I have lived in the Mountain West almost all my life and it bugs me the producers are trying to pass New Mexico off as Wyoming. I’m not saying I don’t understand…it just bothers me. I am sure people living in New York hate it when producers try to pass off LA as New York. I remember when the Father Dowling Mysteries aired and Denver was being passed off as Chicago.
People from cities probably don’t notice the different types of mountains, vegetation, weather, buildings and the like, but they are markedly different and as I said, it bothers me.
What troubles me is that there have been something like 25 murders (anybody want to count?) in Absaroka County since the series started. Seems like an awful lot, for such a small population.
I don’t know… Maybe that’s a low number for fictional places.
Yes, it bothers me quite a bit. And it seems so pointless. What would it matter if Walt Longmire were instead sheriff of San Mateo County, New Mexico? And his Indian friend were Taoseño or Navajo rather than Cheyenne?
I got a chuckle out of the sequence from one week to the next…he did that plains indian ritual where you put the sticks through your pecs, tie them to a pole and lean back until it rips out? Then, the next week, his girl friend stops by his cabin where his deputy is spending the night for safety’s sake and sees Longmire without a shirt, coming our of the shower…not a hint of any injury or scarring, etc.
I wish, just once or twice, they would complain about how damned far they have to drive to get to the various murder/witness/casino/town scenes. They must have to put 50000 miles a year on their cruisers. Some of those counties out there are bigger than Delaware.
I’ve been in Wyoming once, and New Mexico once, and they were both hot and dry and who would want to live there, given the choice of the beautiful eastern side of the country?
I mean, wouldn’t you rather have 160 acres of farmland in Illinois rather than 160,000 acres of dust and dirt in Wyoming?
Here in Las Vegas, we laugh at CSI (filmed in California) when they go to some suburban home, supposedly in Las Vegas, with lush plants and flowers surrounding the home that wouldn’t last in any garden here for a day, let alone flourish in a garden unprotected from the sun and lack of rain and humidity.
Then again, we also laugh when some stupid show will have the lead character win a million dollars or more, on one quarter, in some huge ass machine…let me tell ya, their ain’t no machines in Vegas that let you win that much with a bet of ONE quarter…even the so-called “Penny Machines” require a maximum bet (150-250 pennies) to win the big jackpots.
But no matter where you live, you will always find something to nitpick about when watching a TV show or movie that supposedly is set in your neighborhood, but actually filmed in Vancouver or wherever.
Well, the tv program is based on a book series by Craig Johnson, who lives in Ucross, Wyoming (population 25) and the Wyoming location plays a major part in the books. Longmire is sheriff of a northern Wyoming county (Absaroka) and his pursuits often take him across the state line, often on horseback. In the books, he refers to Henry as “The Cheyenne Nation”.
So if the television Longmire was based on a sheriff in New Mexico, then even calling the series “Longmire” would be pointless. Might as well call it something completely different. I suggest Ferd Schmortz.
The television series does not follow the books much at all, other than the names of some of the characters. For example, several of the ongoing television characters were killed off in the books, volumes ago. There was no murdered wife. She died of cancer, shortly before the first book. Walt also drinks way too much and spends quite a bit of time in the Busy Bee cafe, which doesn’t even exist in the television version. I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
I was an aircraft mechanic for many years. I often see mistakes such as people passing out because the ‘oxygen’ was turned off as a plot device. Probably the worse was the old Six Million Dollar Man TV show where Steve Austin would take off in one kind of aircraft, fly in another, and land in a third aircraft.
New Mexico has some really beautiful mountainous areas and national forests, covering large parts of the state. And I’m talking the Rocky Mountains, not just some dusty hills. Big, majestic, snow-topped mountains. And even the desert areas have their own rustic beauty.
And I wouldn’t want to live in the eastern side of the country because of all the Easterners there.
I’m also from the Mountain West, but I don’t think I’ve noticed anything totally egregious location-wise, although maybe I will now that you’ve mentioned it. In sagebrush country, altitude is a lot more important than latitude and there are definitely parts of New Mexico that look like parts of Wyoming. If you dropped me in a high altitude pine forest or a big sagebrush filled valley, I doubt I’d be able to tell you which state I was in. Heck, even what country-- a lot Alberta looks like that too.
I do like the show, but in the episodes I’ve seen there was definitely a large amount of disbelief suspension needed. The Mennonite episode was pretty egregious, and the whole show seems to have a pretty shaky idea of how tribal law actually works. Not to mention that the supposedly hyper-rural Absaroka county has at least a murder a week-- they must have the highest murder rate in the country!
Although one thing that makes location snobbery really bad is having some geological background. I was very distracted during the the Cohen brothers True Grit remake, which is set in Arkansas and Oklahoma, but you can almost always see the distinct columnar-weathering basalt that’s found all over central New Mexico. Of course, it’s not as bad as the John Wayne version where they spend half the movie in front of the Grand Tetons.
Yeah, but how about Portland with Grimm? The gruesome murder rate there is so high by now, I’d expect teams of FBI arriving to find out what the fuck is going on!
But I like Longmire and NCIS because it’s nice to see a older dude as the hero instead of one of these “day old beard which never changes and a waxed chest and a fresh manicure” 25 YO throbs that are so common.
No. Clearly you haven’t seen much of Wyoming. Sure, the parts along I-80 are flat and dry, but there are also the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, the Big Horns, the Wind River Range, the Snowy Range, etc. Wyoming’s natural beauty kicks Illinois’ ass any day.
The only reason the Longmire producers opted to film in New Mexico vs Wyoming, is because of the full service film studio and abundance of professional crew in Sante Fe. Wyoming doesn’t have a comparable facilty.
Really? Tell us more? Closest thing I came was “security guard” in a roller-derby movie (no, not the good one, the crappy one that came out at the same time as the Raquel Welch one) and (I kid you not) “Spear-carrier” in Anthony & Cleopatra on stage.
I love Longmire, and one of the very best things is the gorgeous scenery. I have never been west of Oklahoma and was actually considering a trip to Wyoming. Good to know that it’s not Wyoming.
Also, I am watching Under the Dome just for giggles (and because I actually liked the book). In the very first episode, there is Spanish moss hanging from the trees…in Maine??? They filmed it in Wilmington and Southport, NC. No wonder it looks familiar.
one day they blow up a well that is supposed to be taking up all the water that used to be in the town lake, now a dry area? The next day, Big Jim is speed-boating across the refilled lake? Kind of strange hydrology, isn’t it?
