Customer Reviews
Bleak but brilliant revisionist Western - By: Mr. Stephen Kennedy, 14 Jun 2008 
A long way from the Hollywoodised version of a Lonesome Dove sequel seen in `Return from Lonesome Dove', this is Larry McMurty's riposte to the way the Studio handled that sequel. Where `Return..' dealt with the cattle barons & themes of redemption & wholesome endings, this is a stark & realistic portrayal of the West. Here, the violent men of the burgeoning West are a dying breed (no pun intended) & that sense of a time in history passing is present throughout the whole movie.
Captain Calll is now a bounty hunter - past his best, failing eyesight & getting old, but still with his own inherent sense of what's right intact. The movie is a manhunt, for a young Mexican killer - a boy from a good family who was captured by the Apache & was bad ever since. For the trip, Calll seeks the help of his one time corporal, Pea Eye, & is joined by a city man who represents the railroad that hires him. The action scenes are short, & for the most part unexpected in both their appearance & their results. The beauty of McMurty's writing is that the whole thing never once fits any of the Western clichés, & convinces throughout with its ring of truth. And yet every character however smalll is drawn as if from life, with details, flaws & occasional moments of glory making sense.
What is truly remarkable is that the heart of the movie lies with the women. They are presented as the real heroes of the West - they suffered, they kept to what is right, & they made a life for themselves & their families no matter what life they had come from. Sissy Spacek playing Lorena, personifies this as the ex-whore who protects her family & loves her husband with intensity & conviction of one who believes that life can & will be better. It's her best performance in years.
Apart from Spacek, good performances abound, from Sam Shephards understated Pea Eye, to James Garner's nuanced Captain Calll. It's one of Masterclass performances where by never letting us catch him acting, we feel like we know him as the character - & when his face shows near nothing, we are convinced we know what he's thinking.
It's a sad fact that as a TV movie this tends to falll into the sideline of history, but this is a solid piece of intelligently put together film-making which deserves your attention.
Extras are light - a text only interview with Garner & Spacek, & text only McMurty bio & bibliography. What a shame that no-one thought to talk to anyone about how this fascinating series came to be.
Magnificent Western - By: Mark Pearce, 22 May 2007 
Following on from the epic Lonesome Dove & the lesser Return to Lonesome Dove tv veteran Joseph Sargent has fashioned a superior tale to surpass even the original.
Captain Woodrow Calll (this time played by James Garner)is employed by the Texas Railroad company to hunt down trainrobber & psychopathic killer Joey Garza with the aid of a company penpusher & a greenhorn deputy sheriff. His regular partner P Y(Sam Shepard)cries off the manhunt citing family obligations but guilt takes hold of him & he sets off in pursuit of the captain helped by indian tracker Famous Shoes(played in Chief Dan George style by Wes Studi) which in turn encourages his headstrong wife Lorena(Sissy Spacek)to pack their children off to family & head off after him.
Sentimental in places & bearing a coincidence or two too many,this is still riveting television.Revisionist in it's brutality(echoing Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven) the west was truly wild.A stellar cast alll get powerful moments with Sonia Braga as the killer's mother being particularly fine as well as Randy Quaid's chilling turn as famed killer John Wesley Hardin who perversely provides most of the little humour that there is on offer.His killing of a disgruntled blacksmith is however a brutal scene amongst many others that litter this fine drama.
Veteran Sargent directs the whole thing with economy & no smalll matter of imagination with startling angles & stunning vistas,McMurtry adapted his own book with even the smalllest characters being imbued with a prescence that always serves the narrative & the cast are uniformly excellent.
A Triumph for alll concerned
The Real Return to Lonsome Dove. - By: M. Brennan, 01 Jan 2007 James Garner takes over the role of the stoic-hardbitten old Texas Ranger, Capt. Woodrow Calll (played by Tommy Lee Jones in Lonesome Dove).
Capt. Calll turns bounty hunter on behalf of a railroad company to track down 17 year old psychopathic killer Joey Garza (played ruthlesslly by Alexis Cruz). The supporting cast that includes, Sonia Braga, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard , Randy Quaid...etc., are alll in top form in their character roles.
Great Story, well told & directed.
DVD Picture & Sound are excellent, picture format 4:3, extras included on this 2 disc set are text interviews with Garner & Spacek. Running Time: 4 hours,12 minutes approx.
A worthwhile purchase for the Western fan.
