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One more ride for 'Lonesome Dove' characters

by Mark Dawidziak/Plain Dealer Television Critic
Wednesday January 09, 2008, 3:39 PM

Although Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Woodrow F. Call are looking younger than
they did in "Lonesome Dove," these iconic Texas Rangers have reached the
end of the trail. That's the word from their trail boss, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry.

"Comanche Moon," a three-part prequel to "Lonesome Dove," will be the last
prime-time stand for Call and McCrae. There will be no more books with the
celebrated cowboy characters, and McMurtry does not envision another major
Hollywood adaptation. They are, in the words of the old cowboy song,
a-headin' for the last round-up.

New Zealand actor Karl Urban plays Call to Steve Zahn's McCrae in "Comanche
Moon," which airs at 9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 13-16) on
WOIO Channel 19. The six-hour CBS miniseries opens with the two Texas
Rangers in their middle years, serving under a Yankee aristocrat, Capt.
Inish Scull (Val Kilmer).

Published in 1997, "Comanche Moon" is the final book in McMurtry's
"Lonesome Dove" cycle. It's also the last to hit the miniseries trail.

"Lonesome Dove," published in 1985, was turned into a landmark TV event in
1989 with Robert Duvall as McCrae and Tommy Lee Jones as Call. "Streets of
Laredo," published in 1993, went the miniseries route in 1995 with James
Garner playing the older Call (McCrae had gone to that great cattle drive
in the sky). And "Dead Man's Walk," published in 1995, went miniseries in
1996 with David Arquette as McCrae and Jonny Lee Miller as Call.

A 1991 sequel miniseries, "Return to Lonesome Dove," starred Jon Voight as
Call, but, like the 1994-96 "Lonesome Dove" series, it was not based on a
McMurtry book.

While the more gregarious Gus is the real talker of the two, neither Ranger
fits "the strong and silent" cowboy stereotype. They've shared plenty of
boots-and-saddle philosophy over the course of these books and miniseries.

"I don't know any strong, silent cowboys," McMurtry said Tuesday afternoon
during a telephone interview. "I know laconic cowboys. Cowboys tend to be
laconic. They're not silent. They have things to say, particularly if their
areas of expertise are brought up. But I never gave the cliche any thought
at all."

"Comanche Moon" was the last "Lonesome Dove" book published, yet it falls
second in the sprawling story's chronological order: "Dead Man's Walk,"
then "Comanche Moon," followed by "Lonesome Dove" and "Streets of Laredo."

And because they were written out of sequence, those looking for mistakes
and inconsistencies will find them. McMurtry is not as obsessive as many
fans about details.

"These things happen," said McMurtry, whose many novels include "Horseman,
Pass By" (turned into the Paul Newman film "Hud"), "The Last Picture Show"
and "Terms of Endearment." "In long novels, they happen frequently."

So the writer does not apologize for the goofs. He simply acknowledges
them.

"Literally, to me, it has always been a problem because I write my books
catch as catch can," McMurtry said. "I don't write them consecutively. I've
learned never to say dates, never to give children ages. Because it can
catch you up 20 years down the road when you try to write what is a sequel.
It's very tricky. I write them five or six years apart. I write them
sporadically and impulsively. And I don't look back. I don't re-read the
other books. . . . I never read 'Lonesome Dove' after I finished it, and
I've never fully seen the miniseries, although I've seen portions of it."

In the words of Diana Ossana, the executive producer of "Comanche Moon":
"Larry's like a shark. Once he finishes a novel, he never looks back. He
moves on."

The miniseries also stars Linda Cardellini as Clara Forsythe, Elizabeth
Banks as prostitute Maggie Tilton, Joseph Castanon as the young Newt,
Rachel Griffiths as Capt. Scull's unfaithful wife and Wes Studi as Comanche
chief Buffalo Hump.

"Buffalo Hump was a historical figure," McMurtry said. "He had a long
career. That's not to say that the character in the movie is exactly like
Buffalo Hump, but he was a real figure. He was a real leader . . . and he
did lead massive raids on south Texas."

Ossana said that, even though the miniseries is "billed as historical
fiction," the "Indians are portrayed much more realistically" than in
recent Western miniseries.

"They're neither particularly heroes nor villains," the producer said.
"They're just realistic. I think their culture is portrayed very
accurately. . . . We were adamant about the language being accurate. . . .
We felt very strongly that it should be authentic and respectful to a time
and a place and those characters."

But it's an inauthentic aspect of Westerns that "has become our national
ritual drama," McMurtry said. That would be the classic image of the
solitary sheriff taking to the main street of town for a quick-draw
showdown at high noon.

It's "the shootout in the street, which, of course, had nothing to do with
life in the old West," the Texas native said. "It was entirely invented by
Hollywood. In the old West, sheriffs like Wyatt Earp would rather walk up
behind their victim and whack him on the head with a gun and drag him off
to the jail. They didn't stand in front of him and invite him to shoot them
-- to draw faster."

It's another cliche that McMurtry is all too happy to shoot down.