Lonesome Dove.

[aussie]

Just finished watching this great western. Never gets old. I just ordered the book, I suppose some of you have read it. Does the movie stick to the original Larry McMurtrie novel?

[gamekeeper]

I really enjoyed both the book and the series, must watch and read them again, as you say it " never gets old " ....

[TraderVic]

I consider Lonesome Dove among my top favorite western movies.
Some do not, but to each his own I reckon.

[AJMD429]

I haven't read the book, but the movie seems to capture the more real-world mix of adventure and achievement overcoming risk, and the times when life isn't fair and beats down or kills the good among us. The characters aren't all either 100% good or 100% bad people, but normal, 'flawed' people, making good and bad decisions. I'm betting it is a fairly accurate rendition of the life and times of a group of frontier people of that era.

[JimT]

The book is different from the movie in several ways. Lots of the same flavor and same characters. But McMurtry writes in what is called a "literary realism" style and can be quite dark and even sometimes depressing. During his writing of some of the series of books he did suffer from depression and that may have influenced the direction of the books. The movie is much more light-hearted.

[AJMD429]

The book is different from the movie in several ways. Lots of the same flavor and same characters. But McMurtry writes in what is called a "literary realism" style and can be quite dark and even sometimes depressing. During his writing of some of the series of books he did suffer from depression and that may have influenced the direction of the books. The movie is much more light-hearted.

Sounds like the book might be even more reflective of the real-world....

[HawkCreek]

I thought the movie and the book were pretty close. Much closer than most movies are to their book origins anyway. Lonesome Dove is actually the third book in a series of 4 hes written on those characters.

These days I watch the movie up until the part where Gus is fighting the Indians out of the river bank. Shut it off before he dies.

[.45colt]

For Me lonesome Dove is #1 on the list, and then I have around 100 more in second place . nothing else comes close.

[JimT]

Sounds like the book might be even more reflective of the real-world....

It may be. Personally I got the impression (after reading all 4 books) that he just didn't like West Texas.

[octagon]

Jim I was born and raised out there and have a rather love/hate relationship where the desert is concerned. While beautiful, there is a lot of bad hard country out there that will put the hurt on the unwary in a hurry. Mescalero used to refer to it as the badlands.

[JimT]

Jim I was born and raised out there and have a rather love/hate relationship where the desert is concerned. While beautiful, there is a lot of bad hard country out there that will put the hurt on the unwary in a hurry. Mescalero used to refer to it as the badlands.

I understand. I was raised in Arizona in similar country. Always loved it while recognizing that it is hard country and can kill you if you don't pay attention. But McMurtry's descriptions always felt dark and depressed to me. Of course, that is my opinion and no one need pay any attention to it, for I am not preaching that others should feel the same way.

[TWHBC]

Very good comments and descriptions so far!
I read all of his books, and agree that Jim T gave the same feelings I had of the books. My mother's family is from west Texas, and I am from SE New Mexico, and the book descriptions of the terrain is very good. The people descriptions were very harsh and dark, but in the time frame of the books, we're most likely very accurate, given the conflicts of that time.
My wife loves the TV series, and watches it in its entirety several times a year on DVD.
The TV sequels, prequels, do not compare to the main TV series, primarily because Robert Duvall, and Tommy Lee Jones, Angelica Houston, Diane Lane, Ricky Schroder, Robert Urich, Danny Glover, etc. are not in them. They are good but not superb because of the actor differences.
Tough land, tough times, and both have multiple ways to harm or kill you, and not necessarily quickly!

[marlinman93]

Mc Murtry's book and the movie it inspried are both loosely based on Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving's adventures on the Goodnight-Loving Trail in their 3rd trip to Montana with cattle. Even the part about hauling Gus back to Texas was true to Goodnight hauling his partner Oliver Loving's body back to New Mexico after his death. Goodnight and Loving were as close as the movie characters, and Goodnight sat with Loving the last two weeks it took Loving to die. It's also said he carried a picture of Loving in his wallet the rest of his life after he died.
Goodnight was famous as a big cattleman and his efforts to help keep the Old West way of life alive much later. He also saved a herd of bison on his Caprock Ranch to ensure they didn't become extinct from the over harvesting of bison. And he's credited with the invention of the chuck wagon which he was the first cattleman to use on long drives.
Late in life Goodnight spent huge amounts of his wealth to make a failed movie about life on the trail as he saw it early on. But it was a poorly directed and shot film because Goodnight ran the production and didn't know what he was doing. But that fell in line with his strong willed attitude, and heavy drinking life. I doubt he could have been successful in his endeavors earlier in life if he hadn't had those traits.

[piller]

I have never watched all of any one of the movies. Just not all that interesting to me. To each his own.