JONNY LEE MILLER IN DEAD MANS WALK


IMAGES

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STORY SYNOPSIS

Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae are the most intriguing fictional cowboys ever to ride across the Texas frontier. We first met Call and McCrae in Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "Lonesome Dove." Now ABC's miniseries goes back to the beginning of their saga. Tenderfeet grow up fast amidst the life-or-death challenges of the wild plains. Their fiercest enemy is Buffalo Hump, the Comanche war chief. Buffalo Hump's grandmother prophesied that a dark woman riding on a white mule would signal the end of his people. Until the dark woman appears, he's determined to force all interlopers from his lands. In addition to the threat of death or torture from Indians, the young Rangers also face the treachery of their own leaders, the brutal nature of life on the plains, and the guns of the Mexican army. Staring down death together, Gus and Woodrow cement a partnership that will last a lifetime.

Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are the greenest of the Texas Rangers on an expedition into Comanche territory in 1840's Texas. They're part of a ragged crew -- mostly cowboys, a few fortune hunters, and a couple of seasoned scouts -- all looking for adventure on the wild plains. The land itself is harsh and unforgiving, but the Rangers' biggest fear is Buffalo Hump. They know the Comanche torture their captives, so the younger Rangers pay careful attention when Bigfoot Wallace describes the most efficient means of suicide if captured.

Gus and Woodrow manage to survive the first expedition with their scalps, although some of their compañeros aren't so lucky. Still itching for adventure, Gus convinces Woodrow to sign up for another mission. A pirate named Caleb Cobb aims to claim Santa Fe for the Republic of Texas. The Rangers will have to fight their way through both Comanche and Apache territory and then face the Mexican army. Even if they best their human enemies, they'll still have to survive the Jornada del Muerto, the barren wasteland known as Dead Man's Walk.

Buying a new musket for the trek, Gus is smitten with the shopkeeper's brash and beautiful daughter, Clara Forsythe. Will Gus survive Dead Man's Walk and make it back to Austin? Will Clara be waiting? Stay tuned.

So happy-go-lucky McCrae and his more serious buddy Call head back to the plains. They're joined by many of the same Rangers, including old Shadrach and Bigfoot Wallace, two of the most experienced plainsmen around. Matty Jane Roberts, a prostitute desperate to start a new life in California, becomes the heart of the gang. Battling hunger, thirst, cold and the fear that behind every rock lurks an Indian warrior, the troop pushes towards Santa Fe. Part One ends with a real cliffhanger: Surrounded by prairie fires set by the Comanche, the Rangers are forced over the edge of a steep cliff. They're left hanging by their toenails as the fire destroys their food, gunpowder and horses.

When last seen in Part One, the Texas Rangers were hanging over the edge of a deep ravine while fire swept the plains above them. Part Two opens as they claw their way back to the top, only to find a scorched hellscape nearly devoid of life. Their powder is gone, their food is gone, and most of their horses are gone. Their only hope for survival is to send a small party ahead looking for game and water. Gus, Woodrow and Bigfoot eventually find water at a small Mexican settlement, where they're arrested by Captain Salazar of the Mexican army.  

Miraculously, the Rangers are able to escape when a hungry grizzly attacks the camp. They find the rest of the Rangers just in time for Caleb Cobb to cut a deal and surrender the entire troop to Salazar's general. Enraged at Cobb's duplicity, Woodrow Call tackles him. For attacking a superior officer, Salazar orders Call tied to a wagon wheel and flogged nearly to death.

Meanwhile Cobb rides off with the general, while Salazar marches his troops and the captive Rangers across the plains. They soon find the general dead and Cobb blinded by the Indians.

Salazar must now lead his men across the dreaded Jornada del Muerto, the wasteland called Dead Man's Walk. When they finally reach San Lazaro, there's one final brutality waiting. The remaining captives must gamble for their lives. Some draw white beans and live; some draw black beans and face the firing squad.

The remaining Rangers meet a mysterious fellow prisoner. Lady Carey is an Englishwoman who has already been ransomed by her family, but she has no way to get home across the fearsome plains. She asks the Rangers to help. They make a curious group: Four tattered and exhausted Rangers accompanying a veiled noblewoman and her beautiful black servant, Emerald, astride a white mule. How they get across the plains, escape from Buffalo Hump and make their way back to Austin (and Clara) is the exciting finale of Dead Man's Walk.

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