Lonesome Dove - 35 Years Ago

Lonesome Dove premiered 35 years ago today in 1989 (my 3rd bday). Westerns had largely fallen out of popularity. An estimated 26 MILLION tuned in to watch. One of the greatest TV mini-series of all time. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones played retired Texas Rangers who drove cattle from Texas to Montana.

Robert Duvall played TX Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae.

Some quotes from an interview:

quote:

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Over the past 25 years, what’s been the audience reception to you as Gus? Wherever I go, it follows me. I met a gaucho cowboy in rural Argentina who wore out a copy of Lonesome Dove with subtitles. Wherever I go, that’s the role that people mainly identify me with. I was made an honorary Texas Ranger several years ago and during that evening’s activities, a woman came up to me and said, “My daughter is getting married, but I wouldn’t let the fiancé marry into the family without seeing Lonesome Dove.” That symbolizes the whole thing. It’s like a bible in Texas. People watch it at family gatherings once a year, in groups of friends, and name their dogs, horses, and kids after my character—I’m sure it happens to Tommy Lee as well. It’s an experience that lives with me wherever I go—especially in Texas.

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quote:

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Why does Lonesome Dove hold up after 25 years? The English have Shakespeare, the French have Molière, the Russians have Chekhov, the Argentines have Borges, but the Western is ours—from Canada down to the Mexican border. It’s our thing. People love Westerns because Westerns remind them of the frontier times and the expansion of America, and Lonesome Dove embodies that period. We tend to romanticize it, but there’s something very valid there as part of our innate history as Americans. I was fortunate to be in two of the epics—for me—of the 20th century: the Godfather I and II and Lonesome Dove. Godfather might have been better directed, but the overall arc of Lonesome Dove carried it beautifully. It’s something that will continue to live on.

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My father is a retired TX Ranger. We’ve met Mr. Duvall and he came across as extremely sincere and an extraordinary man who seemed genuine in his reverence for the Rangers.



Duvall at the Ranger museum: LINK