Robert Duvall’s Star-Studded 4-Part Western Is A Forgotten Masterpiece

Robert Duvall might have been best known as The Godfather‘s Tom Hagen, but his career also included a forgotten Western TV gem with an impressive cast. After decades as one of America’s most popular genres, the Golden Age of Westerns ended in the 1960s, but some classic Westerns have remained so well known and regarded that even people unfamiliar with the Western genre have heard of them. On the other hand, many excellent classic Westerns have been forgotten, including one of Robert Duvall’s best TV shows, which still has an impressive 98% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, Lonesome Dove combines typical Western tropes like cowboys and gunfights with the epic feel and camaraderie of a quest. Gus and Call, two wildly different friends and former Texas Rangers, decide to move to Montana, gathering up both cattle and people in search of a new life. With events panning out very differently from the vision the pair had, the four-part miniseries is a masterful character study and a rare classic Western TV show that still holds up today.

Lonesome Dove Has A Very Impressive Cast For A TV Miniseries From The ’80s

Widely regarded as two of the greatest Western characters of all time, Gus and Call, played by Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones respectively, are the heart of Lonesome Dove, but they are not the only major stars in the show. Danny Glover (Saw, Mandela) plays Joshua, a scout the men know from their days as Texas Rangers, and Diane Lane (House of Cards, Justice League) plays Lorena, an escort who longs to leave the town of Lonesome Dove behind. Even the guest stars are recognizable actors, including Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family) and Steve Buscemi (Pulp Fiction, Boardwalk Empire.)

Lonesome Dove has four sequels that expand on the story, with two being prequels. While it is common for A-listers to appear in TV shows now, Lonesome Dove was made in 1989, when the most famous actors generally stuck to movies. The fact that even the sequels attracted notable names is a testament to the quality of the original show. Call alone has been played by four new actors since Tommy Lee Jones’ portrayal, with Jon Voight, James Garner, Jonny Lee Miller, and Karl Urban putting their own spins on the character.

The sequels have included some of the original characters recast with new actors as well as original characters written for the new stories. Each installment in the Lonesome Dove saga features accomplished actors, including Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, Val Kilmer, and Melanie Lynskey. While few of the original cast members returned to play their characters again, including Duvall, the plots and star-studded casts made the other four stories in the Lonesome Dove saga into flawless Western shows with perfect episodes, and just as worthy of watching as the original series.

Despite Awards Recognition, Lonesome Dove Doesn’t Have Much Of A Legacy

The show united critics and audiences with heavy praise from both, and won a Peabody Award as well as seven Emmy Awards. This is an outstanding achievement for a 1980s miniseries, and by rights, Lonesome Dove should still be remembered today as one of the best Western TV series of all time. The original series remains a must-watch for Western TV fans for its incredibly accomplished cast and the way it treated every episode as a short movie, and the sequels are no less compelling. However, Lonesome Dove has left surprisingly little legacy.

The show’s visuals and locations were so striking that Lonesome Dove made New Mexico into a filming hotspot, influencing later shows like Breaking Bad and Walker: Texas Ranger. However, the show has had little impact on TV beyond this. This may be because the sequels changed actors, directors, and occasionally deviated from the source material in terms of both story and tone. Rather than feel like a cohesive universe like Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, the Lonesome Dove entries were better alone than as part of the wider saga.