I am in the midst of one of my periodic perambulations along the muddy thoroughfare of Deadwood. I am finding the legendary HBO drama more resonant than ever, given the tenor of our own times. Plague’s been in camp. Rumor continually calls into the doubt the validity of our claims. Entertaining, appeasing and manipulating the hoople heads is the object of our culture — and the fundamental political question of our day is no different than that of 1876. Namely…
Of course, I love the language — and I’m not even talking about the famously florid onslaught of curses and obscenity, though I love that, too.
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On this trip, I became especially interested in the character of Charlie Utter, played by Dayton Callie. Some of Deadwood’s characters are fundamentally bad people with an unexpected vein of compassion and decency in their character. Others are fundamentally decent people who have been mauled by the rough life of the frontier, forced or lured into moral compromises that can’t be walked back. Utter is among the most morally and ethically stable in that muddy world. Downright noble, even.
Like his historical counterpart, Utter is introduced as the boon companion of James Butler Hickock — Wild Bill. He endeavors to keep his fading friend from self-destruction, much to Wild Bill’s annoyance:
“Some goddamn time, a man’s due to stop arguing with hisself, feeling twice the goddamn fool he knows he is because he can’t be something he tries to be every goddamn day without once getting to dinnertime and not fucking it up. I don’t want to fight it no more. Understand me, Charlie? And I don’t want you pissing in my ear about it. Can you let me go to hell the way I want to?”
The historical Utter — known as Colorado Charlie — is today known only as Hickock’s devoted sidekick. Like the Deadwood character, there’s a lot more to him than that. Unlike the Deadwood character, Colorado Charlie was a flamboyant and fastidious dresser, just like Wild Bill. He was a trapper, a teamster, a prospector, and a scout, and he self-consciously projected the image, wearing fine buckskins and beaded moccasins. He was proud of his flowing locks and kept his beard well-trimmed. He also had a weird habit of bathing every day.
That’s Charlie on the right, with his brother Steve, at Wild Bill’s gravesite in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Utter operated a freight business between Deadwood and Cheyenne, Wyoming, as depicted in the show. He was good at the work, and made a success of himself. Somewhere in there, he married, but it’s not clear when he lived with his wife. And he really was a friend to Calamity Jane.
When Crooked-Nose Jack McCall capped Wild Bill in the No. 10 Saloon, Utter took custody of Hickock’s remains, and organized a big funeral for his friend. He left Deadwood and returned to his home base in Colorado for a while. He returned to Deadwood in the late 1870s and operated a dancehall that burned down in one of Deadwood’s catastrophic fires.
He drifted after that, operating saloons in Colorado and New Mexico. He was divorced by his wife, and carried on with a female faro dealer. Somehow, he drifted south to Panama, where he would work as a druggist (or “an American Indian doctor,” whatever that means} until his death in 1915. (The Deadwood movie diverges completely from history with regard to his later life).
Charlie Utter’s life and career conformed to a frontier pattern, following economic opportunity to boomtowns, seeing the good times roll and then seeing them crash out and having to start all over again. And again.
One of these days, Lady Marilyn and I will head out to South Dakota to visit the Black Hills and walk the considerably less muddy modern streets of Deadwood. And I’ll tip my hat to the shade of Charlie Utter, the historical and the fictional, a decent feller among a rough crowd.
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Legends of the Old West did a wonderful interview with the actor who plays Dan Dority on Deadwood, prior to the release of the Deadwood movie in 2019. Some great stories here:
And some good history here:
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On this rewatch, I have been highly cognizant of the influence Deadwood had on Black Sails. My beloved pirate drama was not a knock-off, but it certainly adopted the sensibility of a place — Nassau — being the primary character in the drama, with an ensemble cast of competing/collaborating characters swirling around and through it, pursuing a variety of agendas. I guess I’d have to say that this is my favorite form of drama.
Craig Rullman says
Somewhere I have a great photo of my dad on the Deadwood set. Milch apparently dictated the scripts while lying on the floor–and whatever was going on in his brain after Deadwood manifested in the follow up show called John From Cincinnati. This was an intriguing and mostly bizarre show–cancelled after one series–about a levitating surfer. But because it also had Rebecca de Mornay in it–Lana from Risky Business– I naturally had to watch every episode.
JimC says
Naturally.
Matthew says
Off topic, but there is a new Dates and Dead Guys video out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kt9qyxHoJo
Quixotic Mainer says
No unauthorized f$%&ing peaches!
Brian H. says
I get the Deadwood bug often enough. I certainly prefer Carradine’s Wild Bill over Bridges but of course that’s the writing and not the ability of the actors. Charlies stomping ground in Colorado was around Georgetown and Empire, west of Denver. Easy enough to see nowadays with the clogged up I70 passing alongside both towns. Skiers and tourists bring in the gold now rather than miners taking it out.
JimC says
Always wonder what the old-timers would think of all this…
Brian H. says
I imagine a freight wagoneer like Charlie would see some similarities, but staggered by the scale of it all. Albeit I doubt anybody back then would have ever thought that the “recreation economy” would surpass mining in Colorado.
SQUIRE RUSTICUS says
I loved and was addicted to watching the television show Deadwood on HBO. As far as the language being historically correct, it seemed to me to push the bounds of what would have been said, even by dire men at the time.
A once upon a time a good friend of mine Jim Gray of Ellsworth, Kansas (historian and author) and I talked of it many times.
We had Notchville (red-light district of Ellsworth), the town of Phil Sheridan out by Fort Wallace, and other less then civil places where they “ate a man for breakfast daily. Then the other notorious cow towns, frontier post of Kansas too numerous to list.
The tent city town of Phil Sheridan was home to 2,000 railroad workers (think “Hell on Wheels”), buffalo hunters, and scum of the Prairie, when the Kansas Pacific ran out of money for a year before going on to Denver. At least one man was killed daily for a year. The town was named after the Civil War General. There was two small little hills on the edge of town, named after a local prostitute’s breast.It is now a private ranch by the highway to Wallace and Sharon Springs.
Many of the prairie scum were the poor gamblers, card sharps, pick pockets, poisoners, robbers, flim flam men whom came from Boston, New York, New Orleans, etc… to earn a living off of the stranded railroad workers.A favorite trick was to buy a drink (with wolf poison) for a Buffalo hunter whom had money in his poke, then leave their body out behind the tents.
As far as the town of Deadwood, it is a nice place full of gambling casinos. I use to ride to the Sturgis Bike Rally. The last time I went to Deadwood was way back in 1997 though, so much may have changed. Sturgis remained the same in 2010. At the time, more then one place claimed to be the original site of the Number 10 Saloon. Then Kevin Costner had part of a Casino, and many of his movie costumes from “Dances with Wolves” and “Waterworld” were on display.
As I am not a gambler, I just kinda looked around, took a tour of a wax museum that told the story of early Deadwood. Ofcourse the Blackhills are beautiful, a visual treat.
In those days, Sturgis was a freak, bike, trade show everyone should of seen once, but now I can walk the streets around home and see full face tattoos, people that look like the fell into a tackle box, others in costume (guess to be noticed) right here. It became harder and harder to get spots to stay, continuing to grow from the 400,000 people attending in 97. Too many people for me to wander through.
JimC says
Ellsworth was mighty rough. Walter Hill did a cool audio drama about it. There’s a link lurking around here somewhere that I’ll dig up.
Ugly Hombre says
Went to Deadwood and the Black Hills as a kid- Mount Rushmore etc magical place- You will have a great time when you get there Jim.
“Some goddamn time, a man’s due to stop arguing with hisself, feeling twice the goddamn fool he knows he is because he can’t be something he tries to be every goddamn day without once getting to dinnertime and not fucking it up. I don’t want to fight it no more. Understand me, Charlie? And I don’t want you pissing in my ear about it. Can you let me go to hell the way I want to?”
Great writing something Stoic and Sad about it…
The Dakotas have a lot to offer- might be a good place to move to.
JimC says
My maternal grandparents hailed from there. Migrated to California during the Depression.
Ugly Hombre says
The Dakotas look damn good to me- might be a good time to go back to yer roots. 🙂
Folks in the blue states are trying to get the hell out of dodge..
Including me lol