Hell on Wheels is an AMC Television Production which chronicles a mobile encampment of the Union Pacific Railroad as they built the railroad across the Great Plains in the US of A. The name of the TV show got it’s name from the encampment, so, you know – Nice place to work.
The show blends fact and fiction, some of the characters in the show existed as real life flesh and blood, the others not. It aired between 2011 and 2015.
Hell on Wheels mainly follows Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount), who is a fictional character and portrayed as an ex Confederate Cavalry Colonel out for revenge for the murder of his wife and his son. Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney) is the man in charge of the operation, and who was an actual person, but Hell on Wheel uses his name only, his portrayal is fictionalised. He’s a businessman who doesn’t let much stand in his way and recognises that Cullen could be an asset, as such, Cullen joins up with the Union Pacific Railroad as way to fund his own mission, and is hired to supervise the team preparing the ground for the new tracks.
Virginia Madsen joins the show for four episodes in the second season. She plays Hannah Durant, an ex wife of Thomas. Again, Hannah is based upon an actual person but her antics are made up for the show. She first rocks up for a brief appearance in the first episode before finishing out her run on episodes 8, 9 and 10, the final ones of the season.
I won’t lie, I didn’t watch much of this TV Show, I’ve no interest in Westerns as a rule and although I do like Colm Meaney as an actor it wasn’t enough to make me sit down and watch it.
I did however make a go of the second season. Which, wasn’t easy all things considered and I did find myself playing with my phone more often than I’d have liked.
That said, I did half enjoy what I saw. Virginia Madsen, as always, is a delight to watch as she chews up the scenery, obviously having some fun with her period character and giving it a modern no nonsense spin.
It probably helped that she was a fan of show before she landed her role, speaking on the AMC site in a Q&A she said; “I’m a big fan of Colm Meaney, Anson Mount is one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen in my life and a really good actor. I know I shouldn’t objectify him because he’s such a good actor, but really, ladies, really? I’m a history buff, and so I knew who the Durants were, although there’s not much about [Hannah]. I just thought, “Oh, that’s going to be really interesting, especially the conflict with the fair-haired maiden of the West.” I just loved the idea that I would come and stir the pot.“
Hard for me to recommend this one as I didn’t watch it, but, as I said – What I did see was better than I expected so if you’re into this kind of thing and you haven’t seen it then it might be worth your time, as a Virginia Madsen fan it’s good to watch her have some fun with a role.
Availability:
This was actually easier to find than I anticipated – Quite easy on both Region 1 and 2 DVD. Episodes are available on both Amazon Prime and Googleplay.
Gallery:
Trailer:
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