BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 157: Watch “Lonesome Dove” (1989)

For a long time, I think I’ve been one of the few people still walking this earth who could say that I’d never watched “Lonesome Dove.” Based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this 1989 TV mini-series is considered one of the finest Western movies ever made. It somewhat pained me that I’d never watched this movie from start to finish, which is why I put it on my “bucket list” several years ago.

Originally broadcast on CBS in February 1989, this mini-series consisted of four episodes. I’d seen portions of this movie, on and off over the years, but I knew that I’d never seen the entire movie, which is nearly 6-1/2 hours long. On Saturday and Sunday, I took the time to watch all four episodes and really enjoyed finally scratching this item off my bucket list.

For those of you who haven’t seen this movie or read the original 1985 novel, it’s set in the 1870s and is about a group of cattlemen, led by two former Texas Rangers, who set out to drive a herd of cattle from the Texas-Mexico border town of Lonesome Dove to Montana. Their lives seem to revolve around simple pleasures like good whiskey and the few women that live close by. Their lives are dominated by the tough environment, the constant threat of hostile Indians, violent outlaws, chance accidents and strong friendships.

Directed by Simon Wincer, the movie’s cast included Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Ricky Schroder, Anjelica Huston, Diane Lane, Robert Urich and Steve Buscemi. This movie was a huge hit when it first aired on CBS and today you can buy the complete DVD set of the series or watch it like I did on NetFlix.

As you might have imagined, “Lonesome Dove” can be found on a number of “best of” lists, and one that caught my eye a while back was released by one of my favorite Web sites, “The Art of Manliness.” The list, called the “17 Best Western Movies” list, was released over a year ago and ranked “Lonesome Dove” at No. 5, right between 1952’s “High Noon” and 1960’s “The Magnificent Seven.”

Usually the book is almost always better than the movie, and I’ve had “Read ‘Lonesome Dove’” on my “bucket list” for a while too. I started reading it yesterday, but it’s going to take me a while to finish it since it’s over 900 pages long. So far so good, and I expect to be done with it in three or four weeks.

The book is also on a number of “best of” lists, including The Art of Manliness’ “Fiction for Men” reading list and Esquire magazine’s list of “75 Books Every Man Should Read.” The Art of Manliness also ranked it No. 89 on a 2011 list called “100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library.” It’s also a past winner of the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Novel.

In the end, how many of you have ever watched “Lonesome Dove”? How any of you have read the original novel? What did you think about them? Let us know in the comments section below.