen"
  • TV - Promos - "Good Morning America"
  • TV - Promos - "Grace Under Fire"
  • TV - Promos - "Home Improvement"
  • TV - Promos - "Love Potion No. 9"
  • TV - Promos - "NYPD Blue"
  • TV - Promos - "Passenger 57"
  • TV - Promos - "Primetime Live"
  • TV - Promos - "Roseanne"
  • TV - Promos - "Scent of a Woman"
  • TV - Promos - "Television's Greatest Performances II"
  • TV - Promos - "The Drew Carey Show"
  • TV - Promos - "The Firm"
  • TV - Promos - "The Jeff Foxworthy Show"
  • TV - Promos - "The Preakness Stakes"
  • TV - Promos - ABC World News Tonight

CREDITS

• Suzanne De Passe … Executive Producer
• Robert Halmi Jr. … Executive Producer
• Larry Levinson … Executive Producer
• Diana Ossana … Executive Producer, Writer
• Larry McMurtry … Executive Producer, Based on the novel by
• Frank Q. Dobbs … Co-Producer
• Joe Lunne … Associate Producer
• Yves Simoneau … Director
• David Bell … Music by
• F. Murray Abraham … Cast, Caleb Cobb
• Keith Carradine … Cast, Bigfoot Wallace
• Patricia Childress … Cast, Matilda Jane
• Joaquim DeAlmeida … Cast, Major Laroche
• Edward James Olmos … Cast, Captain Salazar
• Eric Schweig … Cast, Buffalo Hump
• Harry Dean Stanton … Cast, Shadrach
• David Arquette … Cast, Augustus McCrae
• Jonny Lee Miller … Cast, Woodrow F. Call
• Ray McKinnon … Cast, Long Bill Coleman
• Jennifer Garner … Cast, Clara Forsythe
• Tim Blake Nelson … Cast, Johnny Carthage
• Haviland Morris … Cast, Lady Lucinda Carey
• Brad Greenquist … Cast, Kirker
• Akosua Busia … Cast, Emerald
• Kieran Mulroney … Cast, Jimmy Tweed
• Jared Rushton … Cast, Wesley Buttons
• Victor Aaron … Cast, Gomez
• Rodger Boyce … Cast, Clara's Father
• Manuel Calderon … Cast, General DiMasio
• Matt Davison … Cast, Jackie Buttons
• Eula Doonkeen … Cast, Buffalo Hump's Grandmother
• Gary Fuentes … Cast, Salazar's Army Man
• Jonathon Joss … Cast, Kicking Wolf
• Adam Lamberg … Cast, Willy Carey
• Steve Larson … Cast, Ezekiel Moody
• Molly McClure … Cast, Old Lady in Austin
• Toby Metcalf … Cast, Blackie Slidell
• Marc Miles … Cast, Sam Douglas
• Gretchen Mol … Cast, Maggie
• Eugene Montes … Cast, Jose
• Clemente Navarette … Cast, Old Man
• Hugo Urrutia … Cast, San Saba Jefe
• Kerry Wallum … Cast, Turner
• Robert Whipple … Cast, Fast Boy