MovieChat Forums > Hatfields & McCoys (2012) Discussion > Anyone else bothered about Johnse?

Anyone else bothered about Johnse?


While thinking on the post asking on whether Jim Vance or Bad Frank is the worse character I couldn't help but think that I actually detest Johnse far more than either of those two. While it is true that Johnse never kills anybody, both Jim and Frank get their just desserts. They are brutal killers and in turn are killed. Johnse however, recieves no comeuppance in the course of the miniseries.

Johnse is an irresponsible, lazy, stupid, and cowardly womanizer. I don't even know where to begin with this kid. He goes after and knocks up who is the worst possible girl he can in the daughter of his own father's worst enemy. He then proceeds to dump her on his father's say so, then has the audacity to later claim he'd be with her but it wasn't his choosing while marrying the poor girl's cousin (of course this is after drowning his sorrows in whiskey and prostitutes). He continuously justifies his participation in the illegal execution of the McCoy brothers and the raid on McCoy's farm by claiming he only shot over their heads. If he felt that these actions were so wrong he could have at the very least not participated or try to talk some sense into his murderous family. Hell, when Jim Vance beats his own wife, Jim only has to explain that since she hit him in the face with a switch he was fully justified in holding her down and whipping her with a leather strap.

So after all this what does Johnse get? He rides off to Oregon, after paying a tear jerking visit to the grave of the girl whose life he's ruined. So I guess it makes it alright that he feels bad about it now.

And I get that he does do some time in prison according to the epilogue, but damnit, would it have been so hard to see this punk actually go to the bighouse even if for a little while? Sure the writers would have needed to play around with the timeline, but they clearly had no problem with adjusting history as needed.

Anyways, just my two cents. Please feel free to agree, disagree, tell me why I'm wrong, call out my poor punctuation and spelling, or bring my parentage into question (this is the internet after all).

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Yes, he was a stupid horny little punk. Not bad, really, but lacking in character.

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ehh, he wasn't all that special...then I saw him kick the dog, and if it were my dog, I would DEFINITELY have knocked his teeth down his throat.

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If you think he was bad in the show, you should read up on the real Johnson Hatfield. He was far worse!

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Yeah really, what an annoying character. I kept hoping he'd get killed and we'd get some lame *beep* dramatic scene with him crying like a bitch while dying but I was disappointed he survived and got out of the war. I really wish I fast forwarded through his scenes because that character was very annoying.

Jim Vance was a bad ass though, love me some Tom Berenger.

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[deleted]

^ I agree. I really liked him in the first episode, but then he abandoned Roseanna and slept with her cousin... WHAT.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)

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