“Yesterday’s gone on down the river and you can’t get it back.”
One of my favorite books is Lonesome Dove, and it’s hard to believe that it’s been 35 years since the TV mini-series thrilled millions of viewers. Based on the book Written by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove is about two retired Texas Rangers, “Gus” McCrae and “Woodrow” Call who drive a herd of cattle from Texas to Montana.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning story was loosely based on the true story of Charles Goodnight’s and Oliver Loving’s cattle drive from Texas to Montana. Goodnight and Loving were close friends. Before Loving died, he asked that his body be returned to Texas. He did not want to be buried in a “foreign land.” Charles Goodnight and Loving’s son, Joseph, carried the metal casket 600 miles back to Texas.
“I guess this’ll teach me to be careful about what I promise in the future.”
In Lonesome Dove, Gus dies, and Call carries his friend back to Texas as promised. If this doesn’t make you cry, I don’t know what will.
McMurtry originally wrote the story as a short screenplay named Streets of Laredo. It was supposed to star John Wayne as Call. But Wayne dropped out and the project was abandoned. 15 years later McMurtry saw an old bus with the phrase “Lonesome Dove Baptist Church” on it. He revised the book into a novel and changed the name. (Ah, inspiration.)
“…you ride with an outlaw, you die with an outlaw.”
The book went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. The mini-series also went on to win many awards, including the Golden Globes. It was cheated out the Emmy by War and Remembrance. Considered the “Gone With the Wind” of Western movies, Lonesome Dove has sold more DVDs than any other western.
It’s hard to imagine anyone but Robert Duvall as Gus, but he was actually offered the role of Woodrow Call and turned it down. His wife had read the book and told him, “Whatever you do, don’t let them talk you into playing Woodrow F. Call. Gus is the part you should play.”
James Garner was also considered for the role, but he had to turn it down because of health problems.
McMurtry said that he wrote Lonesome Dove to show the real hardships of living a cattleman’s life vs. the romantic life many think they lived. Some think he failed in this regard. Instead, many readers and critics see Lonesome Dove as a celebration of frontier life.
Have you read the book or seen the mini-series? If so, what part stood out for you?
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