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"Lonesome Dove", which originally debuted on television in 1989, although a television miniseries, remains the finest Western to ever hit the medium in my opinion. Despite a really long running time of six hours, the miniseries had fantastic acting, great writing, beautiful cinematography and scenery, and some of the most likable characters you could imagine in a Western film. It was deservedly a huge success with audiences and critics, and many miniseries which followed tried to imitate its success and all of them failed. Due to it's popularity a sequel was almost obvious, but this sequel seems like it was a very rushed production, and seems to forget about everything that made the original so exceptional, especially the exclusion of Larry McMurtry and Tommy Lee Jones. That's right Jones does not return as Call here. He instead decided to star in "The Fugitive" the same year, a smart decision as that film won him an Oscar, and he is replaced by John Voight this time around. (Voight was also offered Jones role in The Fugitive, but when he found out Jones declined to reprise his role here he quickly accepted, turning the other part down, the actors basically switched roles.) The story picks up where the original ended, and after that it's a basic, and basically boring retread of the original. If you want to see a few familiar faces from the original miniseries rest assured a few do return. Ricky Schroder is back as Newt, though his character here is more irritating and uninteresting, whereas he was likable with Gus and Woodrow in the original. Chris Cooper returns as July, and his role should have really been an un-credited cameo, as he is given very little to do over a six-hour period. William Sanderson and Barry Tubb also reprise their roles from the original. Replacements or substitutes for the original's characters are Barbara Hershey, replacing Anjelica Huston as Clara. Though she does give it her best, Huston nailed the part to perfection the first time around, and the chemistry between her and the original cast could not be beat. Hershey and Voight are OK together, but she seems more like she is doing a poor imitation of Huston rather than putting a fresh, new spin on the character and it just doesn't work. Oscar-winner Lou Gossett Jr. goes along for the ride, I guess as a substitute for Danny Glover's Deets in the original. Gossett never seemed to find anything worthy of his talent after winning the Oscar for "An Officer and a Gentleman", and that is also evident here. It's a sad waste of his fine talent, and even though he tries, he cannot compare with Glover from the original. Voight does OK as Woodrow but Tommy Lee perfected the role, giving a miraculous performance. Voight pales in comparison, despite good effort. Reese Witherspoon also gives one of her earliest performances here, and her character is so bland an underdeveloped she is essentially wasted. The cinematography and scenery is OK here, but nowhere near as good as the first, which is what made it, I think the finest Western of our time. The story lags and never really gains any momentum, whereas the original in spite of being six-hours never made me wonder when it was going to end because I loved every single minute of it. This is really an unofficial sequel because at the time, Larry McMurtry was writing a novel sequel to the original entitled "Streets of Laredo", which would also be adapted as a miniseries two years later. By not having his involvement this sequel suffers tremendously, and totally contradicts the entire Lonesome Dove series in general, as according to McMurtry none of these events ever really happened in accordance to the time-line of his book series. Overall despite good efforts from the cast, some fine cinematography and scenery, this miniseries is way too slow, and suffers in comparison with its fine predecessor. Of course I am sure they knew it would be nowhere near as good as the first when they made it, but the end result could have been much better than this.

I was surprised that I ended up liking this sequel to the much beloved classic mini-series "Lonesome Dove". Despite not having as many of the great characters and actors that the original series had. However, 'Return to Lonesome Dome' has a lot of new and interesting characters played by very good actors in William Peterson, Oliver Reed, Lou Gossett Jr., a young Reese Witherspoon and a very menacing Montana half-breed terrorist rustler played by Reginald Dorsey.

As for the returning characters who survived the original 'Lonesome Dove' series, Jon Voight takes over the reins of Tommy Lee Jones now classic character "Captain Woodrow F. Call". Now, I know it's hard to accept anyone but Tommy Lee Jones playing that role, but, I have to admit it that Jon Voight's performance as Woodrow Call is almost identical to that of Tommy Lee's, and Voight makes it a lot easier to just accept that someone else is playing that role.

Rick Schroder returns to play his character from the original series, Newt Dobbs. And, while following Woodrow's journey back to Montana from Texas is fun and exiting to watch, Newt's story line is not only the most interesting story of the series, but it's also the most satisfying, because it answers the question the original series left us with at the end. Which is, "What happened to Newt and the rest of the Texas rustlers in Montana?". Therefore, justifying the reason to even make a sequel to the classic original mini-series.

Also, a little of a side note, Rick Schroder co-starred with Jon Voight in the 1979 movie "The Champ". It was Schroder's first major screen appearance that included great performances by both Voight and 9-year old Ricky Schroder. And, it was both touching and fascinating to watch Voight and Schroder sharing the screen together again in "Return to Lonesome Dove" 14-years later.

Also, I can't end this review without mentioning the worst and most pointless and terribly cast character of the sequel, Agostina Vega played by Nia Peeples. Agostina is the tough female gun fighting Mexican child of Gus McCray, and she's out for revenge against Gus for abandoning her and her mother. But, Gus is dead so she decides to get her revenge on Captain McCall instead.

While Nia was a very attractive young woman back in 93', the problem is that she's only 5'2 and maybe 90lbs sopping wet. Not exactly an intimidating figure who looks like she could tough it in the Wild West on her own, no matter how good she supposedly is with a gun.

Plus, the character itself is just pointless and adds nothing to the overall story. It just seems like a cheap way to work a Augustus McCray story line into the series, without the Gus McCray character being present.

I'm rating "Return to Lonesome Dove" a 7-out of-10 stars. I would've rated it higher if it wasn't for that pointless Agostina character. But, there still enough good things about the sequel that far out weighs the bad, and I highly recommend seeing it at least once. Just don't expect it to be as nearly memorable and deeply moving as the original series.

The first time around, I was so shocked not to see Robert and Tommy, all that could go through my mind was how bad this production must be.

The second time around, after i had had a little talk with myself, i snapped on reality. If i wanted to watch Lonesome Dove, all i had to do was go buy the video. (strangely, i had already bought the video and worn the cassette out, but guys can get so focused on trivia).

This is not Lonesome Dove, this is a new story with new actors and actresses faced with a chore greater than good acting. They have to live with Lonesome Dove, the greatest mini in history. And they have to tell us a new story.

Now, I don't have the nerve of Jon or Barbara, i would never have tried it, but they did. And they did a damn fine job.

The second time i watched this mini, i enjoyed it a lot. As well as a chance to think of old friends, i got to meet new ones. And it was a good tale, told in a good way. It may not totally get to Lonesome Dove standards, BUT WHAT DOES?? If we measure everything against Lonesome Dove, we could throw away our tv's. And to be fair, if we measure everything else against Return to Lonesome Dove, we might not throw our tv's away, we would just unplug them for the evening.

I liked it. It is a good mini. I hope you each will watch it twice. The second time, you might just enjoy it. Robert and Tommy will not mind, I promise.

not a Larry Mcmurty masterpiece but it stands on its own as a good western, any of the lonesome doves do. who ever takes on the role of Woodrow call, does a great portrayal in their own style. It's also easy to see that they were looking to use this as a stepping stone to the t.V series (both version of it) and that the writers knew how to keep the flavor alive William Peterson was awesome in this, the geeky C.S.I guy is not the character he plays in this - this guy can do it all it seems

it's deserve to be enjoyed by those who enjoy westerns

4out5 stars

Let me say first off that I am a huge fan of the original series Lonesome Dove and the book it was based from. I have put off watching this sequel for the better part of 10 years due to the bad reviews I'd heard about it. If Tommy Lee Jones wasn't playing Capt. Call I didn't see the point. If Larry McMurtry wasn't involved why should I care? How wrong I was.

This is in so many ways a worthy sequel to Lonesome Dove, maybe even more so than the dark mood of Streets Of Laredo. The story, acting, production, cinematography are all top-notch. Of course the script isn't as colorful as Lonesome Dove but it has it's moments. And, much to my surprise, there are bits of Lonesome Done in this series; the relationship between July and Clara, completely dismissed in the prequel, is brought up here almost identical to the book, a most welcome surprise. The story isn't all roses, it has it's surprises too. By far the biggest surprise is Jon Voight's interpretation of Capt. Call. While not a direct copy of Tommy Lee Jones' his is both faithful and unique to Voight's credit. The cast is fantastic all across the board, and I don't think Rick Schroeder has done a better job of acting than in this series. Oliver Reed practically steals the show here, he is superb in a role that makes you care for his character as equally as you hate him.

It is worth it to watch this if you haven't due to bad criticisms, especially that the DVD is so affordable (I got the 2-disc set for $10.99, you can probably find it cheaper). It is in no way the disappointment that Dead Man's Walk turned out (well, it was for me). And MCMurtry was involved with that one!