BY ROGER WATSON
There seems to be an appetite for tense, violent Netflix western mini-series these days. The latest in the genre, the previous one American Primeval having been reviewed in these pages, Godless does exactly what it says on the can. Godless delivers buttock-clenching tension along with such blood-splattering violence that you are compelled to let the remaining seven episodes roll on.
As with many such series, there are several threads. One thread occupies most of the first episode which shows the merciless slaughter by bullet, rope and rape of almost every man, woman and child in an isolated New Mexico mining community by Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his thirty thieves whose CV related to such work is impressive.
One of the thieves, a sharpshooting outlaw Roy Goode, has a change of heart about outlawing, does a few good deeds at the site of the massacre, rides off with the money from the mine, and a target on his back. Meantime, on the tail of the outlaws, is US Marshall John Crook brilliantly portrayed by Sam Waterston.
While there are glimpses of the other threads in the first episode, these are developed in the second episode. First, we have ‘one mighty fine lookin’ wummin’ Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockerty) who ranches somewhere out yonder with her son and mother-in-law. Her husband, a native America, is dead having been shot in the back. She holds a grudge against the women in the nearest mining town – La Belle – who, she reckons, knows ‘who done it’. Ex-outlaw Roy Goode turns up at the ranch, hangs up his guns and stays to help with the horses, with which he seems to have an affinity.
La Belle is occupied mostly by women. Apart from three menfolk (one mad, one too old and one too young) the men were killed by an explosion at the mine and the women seem desperate for men in their life. The town schoolteacher makes a fortune on the side (strictly speaking, on her back) as the local whore entertaining both men and women.
Unless I missed it, this may be the first western to include some cowgirl-on-cowgirl action. I am glad to report that, where other men are concerned, the cowboys keep their guns in their holsters. Where heterosexual sex is portrayed, it is usually with a gun or a knife to the woman’s head in some genuine ‘look away now’ scenes.
Two of the remaining men in the town are the sheriff – who is going blind – and his gormless deputy. The sheriff fancies his chances at running outlaw Frank Griffin to ground and seeing him strung up, in good western fashion. He also holds a candle – and who can blame him – for the widow Alice Fletcher.
As the episodes unfold, we follow the fortunes of the US Marshall and the town sheriff. They are both pursuing the gang who continue their campaign of violence and robbery on anyone they encounter. Naturally, the attention of Frank Griffin and his outlaws turns to La Belle where the mine has reopened and there is money to be robbed. Much rootin’ tootin’ and shootin’ ensues as they approach the town.
On the way they visit a town where the Buffalo Soldiers live. These are the legendary African Americans who hunted men on behalf of the US Army. They are not the exploited and forgotten people of colour portrayed by Rastafarian pansy and habitual drug user Bob Marley in his song of the same name. These guys are revered heroes but, sadly, they are no match for the outlaws.
The good women, and the few remaining men, of La Belle realise that Griffin and his men are on their way and, in a well-rehearsed western theme, the town ‘tools up’. Many of the women can handle a gun and they are issued with rifles and instructions to ‘get a good view of the main street’. The footage leading up to the arrival of the outlaws in La Belle is pure western gold.
The inevitable shootout is nothing less than brilliant making cinematic depictions of the one at the OK Corral look like a game of scrabble. The women turn out to be good shots (who’d have thought?) and there is nothing better than seeing one of those mighty fine-looking women ‘sticking it’ to an outlaw with a Winchester rifle.
The outlaws seem to be getting the upper hand when the Sheriff rides into town, as does Roy Goode, and the baddies are dispatched (but you knew they would be, surely). Not all the women emerge unscathed. In fact, not all the women emerge. Several join the husbands in the graveyard.
There are other layers to the series which make it worth watching. There is a bit of native American voo voo, the complicated relationship between Roy Goode and Frank Griffin, Griffin’s occasional acts of kindness and the fact that the women of La Belle think the sheriff is a coward. There is even a ‘who draws first’ shootout. All the strands of the series converge in the end.
The closing scenes are memorable. Rearrange the words ‘sunset, the, off, into, riding’ and you get the idea. It does not quite end there, and I defy you to hold back a tear at the final scene. I do not envisage another series, but I do envisage more in this vein. They will be hard pressed to surpass Godless.
Roger Watson is a Registered Nurse and Editor-in-Chief of Nurse Education in Practice.