# Calling all Lonesome Dove Lovers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897 "2005-07-03T04:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/1 "2005-07-03T04:02:28Z")
Tonight I decided to pop that classic in the VCR and join the Hat Creek Cattle Company on their epic trek. It’s such a moving film, and it seems as though all of the major characters are striving for something which remains just out of reach to them. Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/2 "2005-07-03T04:57:46Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Tonight I decided to pop that classic in the VCR and join the Hat Creek Cattle Company on their epic trek. It’s such a moving film, and it seems as though all of the major characters are striving for something which remains just out of reach to them. Your thoughts? Not much really. Great mini-series based on a great book. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/3 "2005-07-03T12:05:47Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Tonight I decided to pop that classic in the VCR and join the Hat Creek Cattle Company on their epic trek. It’s such a moving film, and it seems as though all of the major characters are striving for something which remains just out of reach to them. Your thoughts? Loved the book, loved the mini-series. But I love everything Larry McMurtry writes. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/4 "2005-07-03T12:09:24Z")
Loved the book, and somehow never got around to seeing the miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/5 "2005-07-03T12:17:18Z")
> [@Veuve\_ClicquotNJ](#): > > Loved the book, loved the mini-series. But I love everything Larry McMurtry writes. > > VCNJ~ I love all his western stuff. And the West Texas series. Although, _Terms of Endearment \* wasn’t a great movie, the book was, as were \* Cadilac Jack, Paris Texas & The Last Picture Show_. I wasn’t that taken with his Hollywood stuff. The only name I can remember is _All of My Friends are Going to Be Strangers_ I remember the name because I thought it was cool, the book, however was not. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/6 "2005-07-03T16:14:15Z")
The book is in my Top 3 favorite books. Gus is tied (with Jamie Fraser of Outlander) for my all-time favorite character. I love Gus. I was alternatively despondent and sad when McMurtry killed him off. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/7 "2005-07-03T16:15:19Z")
Um. Make that “alternately” in the sentence above. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/8 "2005-07-03T16:30:51Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > The book is in my Top 3 favorite books. Gus is tied (with Jamie Fraser of Outlander) for my all-time favorite character. I love Gus. I was alternatively despondent and sad when McMurtry killed him off. Wow, are you me? Those are exactly my thoughts on the subject, including Jamie Fraser. 🙂 I recently watched my Lonesome Dove dvd for the about the 10th time in as many years. I then lent it to a friend and made him promise me he’d watch it and created a new Larry McMurtry fan in the process. I think Lonesome Dove is the best TV movie ever produced. I think it could easily rival some big-screen movies as well, except for the length. Beautifully filmed and beautifully acted. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/9 "2005-07-03T18:49:18Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > The book is in my Top 3 favorite books. Gus is tied (with Jamie Fraser of Outlander) for my all-time favorite character. I love Gus. I was alternatively despondent and sad when McMurtry killed him off. Agreed. Robert Duvall did such a masterful job in Gus’ role, too. A perfect match to Tommy Lee Jones as the Captain. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-lonesome-dove-lovers/310897/10 "2005-07-03T21:51:28Z")
Hey, Just finished watching them all again on Hallmark’s marathon this weekend. Timed it well with my re-reading of several of the books (recently- _Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon, and Streets of Laredo_). Unboxed spoiler ahead btw… What I find most interesting in the series is that both Gus & Call are met with the same choice- lose a leg (or legs in Gus’ case) or die. Out of the two, you would think Gus was the one who would choose to live. He just sits around drinking whiskey much of the time and talks people’s ear off. Now that Clara Allen is available- he could even do that on her porch and make her pretty happy as well (or at least she would know he isn’t going off anywhere.) Call, on the other hand, has no family, no one really who loves him (Gus by then is dead) and no reason to live other than to go out and kill bandits. But he chooses to live, as a cripple who can no longer do the one thing he had a reason to live for. Initially, I think he wanted to live so he can have a chance for revenge on Joey Garza, but soon finds that to be an impossibility. He continues on, in a somewhat sad manner. Too stubborn to die? I love the book _Lonesome Dove_, but I have to say that I find\* Dead Man’s Walk\* to be even better- maybe because of Bigfoot Wallace. I just really enjoy that character, and the parts with the Mexican Army are really interesting.