re: Is Lonesome Dove Tommy Lee Jones' and Duval's best performance?

Duval is such a great actor it's kind of hard to say this was hands down his "best performance". Watching him in some of his lesser known parts like The Apostle or Tender Mercies as well as his better known stuff like The Godfather, it's hard to single out any one thing.

Gus was probably my favorite role of his but I'm not sure that equates with it being his best. Plus, I think that he kind of fell into doing similar roles after that (pretty sure there was one with Costner and one with the guy from Wings at least). Which I would have preferred to see him explore some different types of roles.

Tommy Lee Jones just nailed Woodrow. I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled that off. (John Voight and James Garner, two good actors didn't come close). So for him, I'd have to say yes. That was his best stuff.