Return to Lonesome Dove

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Summary: Great Western
Review: One of the best western shows I have ever seen

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Summary: Nice sequel to the original miniseries!
Review: Our entire family really enjoyed this video. It picks up elements of the original Lonesome Dove book that are missing from the first miniseries. Jon Voight does a good job as Woodrow Call - still emotionally repressed, but a little more chatty than the Tommy Lee Jones interpretation. It is always an adventure to watch him find a new way to "not feel". Rick Schroeder, now on NYPD Blue, is great as Newt. We also get to see more of July Johnson, who was such a sweet character that didn't get much attention in the original miniseries. We don't think you'll be disappointed with this one.

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Summary: Return to Lonesome Dove ¿ Hollywood¿s Sequel
Review: Return to Lonesome Dove can best be summed up in one simple sentence. Larry McMurtry had nothing to do with this project. He wrote no book under this title, or a teleplay of any kind. Yet, somehow, Hollywood got a hold of the rights to a sequel and did their work. Both the original novel and miniseries were so successful...how could Hollywood not do a sequel, right? Many viewers will find this particular sequel to be much more palatable than McMurtry's offering, Streets of Laredo. "Return," is the epitome of Hollywood, with it's tying up of all lose ends and trite, happy ending. We are given the same fantastic visuals, the same musical score and some of the same cast as we got in the original miniseries, including Rick Schroder as Newt Call. But more than that...we are given another drive to Montana, using horses this time, instead of cattle. We are given an accomplished black tracker to guide the herd, named Isom (Louis Gossett Jr.) instead of Deets. We are given a villainous, half-breed again, named Cherokee Jack, (Dennis Haysbert) in place of Blue Duck. We are given an affable, younger Gus McCrae, in the form of ex Ranger, Gideon Walker, (William Petersen) whom Call reluctantly hires to aid in the drive. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Montana, Newt becomes involved with a neighboring rancher's young wife, which eventually escalates into a range war, drawing in Call and the Hat Creek Outfit. Throw in the sassy Clara Allen, (Barbara Hershey) and a Mexican seniorita who turns out to be Gus McCrae's daughter, and you have a true Hollywood sequel...that is, Lonesome Dove, warmed over, with a few cliché plot twists. Probably the most disappointing aspect of this movie is the portrayal of Woodrow Call, by John Voight. While Voight is a fine actor, the depiction of Call strays far from the man McMurtry envisions for us in the original story. This is best illustrated by Call's comment, "a man should leave more behind than a sorry piece of wood stuck in some dirt." This explains his motives for driving the wild herd of horses to Montana, but its not the Woodrow Call that fans of the Lonesome Dove miniseries and novels have come to care about. While McMurtry's Call struck out for Montana to find adventure, he wasn't interested in things like his own legacy, as the Call in "Return" seems to be. This probably explains Call's sudden decision to acknowledge Newt as his son in the finale of the movie. It's a shame, really, that this movie was made. If it had not been and McMurtry had been left to his own devices, Streets of Laredo, might have turned out better. But history has taken it's course and we've been left with two mediocre sequels to a masterpiece, (one official and one not) and two sad television series that deserved to fail miserably as they did. In the end, the viewer's choice prevails. If you like a typical Hollywood western with a cliché story, action, romance and a contrived, satisfying ending, Return to lonesome Dove is the movie for you. Personally, I find more value in the creations of the original author.

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Summary: Hard to follow the original
Review: Return to Lonesome Dove was an equal to it's predecessor in the beautiful scenary throughout the film,however, several of the things which made the first an all time favorite of mine, are missing from this follow-up. Augustus McCrae died in the first and this has left quite a void in the second. The continous banter between Gus and Call added so much to the original movie. The loss of it definatley weakens the Return. Jon Voight does an OK job of depicting Captain Woodrow Call, but, the shoes were just too big to fill. Tommy Lee Jones was born to fill that roll and this movie would have been so much better with him playing that part again. All in all, it was an entertaining film, but not one that I would watch again and again as I have the original.

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Summary: Revisionist History Dampens The Screenplay!
Review: The first scene of the movie consists of a young woman shooting up Gus's marker. It turns out that Gus mistakenly got her mother killed in a shootout in Mexico, when he (Gus) was involved? with her mother. The plot has some good points in that the cowboys are Mexican "Vacqueros", but the producer takes great pains to show that the Vacqueros are better than the American cowboys. I won't try to describe the whole plot, but will say this film does not "fit" well with the other "Lonesome Dove" films because it twists most of Larry McMurtry's views into "modern, politically correct, viewpoints". Having said all that, I would still reccommend the movie as it does have some good action and plot lines.

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Summary: SNOWBOUND DELIGHT!
Review: The first time i saw this movie,was during our 1997 snowstorm.
Watching it together with our family, and a warm,lovely fire from our fireplace made it all the more special.
A must see for any family.

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Summary: Great Sequel
Review: This is a pretty good sequel to the original movie. I believe that this movie was missing one key thing. Tommy Lee Jones. The transition between the actors was not very good. Tommy Lee played a more calm, less talking, and less emotional character than Jon Voight. Rick Schroder did very well in this sequel.

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Summary: It was an ok movie......
Review: This movie would have been lots better with the ORIGINAL cast from the first Lonesome Dove. Don't get me wrong, Jon Voight was good, but Tommy Lee Jones made the part happen for the series !!! Some of the parts could have gone and made the movie lots more interesting, but all in all, it was good I guess !! If you liked Lonesome Dove, you would probably like this one .