Not only is this one of the best attempts at drama HBO has ever produced, the finished product has a quality and sheen rarely achieved in this venue. This cast is beyond belief with an interaction I have never seen before. Hoffman, Ortiz and Nolte make the simplest gestures memorable. The writing is so mesmerizing it seems to be over before it's barely begun. The other less-obvious fact no one gets is that this effort has the potential of cult status which many thought John from Cincinati aspired to but did not fulfill, trailing off instead to mediocrity. It would be very simple for the brilliant writers to create (with long-shots, archival footage and slow-mo} a finished product which relies mainly on clever writing and (God forbid I say it) Artistic Action Sequences. This wonderful attempt should not be scrapped--it should be re-thought.
