Lonesome Dove

Rating:
Summary: To set the record straight
Review: Maybe it's been written before, but I'll say it here. The video tape is all 6 hrs. on one tape. There is a misprint on the box and on the tape label saying 4 hrs. Since it was copied in EP (aka SLP) the image is poor. Flat and sans detail. Also it was in mono audio (don't know if DVD is stereo). But I just watched it on tape for the first time having borrowed it for free from the library. After an hour or so I got past the poor video and was lost in this amazing film!
My recommendation is to purchase the DVD. You say you ain't got a DVD player? Buy one immediately. They're coming down in price all the time and their picture reproduction is beautiful.
I myself will be making the Lonesome Dove DVD purchase in the spring, when I'm ready for my second viewing!

Rating:
Summary: For Once a Movie as Good as the Book
Review: Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is a fascinating read and an equally fascinating miniseries or movie. Starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Anjelica Huston, and a fascinatingly different Robert Urich, it is well acted with many fine supporting actors including Diane Lane, Frederic Forrest and Rick Schroder. Well-researched and thorough, the filmmakers have faithfully followed the book and presented a movie that is beautifully filmed and also surprisingly "educational" for want of a better word. Most people didn't make a big deal out of hygiene, for example, in the days of this story, medicine was in it's early days and people died from illnesses and injuries that they would be able to survive in our day and age and the minutiae of the dialogue and fine nuances to the performances give you as much of a sense of living in a different era as any movie ever has.

Rating:
Summary: No Other Western Comes Close To This One
Review: I've seen LONESOME DOVE so many times I've practically got the six hours of dialogue memorized. Yet I'll keep watching this excellent adaptation of Larry McMurtry's epic novel, over and over again. Why? Two words: compelling story.

The friendship of Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call is the underlying theme of LONESOME DOVE; it's the motor that drives the story. When these two weathered former lawmen steal a herd of cattle from Mexico and set off for Montana for one last grand adventure ("I wanna see that country," says Call to Gus, "before the lawyers and bankers get it."), the stage is set for a Western with plenty of humor, action, violence...tragedy.

This production makes McMurtry's unforgettable characters literally leap off the page. Robert Duvall IS Gus McCrae...Tommy Lee Jones IS Woodrow Call. Both performances are so vivid and on target the viewer is transported seamlessly to McMurtry's story, a story centering around the undying loyalty and friendship of these two men.

LONESOME DOVE is a film that will entertain you, take you over the full gambit of human emotions, then after six hours leave you begging for more. Jones and Duvall lead a stellar cast in a remarkable film that has but one weakness: it has to end. And McMurtry's story is told--told so well that no other Western even comes close.

Rating:
Summary: A must-see must-have movie!!
Review: I keep my copy of this film 1n my DVD player at all times because I truly belive that all of life's problems can be solved or at least diminished if you watch Lonesome Dove long enough,lol. Robert Duvall says that Gus McCrae is his favorite of all the characters he has played, and it shows in his performance. It is 6 hours of pure entertainment, on every level. The Pulitzer-prize winning novel is excellent, too. Watching this film or reading the book is a big, delicious, chocolate mental dessert, with a cherry on top. Treat yourself!

Rating:
Summary: The Best Western Ever
Review: I'm a viewer of westerns from way back. From Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, and my favorite, Gunsmoke, I've relished the chronicles of hard men in a hard land making hard decisions. I've seen all the Clint Eastwood westerns, Shane, Rio Bravo, Red River, The Searchers, The Magnificent Seven, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and I can say unequivocally that Lonesome Dove is the best western Í've ever seen. All the performances are great but Robert Duvall's Gus McRae is absolutely indelible and has become my favorite character in film no matter what the genre. Certainly Lonesome Dove had an advantage over the aforementioned western films by being a mini-series and thus having more time to develop the characters and story, but the production values and performances rival those of the finest film. We should rejoice that it was a mini-series because there was no other way that true justice could be done to the great novel it was adapted from. It has both scope and intimacy, unbearable cruelty and immeasurable tenderness, romantic dreams and crushing reality. I've never seen six hours go by so fast. It is the best western ever.

Rating:
Summary: A rich well-adapted film
Review: Based upon the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Lonesome Dove is the best adapted novel of all time for any screen. I personally despise seeing any film based upon a novel that I have read due to the inconsistencies between the novel and the screen version. Lonesome Dove, the novel, not only captures the spirit of the old west better than any other novel I have ever read, but the mini-series nearly follows the novel page for page.

What makes the screen version so much better is the fact that the acting is first rate. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones legitimized their casting with first rate performances. Their roles were originally written for John Wayne and James Stewart, but I don't think that the performances of those actors could have equaled Duvall and Jones. Diane Lane had the perfect demeanor for the beautiful but esteemless prostitute who is forever to be abandoned. Robert Urich, the eternal good guy was perfect as the scheming weak-willed former Ranger. I'm not certain how Lonesome Dove faired at the Emmy's, but it certainly should have won in every category for which it was eligible.

If you want to see a well acted tale of the old west in which the time period is legitimately portrayed, see Lonesome Dove. If you don't want to be disappointed by a film that was adapted from a novel you have read, see Lonesome Dove. There is no aspect of this film that takes away or attempts to enhance the novel from which it was adapted. Do yourself a favor and see Lonesome Dove.

Rating:
Summary: Super, Great, Terrific, Marvelous -- And The Book Is Better
Review: I read Lonesome Dove when it was first published in the 1980s, and considered it a wonderful book. I thought the miniseries was extremely good, and I finally bought the DVD version, which I watched not long ago. I don't see how it could have been better, given the restraints of film-making.

A week ago, I went on a beach vacation and re-read the book. The book is significantly richer than the film, an absolute masterpiece. It's the kind of book that, even if you hardly ever read anything, you will enjoy reading after seeing the movie made from it.

Rating:
Summary: Lonesome Dove
Review: The best miniseries of all time----the best western drama of all time!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Western
Review: When I saw this on TV when it first came out, I was completely blown away. Every element in the classic Western was there-the cattle drive, the renegade Indian, the corrupted cowboy, the [prostitute] with the heart of gold. . . And most of all, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall in the roles of theit lives! It sounds like a collection of bad cliches, but it's not. If you like Westerns, forget modern slop like "Tombstone" and the Clint Eastwood films. This made-for-TV film tells the story of the American West and the tragic story of the death of the Frontier. Listen carefully to what Colonel Call is told when he comes back to Lonesome Dove at the end.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this highly abridged edition
Review: The original is great, but the original
is a 4-tape set, and the version for sale
here is a 1-tape set.

I got mine and was outraged. I haven't
taken it out of the plastic, but I can't
imagine one tape holds the entire 6-8
hour mini-series.

It is staying in the plastic so I can
return it. Today.