There are many people who consider "Lonesome Dove" to be the greatest Western saga ever created. While I can't quite go that far in my praise for it, I will say that it was easily worth watching for the iconic characters (bolstered by incredible acting) it cultivates throughout.For a basic plot summary, "Lonesome Dove" tells the story of Gus McCrae (Robert Duvall) and Woodrow Call (Tommy Lee Jones), two cattle ranchers who decide to leave their dusty Texas ranch and move the herd to Montana on the advice of fellow friend Jake Spoon (Robert Urich). Along the way, they deal with the harshness of the Old West territory, Indian warrior Blue Duck (Frederic Forrest), and (more importantly) cultivate new relationships. Lorena Wood (Diane Liane) is a prostitute who wants to turn over a new leaf and start a life with Gus, but first the old cowpoke must deal with his feelings toward old flame Clara (Anjelica Huston). A side plot sees a Sheriff, July Johnson (Chris Cooper), set off with his son Joe (Adam Faraizal) to hunt down Spoon, who murdered another in a dispute and must be given justice.The reason "Lonesome Dove" is such an iconic miniseries is because it creates characters that seem so real. Often, westerns can fall into the "stock character" trap where the participants are a bit too cut-and-dry, or black-and-white. The exact opposite happens here, as pretty much each and every character is given something to do and room to grow.That being said, the whole film pretty much revolves around Duvall's Gus, and fortunately that actor is up to the task. While the surrounding acting performances are also great, everyone else (as characters) are really defined by their relationship to Gus. I don't want to sound like I'm taking anything away from the film as a whole, but I was always invested when Gus was at the forefront (physically or emotionally) and that wasn't always the case otherwise.The only criticism I have of "Lonesome Dove"? I felt that some of the subplots didn't live up to the main emotional backbone of the whole thing. I was underwhelmed by the July Johnson angle, I didn't like Blue Duck's character at all (it felt to me as if he were shoe-horned in because the producers thought an Indian presence was needed), and I felt that a bit too much time was spent on Dish Boggett (D.B. Sweeney), a ranch hand on the drive. The one sub-angle that works in spades? Newt (Ricky Schroder), Call's unrequited son. There was some real emotion there. Other than that though, I felt that those other auxiliary pieces (even if they were still well-acted, for the most part) distracted me from Gus, Call, and the really good material taking place on the cattle drive.So, while I can't put "Lonesome Dove" at the tip top of my list, I enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to Western film fans. When Duvall, Lane, Jones, Schroder, and Huston were on center stage, this miniseries truly was as good as it gets. The interactions feel real, not derived, and there is real drama, both physical and emotional. It strayed down a few paths that didn't hold my attention (especially in the second and beginning of the third acts), but overall easily deserving of a solid 4-star ranking.

I've seen Lonesome Dove at least 10 times in my life. It's 6 hours long, 6 times 10 is 60. I've watched Lonesome Dove for at least 60 hours. I've also read the book twice. I'm 27 years old and have a lot of Lonesome Dove left in me. I'm looking forward to growing old and watching Lonesome Dove over and over until I eclipse the magic 200 hour mark and then I can finally get the t-shirt. The 200 Hour Lonesome Dove t-shirt.Watch this movie or read this book. Or do both at the same time and really dive in. I dove in so far, I got a job next spring herding cattle from Lonesome Dove, Texas to Montana.

I love Westerns. The best ones (Naked Spur, The Searchers, Ride the High Country, Shane, etc.) told gritty tales of struggle and hardship, of man at war with nature, evil and himself. They are not alabaster saints, they are real people struggling with real temptation and real failures, but in the end they are redemption stories of people making amends and saving others from their mistakes.In "Lonesome Dove", however, the message is different: Life Stinks and Then You Die.8 hours of talk, talk, talk with no point but vanity and stupidity will get you killed. If that's news to anyone, just surf the internet for five minutes, it'll save you wasting a lot of time.

Having seen Lonesome Dove when it was aired for the first time on British TV way back it made a deep, deep impression on me. At that time for me "tele-series" meant mindless plots, cardboard by-the-numbers acting, zero surprises and predictability from the first scene. Then along came this wonderful gem with a tremendous story, powerful acting, sharp dialogue, savagery, tenderness, humor, pathos and bitter-sweet sadness. At last we had characters that we could care about, no JR's or Bobby's or the like, here we could care about what could happen next to these people. Now, Jan 2015, I am re-watching this classic on DVD and I convinced my wife (who doesn't like Westerns)to watch it with me. We finished part 1 last night and will now watch part 2...I can already sense her resistance weakening as she gets pulled into the story and realizes this is something special. I await her tears at the end and the rainbow that will appear over my sofa!!! The bar has never been raised higher than this.