The Head of Joaquín Murrieta (2023– ) User Reviews

Intense, fun, brutal... occasional crap

[johntk1566 · 7/10 · 26 February 2023]

Overall this is a really enjoyable exploration of "Wild Wexico." The story and characters are very interesting. At times, the overly honest brutality and racism depicted make it uncomfortable to watch. However, they do a good job of balancing those aspects so that they add to the story, rather than distract from it.

There are random moments when things turns to absolute crap to unnaturally force wild-west scenarios and/or uber-machismo. There definitely should have been some stronger editing throughout the writing and filming. Still, these moments are rare enough to brush them off.

This is definitely worth a shot for anyone who enjoys westerns.

Surreal

[twelve-house-books · 7/10 · 19 February 2023]

An appreciation of surrealism is necessary for some of these more recent Westerns, maybe for the last decade or so--for example, the miniseries titled The English. This story is a bit less surreal in scope, but still carries strong surrealistic elements which I believe are intended to show a vision of the Pre-Civil War Wild West as having been one of extreme uncertainty for anyone either originally living in that vast area for millennia or interloping for a variety of reasons from establishing United States law-and-order to looking for places to live religiously without interference to mining for gold and all of the other reasons that we are all too familiar with as we continue to study the extremely checkered history of North America. Where the series The English is just plain weird, this series seems more realistic, and is certainly more brutal in its depictions of scalping, beheadings, hangings, rapes, gunshot wounds, and gutter language which, as a historian myself, I doubt was used with such flagrancy--as if our own inner city street gangs had suddenly become cowboys. Worth a watch, though, if you liked A Woman Walks Alone and the aforementioned The English. With my Westerns, though, I prefer gritty hyperrealism such as in the brilliant film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Brad Pitt.

Murrieta meets Vasquez

[chuckstaley-76140 · 7/10 · 22 March 2023]

A decade or so ago I spent 7 years writing a screenplay about the Californio bandido Tiburcio Vásquez, who was active in California from 1854 to 1874. The script starts off in front of a bullring where a sideshow barker is shouting about having Joaquin Murrieta's head in a jar and you won't believe it until you see it. So when I saw that THE HEAD OF JOAQUIN MURRIETA was available on Amazon, I rushed to view it.

Good for you guys! You turned out a cool script, you updated it with today's way of speaking, and you made the cruel scenes much softer than most productions, leaving out the blood and gore that is so overdone.

Want an exciting script about Vasquez and his Freedom Fighters? Agents are invited to contact me.

Looks good so far, but I love westerns

[davepreis · 9/10 · 20 February 2023]

I'm early in but so far so good. We don't see too many Westerns from the perspective of the Mexicans, portraying the USA as the bad guys, the greedy capitalist invaders that we are. So this should be good, besides I swear the lead who plays Joaquin reminds me of Richard Burton, To my eyes he looks like a twin.

The overall style of the film is very good, it just has a look to it that's easy to view. So cinematography gets some good marks. Sound isn't too overpowering, dialog and music has that updated old spaghetti western feel. Let's see where this goes, I can't see going wrong here given the ingredients we have.

Anachronistic errors and bizarre plot twists

[cstenn-92260 · 5/10 · 22 February 2023]

Someone already covered the bizarre plot twists with friends enemies etc so I'll focus on the firearms.

It's 1851 so it's believable that flintlock are still in use especially among natives. It's the presence of an 1873 Colt and a couple Smith and Wessons from 1900s including a snazzy chrome plated (doesn't even look nickel) revolver that ruined it for me.

Plus the poorly armed folk who kill Rangers never take their superior weapons and thus gets into a shootout with a flintlock pistol!

Meanwhile percussion was mass marketed since 1820s....

Murietta at one point shows us an empty cap and ball cylinder then is giving up because he's out of ammunition but there is another pistol in his holster that he doesn't use but then goes into a high noon drawing contest with the Captain. It's all just nonsensical.

Murrieta

[sanela23 · 10/10 · 19 February 2023]

I have seen this amazing on amazon and it is so addictive that you want to watch it over and over again.. these actors who are playing this are so talented they really give a good procedure and know how to fix and do it.. such good talents they have in this series itself for me this series is the best so far I've seen in a very long time, best entertaining series that came out 2 days ago it gives a lot of praise, feeling, impression, love I would absolutely recommend this to others that you go and see it for yourself You certainly don't want to miss such a good series because it's a great series.

A "B" western at Best

[jlmanc · 5/10 · 19 February 2023]

Story line is up and down and sideways. Relationships are fickle. Friends then enemies. Together then apart. Wounded, bleeding and beaten, poorly armed attacking a squad of fully armed rangers. Naturally all white men are evil. Bad guy soldiers are ambushed by Mexicans/Indian with mysterious explosives. Chinese protagonist performs surgery on her own leg in the middle of a battle. Savage murderers get religion and drunken priests conducts Latin burial at the drop of a hat. The most hunted outlaw sits down with the Hunter, but no one recognizes him. The plot has every situation imaginable, but so many zig zags one gets dizzy.

Guns, blood and sweat

[yahaira-729-694701 · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

Cool western with a good pace and action. The wild west the war between Mexico and USA. Joaquin and his accomplice Adela try to make amends or restitution for the war. He is a mercenary but with a conscience. A deserter on the run between gringos and the Mexicans, they rob from the poor and give to the poor. Adela is quite the assassin without a conscience seeking only gold.

I like the graphic combined with film a la Tarentino makes for interesting visuals There are the no favors from the military who over take of California. The indigenous people are robbed of thier lands , their wealth and their rights. So far this series is a serious account of the genocide of the peoples of the region. The sad but real story of the wild southwest.

No historically accurate

[pack_fan_dave · 5/10 · 31 March 2023]

Obviously you should never get your history from TV and movies and this show proves it once again. Starting with the casting of this show, the real Joaquin Murrieta was killed in a shootout when he was 23-24 years old. He was also married to a woman of Mexican descent named Rosa Felix. This show portrays him as a man in his 50's married to a woman of Chinese descent.

What the show does get correct is that Joaquin Murrieta did in fact hunt down and kill Anglo men that brutally raped and violated his wife.

He also migrated to California during the gold rush in 1849 and often robbed wagons of gold.

Mexican Western well made

[gutisergio · 10/10 · 22 February 2023]

Its a great story and the actors are very good the scenarios of Durango Mexico are beautifull i really enjoy seen the Mexican been the good guys And the american been the bad guys. The photografy is really great and the music even do is very difrent from other western its really good. The storyline is like the Robin Hood of mexico. From my point of view the isnt many mexican westerns as good as this one. Amazon did a gret job brining this story to the screen that gives live to an other kind of hero. Thank you to all for tis series i hope every body enjoys the argument place in this proyect. See yo soon. And hope you amazon male the second season.

best western series since "Deadwood"

[amsmaia-893-877536 · 10/10 · 21 February 2023]

I wasn't expecting such a well-made and addictive TV series. From photography , music , actors , they seem to combine perfectly.... one of the best westerns since "Deadwood" there are some scenes with extreme violence but very well done ... curiously the character existed in reality , but I could not find out much information.

It could maybe even be a kind of zorro, but more realistic and more authentic.... the characterization of the characters, especially those of the indian tribes, is very well done.. i just don't understand why it wasn't publicized a lot... but it was great congratulations to the actors ,production and direction.

This is refreshing and shows the right way to do diversity

[villarruel-43036 · 10/10 · 21 June 2023]

I was hooked on this show from the first episode, see now a days is hard to get invested into shows because diversity feels forced this show is different, they aren't worried about diversity because it's a true story about minorities so they focused on realism and they got most think accurately.the plot itself is engaging almost the whole show through, the scenery just like most western show was beautiful and the acting was top notch, the story is follows joaquin murrieta a legendary figure for mexico and an outlaw to America, but includes other cultures that ware around during the gold rush era such as the asian workers, we get to see a lot of native american stories and we even get to see some white people that weren't as bad as others. Can't wait for next season!