Customer Reviews
By
D. Mikels "It's always Happy Hour here" (Skunk Holler)
I've seen LONESOME DOVE so many times I've practically got the six hours of dialogue memorized. Yet I'll keep watching this excellent adaptation of Larry McMurtry's epic novel, over and over again. Why? Two words: compelling story.
The friendship of Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call is the underlying theme of LONESOME DOVE; it's the motor that drives the story. When these two weathered former lawmen steal a herd of cattle from Mexico and set off for Montana for one last grand adventure ("I wanna see that country," says Call to Gus, "before the lawyers and bankers get it."), the stage is set for a Western with plenty of humor, action, violence...tragedy.
This production makes McMurtry's u nforgettable characters literally leap off the page. Robert Duvall IS Gus McCrae...Tommy Lee Jones IS Woodrow Call. Both performances are so vivid and on target the viewer is transported seamlessly to McMurtry's story, a story centering around the undying loyalty and friendship of these two men.
LONESOME DOVE is a film that will entertain you, take you over the full gambit of human emotions, then after six hours leave you begging for more. Jones and Duvall lead a stellar cast in a remarkable film that has but one weakness: it has to end. And McMurtry's story is told--told so well that no other Western even comes close.
By
Kevin P. Westmoreland (Asheville, NC United States) (REAL NAME)
It is finally nice to get the entire Lonesome Dove epic on DVD. While I have to agree that the picture is not as pristine as I would have liked, it is definitely better than the VHS version that I own. The sound is Dolby Digital mono, but surprisingly good.
One thing to note - the movie breaks at the same break points that the mini-series did when broadcast. After approximately 1.5 hours, the credits roll, and then the next section starts. Not that bad, but a little clunky. The interview snippets with Larry McMurtry are kind of insightful and nice to have.
Robert Duvall is really incredible in the role of Augustus (Gus) McCrae. The man is the character. I found I was laughing to myself all over again at Gus's western philosopher dialogue, and wishing that we all thought a little more like him.
If you loved the VHS version and want a better copy, buy this DVD. Though not crystal clear, it is an improvement over my old VHS copy and with instant chapter access, much more convenient to view.
By
David Hutton "occasional reviewer" (Bedford, NH USA) (REAL NAME)
I have just finished watching the six hour Lonesome Dove for the fourth time; yet, it is a rare movie I will even watch twice. I own the DVD, and I will certainly be watching it a fifth time. Comparisons of Lonesome Dove to other TV movies don't begin to do it justice; this movie deserves comparison to any Western ever made, and it stands up well to any one of the most highly considered (The Searchers, Unforgiven, Shane, High Noon, The Good, The Bad & the Ugly, etc.). This is a story of character and nuance much more than plot and action, with many small moments tha t will stay with you long after the story is finished...a saloon owner grieving over the loss of his prostitute (his love)...the hanging of a friend...an attempt at telling a boy he is your son....the burial of a friend...two old warriors saying goodbye in so many words (while there is much humor in the story, there is also overwhelming sadness, and do expect very major characters to have tragic endings to their lives). Lonesome Dove is bold enough to tell an epic story (and in doing so, demytholyzing the history of the West, and showing us how brutal and painful the settling of the West really was) by focusing on these small moments. There are something like 75 or 100 speaking parts in this movie, and it is uniformly excellently cast (with the exception, in my opinion, of Angelica Huston, who I always thought seemed out of place in this Western setting). If you are wondering whether this is worth owning, believe me, you will never regret it.A postscript: since I wrote my re view I have noticed that there are a number of idiots out there unfairly ripping this movie for being shorter than the original. The original series was indeed EIGHT hours long. However, it was made for TV and had something called commericials. These had the effect of reducing its running time to about SIX hours, as my review notes. I have seen several DVD versions of this and have never seen one that was edited or cut, which is why they neglect to warn you on the box. Just get the movie, watch it, and ignore the bozo comments.
By A Customer
Be warned: this edition of "Lonesome Dove" is cut down to 240 minutes, from the original 360. This is perhaps the greatest television miniseries ever made, and it would be a shame to see it in anything but its complete form. Spend the extra couple of bucks to get the other DVD edition! My rating of the movie itself would be five stars, but this cut version is a terrible injustice.
By
K. Riley "MovieFanatic" (SP, Ohio United States) (REAL NAME)
I am very pleased with this movie, I own it on vhs and was not disappointed with the picture quality on dvd. This is the complete 6 hr miniseries, (minus the networks commercials that made it 8 hours). The bonuses are great!
By
Cody Y. Vignal "Nash Music" (Nashville, TN USA) (REAL NAME)
I pre-ordered this Blu-ray disc when I saw that it was going to be available. I was sceptical as to how much better it would actually be than the DVD version that I already owned. Let me tell you, it is COMPLETELY different. Seriously, the clarity, film quality and Dolby 5.1 surround make this Blu-ray a MUST HAVE for any fan of this Western epic! It is in widescreen for the first time, and honestly, it makes the movie so much crisper and perfect that you seriously just have to see it for yourself to believe it! The extra content on the discs are incredible too. There are interviews, on-set, with the actors talking about the movie, and there are interviews with the author of the book and with the director of the film. They are all so insightful, and you will learn things about this film that you never knew before. But the picture and sound quality are beyond a doubt the best part of this. Just buy it and you'll see for yourself! Definitely get this mo vie on Blu-ray if you love this movie, because you'ver never seen Lonesome Dove like this!
By
N. White (Arkansas, USA) (REAL NAME)
I recently bought this for my dad for his birthday. I remember watching it when I was younger and I always liked it, but the version we had was recorded from TV and was terrible quality, especially because it is now almost 20 years old. It is an excellent series, but you can decide that for yourself if you choose to buy it. My decision to write this review is designed to help the potential buyer who doesn't want to get ripped off. I read most of the reviews before buying this product, and time and time again I came accross people who complai ned about purchasing an edited version with much of the content removed. Many of those reviews were old, so I didn't know if I was getting a newer version with the whole story of some other version that was edited. Hopefully this will help. It appears that Amazon sells 2 versions of the DVD (I know nothing about the VHS versions so this review does not apply to them). The version I bought (ASIN B00005Y6YB) is listed as 360 minutes in length and is ranked in the top 500 in Amazon's top sellers. It was released by Hallmark. The DVD box lists the run time as 6 hours, which is what you would expect after removing commercials an 8 hour TV miniseries that is split into 4 parts. Amazon's price is listed as $8.49. Another version of the series (ASIN B00003IPFK) is listed as 360 minutes as well, but is listed at about #48,000 in the top sellers and is priced at $13.75 (only available from independent vendors). Seeing how few people bought this version and how much more it costs, I would avoid it. The version I bought is ASIN B00005Y6YB and it is complete. Perhaps the people who gave bad reviews did not receive the same version I bought. Amazon lists the same reviews for both, so it's possible that people gave poor reviews to a different version and those reviews got mixed in with the complete version's reviews. If you want to be sure you are getting the complete series without editing, I would recommend searching the ASIN so that you don't have to pick and choose between versions. Be sure you check when you get the product that you have the full 6 hour version. I hope this helps!Lonesome Dove
By A Customer
To top things off, Lonesome Dove has released two versions of their film. The full length version (released some time ago) is out of stock per Amazon. The new version is 2/3 the film. But both versions show the same reviews on Amazon. So check the technical det ails to be sure the version that you are buying is the full length.
By
Beau Yarbrough (Hesperia, CA) (VINE VOICE)
I was indifferent when my mother first suggested watching a videotaped miniseries a friend had loaned her. All I knew of Larry McMurtry was that he'd written "Terms of Endearment," and that didn't exactly entice me. Besides, I hadn't seen a good Western in years (this was before Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven," of course) and thought of them as a played-out genre, only watched by old men who had no interest in contemporary fiction.
How wrong I was. "Lonesome Dove" is an astonishing miniseries about heroism, friendship, dreams, m en, women and everything in between. This extraordinary series drove me to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which I've read repeatedly (no mean feat, since it's a hefty book). The characters are as real to me as any I've ever encountered in fiction, and even now, years after first meeting them on that tape, they can make me laugh and bring me to tears, every time.
Because even though McMurtry and the miniseries do a good job of conveying the amazing sweep of the West, and the action is shocking and brutal, it's the characters that make this work. Robert Duvall has said that Augustus McCrae is his favorite role of all time, and it's easy to see why: Gus and Call embody the two extremes of fictional heroes -- the rogue and the straight arrow -- but McMurtry, Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones bring them to life as fully fleshed-out men, with internal contradictions, fatal flaws while still being extremely admirable and charismatic heroes.
Many people have praised McMurtry's women , and I'll echo that sentiment. Diane Lane and Angelica Houston in particular shine in their roles, which may not be starring ones, but are substantial and meaty, loving without being unrealistic. Their characters are plot engines but, as with Call and Gus, they're fully realized people.
"Lonesome Dove" stands the test of time as one of the greatest TV miniseries ever and, more importantly, a wonderful American saga. Buy this DVD and watch it again and again, then dive into McMurtry's four "Lonesome Dove" novels.
By
BobG32 (Winchester, VA)
I saw the original Lonesome Dove series on TV and fortunalely was able to tape it. After buying a DVD player I bought the DVD because of the supposedly better picture quality and no commer cials.
Was I ever dissapointed. Parts of the program were edited out as the story went along. The unforgiveable sin was the abrupt ending of the story leaving out atleast a third of the story and the conclusion.
I want my money back.
Bob Glover
| ![Lonesome Dove (2-Disc Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vCdm%2BeAHL.jpg._SL300_.jpg)
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