Lonesome Dove (miniseries)

Lonesome Dove is a 1989 American epic Western adventure television miniseries directed by Simon Wincer. It is a four part adaptation of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry and is the first installment in the Lonesome Dove franchise. The series was originally broadcast by CBS over four nights in February 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and reviving both the television western and the miniseries.

Quotes

 * Gus McCrae: A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough.


 * Woodrow Call: [after beating a man nearly to death for hitting Newt, he climbs on his horse and looks at the horrified townspeople] I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it.

 [referring to the Hat Creek Cattle Company sign]
 * Woodrow Call: ...and if that ain't bad enough you got all them Greek words on there, too.
 * Gus McCrae: I told you Woodrow, a long time ago it ain't Greek, it's Latin.
 * Woodrow Call: Well what does it say in Latin? [Gus blusters some gibberish] For all you know it invites people to rob us.
 * Gus McCrae: Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance to shoot at a educated man once in my life.


 * Woodrow Call: You ever get tired o' loafin' I reckon you can get a job waitin' on tables.
 * Gus McCrae: Oh, I had a job waitin' tables once. S' on a riverboat. I wasn't no older than Newt, there, but I hadda give it up.
 * Newt: How come?
 * Gus McCrae: Well I was, too young and pretty and the whores wouldn't let me alone.


 * Woodrow Call: [after burying Gus by the stream in Texas] Well, Gus, there you go. I guess this will teach me to be more careful about what I promise people in the future.


 * Gus McCrae: It's not dying I'm talking about, it's living.


 * Woodrow Call: [after handing the gun to Newt] It is better to have that and not need it, then to need it and not have it.


 * Woodrow Call: [walking towards Gus] I 'spect you been sittin' up all night reading the Good Book.


 * Gus McCrae: Here's to the sunny slopes of long ago.


 * Gus McCrae: Lorie darlin', life in San Francisco, you see, is still just life. If you want any one thing too badly, it's likely to turn out to be a disappointment. The only healthy way to live life is to learn to like all the little everyday things, like a sip of good whiskey in the evening, a soft bed, a glass of buttermilk, or a feisty gentleman like myself.


 * Gus McCrae: I could kick you for givin' him all the ideas about Montana. Now we're gonna suffer for the rest of our damn lives.
 * Jake Spoon: Yeah, I forgot how determined he can get, once an idea takes root.


 * Gus McCrae: I'm just tryin' to keep everything in balance, Woodrow. You do more work than you got to, so it's my obligation to do less.


 * Gus McCrae: Well, I'm glad I ain't scared to be lazy.


 * Woodrow Call: We come to this place to make money. They wasn't nothin' about fun in the deal.
 * Gus McCrae: What are you talkin' about? You don't even like money. You like money even less than you like fun, if that's possible.


 * Clara Allen: Sometimes it seems like grave digging is all we do around here, don't it Cholo? What do you think happens when we die?
 * Cholo: Not too much. You are just dead.
 * Clara Allen: Maybe it's not as big a change as we think. Maybe you just go back to where you lived or near your family, or wherever you were the happiest. Only you're just a spirit now... and you don't have the troubles the living have.

 [while July Johnson helped Gus McCrae attack the bandits' camp, July's friends were murdered by Blue Duck]
 * July Johnson: It was my fault! Hell, you told me to stay.
 * Gus McCrae: I know I did, son. And I'm sure you wished you had. But yesterday's gone, we can't get it back. Now you go on with your digging.

Cast

 * Robert Duvall as Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Captain Woodrow F. Call
 * Danny Glover as Joshua Deets
 * Diane Lane as Lorena Wood
 * Robert Urich as Jake Spoon
 * Frederic Forrest as Blue Duck
 * D. B. Sweeney as Dishwater "Dish" Boggett
 * Ricky Schroder as Newt Dobbs
 * Anjelica Houston as Clara Allen
 * Chris Cooper as July Johnson
 * Timothy Scott as Pea Eye Parker (credited as Tim Scott)
 * Glenne Headly as Elmira Johnson
 * Barry Corbin as Roscoe Brown
 * William Sanderson as Lippy Jones
 * Barry Tubb as Jasper Fant
 * Gavin O'Herlihy as Dan Suggs
 * Steve Buscemi as Luke
 * Frederick Coffin as Big Zwey
 * Travis Swords as Allan O'Brien
 * Kevin O'Morrison as Doctor
 * Ron Weyand as Old Hugh
 * Lanny Flaherty as Soupy Jones
 * David Carpenter as Needle Neslon
 * James McMurtry as Jimmy Rainey
 * Charlie Haynie as Ben Rainey
 * James Terry McIlvain as Cowboy
 * Sonny Carl Davis as Bert Borum
 * Helena Humann as Peach Johnson