Lonesome Dove

[oden]

This is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the classic that many feel was a story about a cattle drive. I think it is about one of the greatest stories about friendships with diverse people while also about one of the best provider/hobbyist relationships ever. I would like to think that I could fill the boots of Augustus McCrae and meet someone like Lorena Wood.

[pjorourke]

Great show!

[WTF]

All time classic....best book ever made into a movie

[nevergaveitathought]

Originally Posted by WTF

All time classic....best book ever made into a movie

probably the only movies/tv miniseries ever to equal or surpass the book on which it was based...the godfather and lonesome dove

anyone else have input?

[Guest050715-1]

I’ve been telling myself forever that I need to read this book. I just got gift certificate at Border’s so maybe I’ll read it this weekend.

[Willen]

I'd say that, as a general rule, the better a book is the harder it is to make into a really good movie. Books work on our imaginations, and the more powerful those images are the more difficult it becomes to match them on screen.

If I really like a book, enough so I'll re-read it on occasion, then I usually won't go see the movie so as not to have my own impressions affected by the film.

[Gryphon]

Lonesome Dove is one of the few instances in which a TV miniseries is better than the book on which it is based. Larry McMurtry is a good writer, but all of his books have a depressing, everyone-is-doomed feel. Robert Duvall is superb as Augustus McRae; Tommy Lee Jones is merely very good as Woodrow Call, but he had less of a character to work with.

[seanes]

Originally Posted by WTF

.....best book ever made into a movie

Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

probably the only movies/tv miniseries ever to equal or surpass the book on which it was based...the godfather and lonesome dove...

Originally Posted by Gryphon

Lonesome Dove is one of the few instances in which a TV miniseries is better than the book on which it is based.

AGREED

[Mr. Smith111]

It's the best work McMurtry , Duvall, or Jones has ever done, in my opinion. Great book and a great movie. McMurtry can be depressing though. He's not one for fairy tail endings.

[caddyman]

Perhaps it is because I grew up in and know so many of the places that are in the book; know so many people that fit the roles that are in the book, but, to me, McMurtry painted such an incredible picture of those places and people, I thought I was there.
I agree, the relationship between Gus and Call is amazing, and clearly, what those of us who grew up in the real Texas are all about. To me Duval and Jones were perfect in and for their roles …

[LynetteMarie]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

Larry McMurtry is a good writer, but all of his books have a depressing, everyone-is-doomed feel.

Hey now...some of us like the "depressing, everyone-is-doomed" feel.
A good depressing read+This Mortal Coil on the IPod=blisssssss

Anyhow, agreed on the miniseries surpassing the book.
Reminder to self to rent and watch again.

[Gryphon]

Originally Posted by LynetteMarie

Hey now...some of us like the "depressing, everyone-is-doomed" feel.
A good depressing read+This Mortal Coil on the IPod=blisssssss

Anyhow, agreed on the miniseries surpassing the book.
Reminder to self to rent and watch again.

I enjoy "downer" books, too, but I have to be in the right frame of mind for them. And part of it is that McMurtry doesn't indulge in the usual plotline of someone doing something high risk for a compelling personal reason and having it come out okay. If one of his characters sets out across Commanche country alone, he/she is almost certainly going to be killed. No free passes.

Off topic but related: I bet you love Cormac McCarthy's work (No Country For Old Men).

[pyramider]

Lonesome Dove without the Broke Back friendship . . .



Yawnfest

[WTF]

Originally Posted by pyramider

Lonesome Dove without the Broke Back friendship . . .



Yawnfest

Yo brother, if you like Broke Back Mountain it's ok by me, I don't swing that way but you ain't gotta down Capt Gus just cause you do!

[cptjohnstone]

the History Chanel just did a story on it, yes one of the greatest