Lonesome Dove....

Hubby has made the mistake of landing on Lonesome Dove in his surfing through the channels. That is always a mistake with me in the room. I will watch that movie (all four parts, eight hours in all) from start to finish every time it comes on if allowed (which rarely happens).

When it first came out in 1989, I resisted watching it at first. I hadn't heard the hype, and I was determined NOT to like anything my ex liked. By the end of the second episode, I was arranging my entire evening schedule around it.

I'm not that big a fan of westerns, but this one appeals to me tremendously. I think one reason is that it appears to be authentic, without all the glamor that many westerns try to pass off as real. Lonesome Dove has real people with real problems, and the good guy doesn't always win. I always cry at the end of it; hubby reminds me that Gus (Robert Duvall) is going to die EVERY TIME.

I even insisted we name our dog "Gus." I wanted to name the dog before this one Gus, but we named him Newt....another character from the movie.

I read the book after I saw the movie, and it was every bit as good as the movie. In fact, the movie was practically word-for-word true to the book, which is almost unheard of. I read a review of the book once, and the reviewer said "I've never been so disappointed with an author for stopping after a mere 843 pages." Or something like that.

Hubby will let me watch it just long enough to get interested, and then he'll change the channel and tell me, "You've seen it a hundred times." Oh well. I need to go load the dishwasher anyway.