Each death is numbered and features a title containing a pun or other playful wording. Due to the show title, each episode features a random selection of deaths. All stories told are based on actual events and are recreated by actors under safe conditions.
The narrator emphasizes the intent to entertain by laughing at or mocking certain deaths. Because the show's primary purpose is to entertain, the deaths are discussed with dark humor by a male narrator. If you don’t laugh at that, you’ll laugh at nothing.1000 Ways to Die is a pseudo-documentary style television show that discusses the various ways in which a person could die or be killed. I laughed particularly at the local's discussion of money at the county fair: it's not God but the almighty dollar that they find truly sacred. And yet that's its strength and its charm. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, however, because, like a lot of MacFarlane’s work, it is often tasteless. This could be a comedy ahead of its time. I found A Million Ways to Die in the Westincredibly funny, perhaps even lastingly so. Clearly, this is a production that did its research: production designer Stephen Lineweaver must have watched a hell of a lot of horse operas because this lavish western comedy is kitted out with just enough fringe, gingham and buckshot to make it work. The thrilling cowboy chase scenes – everyone likes those – are perfect. Michael Barrett's cinematography wouldn't hold up to Bert Glennon's in Rio Grande but he shows the beauty of Monument Valley without dwarfing the comedy.
The music sets the scene pace Aaron Copland and Elmer Bernstein thanks to Joel McNeely. It’s a terrific, out-there addition that really works. The wonderful Wes Studi (who once starred as Geronimo) appears briefly too as the Apache chief Cochise in a segment which, in an alternative universe, would be based on fact.
1000 WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST FULL
Chock full of sheep jokes, sex puns, graphic running bowels scenarios and generous amounts of oversharing, A Million Ways to Die is that inevitable "what if" western: what if someone with modern sensibilities was born back in the days of the wild west? (To this end, there's also a huge moment of breaking the filmmaker’s fourth wall, but the less you hear about this before you see it, the better.) Neil Patrick Harris is crisp and physical as the rich smug Foy and the wisecracks about fickle gf Louise (Seyfried) are sideswipes taken from her actual appearance. There’s even a sharpshooting booth called Runaway Slaves. It happens all the time, especially at the county fair (keep an eye out for Ewan McGregor lurking there). MacFarlane's Albert likes to point out how many ways people get killed in 1882. If only he knew that Anna’s husband was the vicious killer and ace gunman Clinch Leatherwood ( Liam Neeson), Albert’s fate would have been difference – or may be he would have just sung “Do not forsake me, oh my darling” à la High Noon?Īlthough less heartwarming than MacFarlane’s breakout comedy Ted, A Million Ways to Die in the West had to happen: think of it as a whiny, sweary Blazing Saddles. Meanwhile, during a pub brawl (with some truly terrible injuries), Albert sees Anna ( Charlize Theron) about to be clobbered and saves her – in a fateful moment. They’ve not consummated their relationship even though Ruth is the town’s most popular all-around prostitute. Distraught, he takes comfort in the friendship of unmarried Christian couple Edward and Ruth (Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman, pictured below). MacFarlane is Albert Stark, a frontier nerd whose refusal in a gunfight loses his girlfriend ( Amanda Seyfried).