The 1989 miniseries made from "Lonesome Dove" isn't merely, as many call it, the greatest TV western ever made, it is flat out one of the greatest westerns ever made, providing what I would argue were career-defining roles for Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall as Woodrow and Gus. That "Lonesome Dove" isn't instantly recognized as simply a great western is due largely to the director-worship snobbery of most film critics. Simon Wincer's career has mostly been spent as a TV director, but if you played "Lonesome Dove" for an audience of Martians along with Eastwood's "Unforgiven" and Costner's "Dances With Wolves," I'd bet they would prefer "Lonesome Dove" as much as I do. In fact, the film of "Lonesome Dove" is one of those rare movies that is just about exactly as good as its first-rate literary source, mostly because it had the right actors and stuck to the novel.
By Allen Barra
