Your thoughts on two Westerns..... (1 Viewer)

[Craig S]

I'll just echo what everyone else is saying about "Lonesome Dove". I love it. It's the best TV miniseries of all time, & one of the greatest Westerns of all time. It contains the best performance ever by one of our finest actors (Duvall). All of the actors do a great job. The music is wonderful - feature film quality. The picture quality on the DVD is not great, but watchable. Get it.
Wow. I'd sure be interested in hearing the reasons for that.

 

[Jeff_HR]

My tastes in westerns runs almost exclusively to "John Wayne" westerns or a few much older "classic" westerns from the 1940's to 1960's.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Ronbo,
I highly recommend both titles to you.




Crawdaddy

 

[Ernest Rister]

For the longest time I have been hearing about
Robert Duvall and his performance in
Lonesome Dove. It's supposed to be the
finest performance of his career.

One of his best, maybe not THE best...at this point, picking Robert Duvall's best is like choosing the best Shakespearean sonnet. There is such a great wealth to choose from, at the end of the day, it all comes own to personal opinion, not objective analysis. I'd personally pick his work in The Apostle or Tender Mercies, but Lonesome Dove is right up there.

Well, I never had any interest in watching
Lonesome Dove because the title conveyed
some sappy love story film...

?!?!?

To each their own. Lonesome Dove, however, isn't exactly Bridges of Madison County -- although that, too, is a great film, "sappy love story" or not.

"I didn't think I'd like it...that is, until one of my co-workers told me today that it was a WESTERN and one of
the most successful TV mini-series ever made."

Dude...

"In fact, my co-worker was raving about this movie."

Seriously, dude...

"Anybody have any thoughts on it? It's on DVD and
can be had for under $20."

Okay, SERIOUSLY, Dude...Listen to your co-worker more...

"Also....He highly recommended Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,
citing it to be one of the great Westerns. Just thought I'd get some opinions here before I go and order these."

Your co-worker knows of what he speaks. I can't believe the owner of HTF needs to ask us plebian guests if Liberty Valance or Lonesome Dove are good movies. What movies have you been watching the last several years?

 

[GlennH]

Well, no offense to the Duke, but Duvall acts circles around him. Not that anybody should have to decide between them.

 

[Jan H]

Lonesome Dove is one of the greatest westerns ever, but the DVD is feeble and is crying out for a special edition remaster. I'd rank Duvall's performance as either his best, or his 2nd best (after The Apostle). "Valance" should be another no-brainer blind buy. Right up there with Ford's very best work.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dude....

Westerns were never my forte until recently.

Give me credit.....I have spent the last two years
catching up on dozens of great western fare I never
thought I'd enjoy. I have seen just about all the
great westerns ever made. Sooner or later I was bound
to come around to Dove and Liberty.

 

[Garrett Adams]

I recommend both most highly. You mentioned how viewing Lost in Translation affected you. In a similar vein Lonesome Dove stayed with me a long time afterward. I still choke up when I view on the last scene with Tommy Lee Jones and a newspaper reporter.

The story, BTW, is loosely based on the lives of former Texas Ranger Charles Goodnight and rancher Oliver Loving.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Never mind, I got the two mixed up.

It looks like I need to revisit Lonesome Dove.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I have seen just about all the great westerns ever made. Sooner or later I was bound to come around to Dove and Liberty."

Then, in your exploration of the great westerns, you would have already come across *both* Dove and Libery by your 10th film. They're no-brainers. A list of the geratest westerns without Lonesome Dove and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is like a list of the best Gangster films without The Godfather Trilogy and Scarface.

 

[Joe_Pinney]

Boy, are YOU in for a treat, Ron.

Wow, the FIRST time you'll be seeing Lonesome Dove. I admit I haven't actually seen the film in years, but I saw it once, and it has stayed with me for the last decade. I think if the mini-series had been eligible for a Pulitzer, it might have gotten one just as the book did. As it is, it stands head and shoulders above so many other television events in so many people's memories. This is a film you INVEST YOURSELF IN. By the end, you....you don't WANT it to end. Honestly, it's one of the Westerns that basically solidified my affection for the genre.

Now, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, on the other hand, I have to embarassedly admit that I have not yet seen. :b But I shall at the soonest opportunity.

 

[Ernest Rister]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was required viewing for 1st year film students at the University of Texas at Austin - along with The Searchers, Stagecoach, The Great Train Robbery, High Noon, Shane, The Ox-Bow Incident, and My Darling Clementine -- and that's just the classic westerns.

So, yeah, if it's good enough to be required viweing for 1st year film students at UT, it should be good enough for the owner of the Home Theater Forum!

 

[Brad Porter]

Just as a warning, my copy of Lonesome Dove went all pixelly around the layer change. I can't recall the details, but I think this was one of the first DSDL DVDs and they didn't get it quite right on some of them.

Brad

 

[Dane Marvin]

Not to get too far off the subject, but while we're talking about great western movies, I need to admit that I can only remember seeing two John Wayne movies. I really liked them both. They were The Cowboys and The Alamo. Anyone got some John Wayne recommendations? I am going to buy The Searchers sight unseen when the Warner 2-disc SE comes out (if it comes out).

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Buy them both without a second thought. There's a ridiculously miniscule chance that you'll regret it.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Anyone got some John Wayne recommendations?"

Yeah - Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

See also:

Big Jake
Rio Bravo
McClintock!
Sons of Katie Elder
The Shootist
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
and
The Searchers (no brainer)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Ernest,

Dude...where would I be without your wisdom?

 

[Ernest Rister]

Stick with me, kid. I'll take you places.

 

[Wayne Earl]

Oops sorry about the typo on Diane Lane.No fear of a love story scenario although there are ,shock, several females in this story. Lonesome dove is just the name of the one horse Texas town where our heros reside till they decide to rustle up enough mexican cattle and horses and make the first trail drive to the Montana frontier.This is a western of epic proportions:kickass fight`s,renegade indians,stampedes,storms,hangings,rapes and eccentric mexican cooks.Nobody seems to want to remark on the wicked dialogue in this picture you will never forget Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae.Remember any man who wouldn`t cheat for a poke don`t want one bad enough.

 

[Richard Hardbattle]

Ron,

Don't hesitate, don't walk - RUN and get Lonesome Dove - If you have any interest in westerns at all, it's as certain a recommendation as I could give.

It's rare for a film to tax the heart and the head, and for a TV series of that era, well, it's unprecedented.


Enjoy.

Rich