Lonesome Dove (miniseries)

Lonesome Dove
The 1989 film Lonesome Dove DVD cover
Directed by	Simon Wincer
Written by	Larry McMurtry (novel) William D. Wittliff (teleplay)
Produced by	Dyson Lovell Suzanne De Passe
Starring	Robert Duvall Tommy Lee Jones Danny Glover Diane Lane Robert Urich
Cinematography	Douglas Milsome
Edited by	Corky Ehlers
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Distributed by	Motown Productions
Release date	February 5, 1989
Running time	384 min.
Country	USA
Language	English

Lonesome Dove is western television miniseries based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, Lonesome Dove was originally broadcast by CBS on February 5, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and helping revive both the television western and the miniseries format.

An estimated 26,000 homes tuned in to watch Lonesome Dove, unusually high numbers for a western at that time. The western genre was considered dead by most people, as was the miniseries. Lonesome Dove was both. By the show's end, it had earned huge ratings and virtually revamped the entire 1989-1990 television season. A favorite with audiences, as well as critics, Lonesome Dove garnered many honors and awards. At the 41st Annual Emmy Awards, the miniseries had eighteen nominations and seven wins, including one for director Simon Wincer. Another miniseries of significantly less popularity, War and Remembrance, managed to win the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries. Yet, Lonesome Dove found success later, when it won two Golden Globes, one for Best TV Miniseries and one for Best Actor in a TV Miniseries (Robert Duvall). The film was deemed Program of the Year by the National Television Critics Association, as well as Outstanding Dramatic Achievement. It received the DW Griffith Award for Best Television Miniseries, and CBS was presented with a Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama. In a 2003 Epic-tv special hosted by British actress Jane Seymour, TRIO Network placed Lonesome Dove third in a list of ten outstanding miniseries from all major television networks. Roots (ABC,1977) took first honors. Shogun (NBC,1982) took second.

Plot

Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae (Duvall) and Captain Woodrow F. Call (Jones), two famous ex-Texas Rangers, run a livery called the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small dusty Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Smooth, charming and easy going, Gus loves women and women return the sentiments, but he's twice a widower and he never marries the love of his life, Clara (Anjelica Houston). Although he had proposed marriage many a time, she repeatedly rejected him because Gus is "a rambler," and she despises Call because she feels jealous of the years Gus spent with him instead of her. She needed to settle down and have a family and a good life; he was brave and a dead aim, but was lazy and prone to wandering away for another adventure.

While McCrae is warm, good natured, and understanding of people, Captain Call, Gus's best friend and partner, is the opposite: a workaholic taskmaster who hides in his work, emotionally isolated from others. He is afraid "to admit he's human," according to McCrae. He loved only one woman, a whore named Maggie, who gave birth to his only son, Newt (Rick Schroder). Though he knows he is his bastard son's father, he refuses to admit it and give Newt his name. He is hypercompetent at his work to compensate for his complete failure at human relationships. He is cold and driven by pride and honor, not love. Even when he drags the body of the only human who ever understood him and loved him anyway over 2000 miles across the Great Plains, suffering ridicule and hardship, he claims he is doing it for duty, not friendship. He is the Western version of Captain Ahab whose reckless stubbornness ends in tragedy.

Working with them are Joshua Deets (Glover), a black man who is an excellent tracker and scout from their Ranger days, Pea Eye Parker, another former Ranger who works hard but isn't all too bright, and Bolivar, a retired Mexican bandit who is their cook. Also living with them is the boy Newt Dobbs, a seventeen-year-old son of Call and a prostitute named Maggie Dobbs.

The story begins in the small town of Lonesome Dove, as Jake Spoon, a former comrade of Call's and McCrae's, shows up after an absence of more than ten years. He is a man on the run, having accidentally shot the dentist of Fort Smith in Arkansas. The dentist's brother happens to be the sheriff, July Johnson. Reunited with Gus and Call, Jake's breath-taking description of Montana inspires Call to gather a herd of cattle and drive them there, to begin the first cattle ranch in the frontier territory. Call is attracted to the romantic notion of settling pristine country. Gus is less enthusiastic, pointing out that they are getting old and that they are Rangers and traders, not cowboys. But he changes his mind when Jake reminds him that Gus' old sweetheart, Clara, lives on the Platte, 20 miles from Ogallala, Nebraska, which is on their route to Montana. Captain Call prevails. They make preparations for their adventure north, including stealing horses in Mexico and recruiting almost all the male citizens of Lonesome Dove.

Ironically, Jake Spoon decides not to go after all, being selfish and undependable and because he promises the town's only prostitute, Lorena Wood, known as Lorie, he'll take her to San Francisco.

Ogallala also happens to be the destination of Elmira, the wife of Sheriff Johnson, as she runs away to meet up with her true love, Dee Boot. So the three groups head north. They encounter horse thieves, murderers, hostile Indians, inclement weather and a few inner demons.

Cast

Actor	Role
Robert Duvall	Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae
Tommy Lee Jones	Captain Woodrow F. Call
Timothy Scott	Pea Eye Parker
Danny Glover	Joshua Deets
Rick Schroder	Newt Dobbs
Robert Urich	Jake Spoon
D. B. Sweeney	Dishwater Boggett
Diane Lane	Lorena Wood
Frederic Forrest	Blue Duck
Anjelica Huston	Clara Allen
Chris Cooper	July Johnson
Barry Corbin	Roscoe Brown
Jorge Martínez de Hoyos	Po Campo
Glenne Headly	Elmira Johnson
Helena Humann	Peach Johnson
León Singer	Bolivar
Lanny Flaherty	Soupy Jones

Production

The series was shot in New Mexico and Texas. Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall did their own stunts in the film, except for one brief scene that required Duvall to ride in the center of a herd of bison.

Awards

Lonesome Dove was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards, winning seven.

Awards	Category	Won	Nomination	Winner
American Cinema Editors (1990)	Best Edited Episode from a Television Mini-Series		Y	Corky Ehlers For Part 3 ("The Plains")
BMI Film & TV Awards (1990)		Y		Basil Poledouris
Casting Society of America (1989)	Best Casting for TV Miniseries	Y		Lynn Kressel
Directors Guild of America (1990)	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials		Y	Simon Wincer
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Achievement in Casting for a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Lynn Kressel
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Manlio Rocchetti (makeup supervisor), Carla Palmer (makeup artist), and Jean Ann Black (makeup artist) For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore)	Y		Basil Poledouris (composer) For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Van Broughton Ramsey For Part 2 ("On the Trail")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Simon Wincer (director) For Part 1 ("Leaving") and Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Dave McMoyler (supervising sound editor), Joseph Melody (co-supervising editor), Mark Steele (sound editor), Richard S. Steele (sound editor), Michael J. Wright (sound editor), Gary Macheel (sound editor), Stephen Grubbs (sound editor), Mark Friedgen (sound editor), Charles R. Beith Jr. (sound editor), Scott A. Tinsley (sound editor), Karla Caldwell (sound editor), George B. Bell (sound editor), G. Michael Graham (sound editor), Kristi Johns (supervising adr editor), Tom Villano (supervising music editor), and Jamie Forester (supervising music editor) For Part 3 ("The Plains")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Special	Y		Donald F. Johnson (sound mixer), James L. Aicholtz (dialogue mixer), Michael Herbick (music mixer), and Kevin O'Connell (sound effects mixer) For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Philip Leto (hairstylist) and Manlio Rocchetti (hair supervisor) For Part 2 ("On the Trail")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Cary White (production designer) and Michael J. Sullivan (set decorator) For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Douglas Milsome (director of photography) For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Single Camera Production		Y	Corky Ehlers (editor) For Part 3 ("The Plains")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Robert Duvall For Part 2 ("On the Trail")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Tommy Lee Jones For Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Anjelica Huston For Part 3 ("The Plains")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Diane Lane For Part 3 ("The Plains") and Part 4 ("The Return")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Miniseries		Y	Suzanne de Passe (executive producer), Bill Wyttliff (executive producer), Robert Halmi Jr. (co-executive producer), Dyson Lovell (producer), and Michael Weisbarth (supervising producer)
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Danny Glover For Part 1 ("Leaving"), Part 2 ("On the Trail"), and Part 3 ("The Plains")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Glenne Headly For Part 1 ("Leaving"), Part 2 ("On the Trail"), and Part 3 ("The Plains")
Emmy Awards (1989)	Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special		Y	Bill Wyttliff (teleplay) For Part 1 ("Leaving") and Part 4 ("The Return")
Golden Globes (1990)	Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Y
Golden Globes (1990)	Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Y		Robert Duvall
Golden Globes (1990)	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV		Y	Tommy Lee Jones
Golden Globes (1990)	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV		Y	Anjelica Huston
TV Land Awards (2007)	Miniseries You Didn't Miss a Moment Of		Y
Television Critics Association Awards (1989)	Outstanding Achievement in Drama	Y
Television Critics Association Awards (1989)	Program of the Year	Y
Western Heritage Awards (1990)	Television Feature Film	Y		William D. Wittliff (writer/executive producer), Suzanne de Passe (executive producer), Robert Duvall (star), Tommy Lee Jones (star), and Anjelica Huston (star)
Writers Guild of America Awards (1990)	Adapted Long Form	Y		William D. Wittliff For Part 1 ("Leaving")

DVD & Blu-ray

Lonesome Dove, Return to Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo and Dead Man's Walk are all available on DVD in the United Kingdom (distributed by Acorn Media UK) and the United States. Both seasons of the TV series have also been released in the U.S.

Lonesome Dove was filmed in a soft matte 1.78:1 (16:9) aspect ratio, allowing it to be cropped from the 4:3 negative. It was then released on Blu-ray Disc on August 5, 2008 just months before the film's 20th anniversary.

External links

• Lonesome Dove at IMDb