tbssic
Lonesome Dove was one of he greatest cowboy movies ever made.. Pulitzer Prize winning novel, 17 nominations, 15 awards... Return to Lonesome Dove,,, hmmmm??? I'm sure I could have watched this (I watched Bad Girls) had it not had Lonesome Dove in the title but I was expecting to see "something" like Lonesome Dove.. This ain't it....The original,,, LD,,, was written in Pulitzer Prize winning language.. RTLD was written by the same people who brought you "Spencer for Hire". The original had a dark, serious, no nonsense feel.. RTLD had the made for TV,, let's get the 18 to 45 crowd,, don't want to confuse anyone,, PC, touchy, feely, family entertainment feel.. And by all means,, start the movie with (eye candy) a beautiful,, young,,, female,, pistolero,, in form fitting clothes,, blowing holes in Gus McCrae's grave marker... What could this possibly mean???? Dah...And by all means,, change the laconic Capt Call character,,, completely.. Make him more like Gus this time.. Lots of body language, jovial, friendly, more smiles,,, an all around more likable guy... And by all means,,, make sure he is inebriated with verbosity... Looks alone don't do it anymore,, people may be given to thought if a character isn't moving his lips... All "seemingly" empty spaces must be filled with dialogue,,,, or music..I could go on and on about the shallow, generic characters, weak acting and the unbelievability of the situations but,,,, I watched only 30 minutes of the first installment... My time would have been better spent watching paint dry....This Mesterpiece is proof that diamonds can indeed be turned back into coal....
it_lives
If you're new to the Lonesome Dove series I'd recommend giving this one a miss for a while. It's not canon and doesn't follow the same narrative line as the genuine McMurtry titles. I don't want to drop in any spoilers, but suffice to say some of the characters are given very different futures here, information that is completely contradicted in Streets Of Laredo. The villains in this title also can't match characters such as Mox Mox, Blue Duck or Joey Garza. Return To Lonesome Dove has, in my opinion at least, a weak first act as it struggles (and fails) to capture some of Lonesome Dove's magic, however the writing improves and maintains a higher standard from act 2. Ultimately it's a worthy mini series in its own right, not on the same level as Lonesome Dove or Streets Of Laredo, but enjoyable none the less. Worth a look once you have some distance from the 'real thing' and can judge it own its own merits. ...
jazbone2003
At first glance of this mini... I was a bit disappointed that Tommy Lee Jones and Anjelica Huston didn't return to the cast. Both John Voight and Barbara Hershey did commendable jobs replacing very important characters for the continuing saga of this legendary Epic Western. Cherokee Jack Jackson (Haysbert) played an excellent bad guy, and Louis Gossett Jr. was, as always, true to form with his excellent acting skills.The drama that seemed true to life in many scenes, including one of the best, where the valiant shoot-out ended with Ranger Walker being killed made me feel that I was actually in the film. Return to Lonesome Dove was to me, almost up to the quality of the first of the series. The next 2 follow ups with James Garner as Call just didn't make it for me. And that Lorena marries Pea Eye? How the heck did that get in their? That was a total mismatch of characters. The first 2 of the series made the Epic story, the next 2 in no way were of the same quality.Now, if the first 2 could be remastered in Dolby Digital and an Anamorphic presentation, the films could be where they should have been like the movies of today.
