Os Pistoleiros do Oeste 2

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.

I had my reservations about watching The Return to Lonesome Dove after seeing and enjoying the original so much. Without Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as Woodrow Call or Anjelica Huston as Clara, I figured it just wouldn't seem authentic enough. Upon viewing 'return' I can honestly say it's a worthy successor. The actors really make the show with Jon Voight, Rick Schroder, and Oliver Reed all preforming at their very best. I admit the story might not be quite as engrossing as the first, but 'return' definitely has it's share of excitement and captures the romance of the old west in a way that few other films have. Anyone who still has reservations can rest assured that The Return to Lonesome Dove succeeds in capturing the 'feel' of the original and will not disappoint. Do yourself a favor and check it out, Ol' Gus would be proud!

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!

"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.

When you get right down to it, could a mini series really have worse circumstances surrounding it and carry the burdens Return to Lonesome Dove does? Not only is it a sequel to a timeless classic like Lonesome Dove thus having a hard act like that to follow, but its also not written by the original author and is disliked by the original author to boot. That's a tall order for any story.

But amazingly, Return to Lonesome Dove is up to that challenge. That is if you look past all the controversy and the fact that its not written by McMurtry, if you do you will see a very rich and entertaining mini series. It stays true to McMurtry's characters, Captain Call, Clara Allen, and Pea Eye are all the same. Newt's growth as a character evolves nicely and believably for a young man growing up on his own. The new characters are compelling and believable and they interact seamlessly with the familiar ones from Lonesome Dove. The storyline itself is believable and riveting as well. Its not Lonesome Dove, but its well worth watching and a worthy successor.

Its a great pity that McMurtry denounced this movie as being non canon, for in my humble opinion it is superior to his own sequel offering of Streets of Laredo, a book that was depressing almost to the point of being unreadable. Don't get me wrong, I'll always be grateful to McMurtry for Lonesome Dove and have the utmost respect for him, great author, but he does the fans of his story something of a disservice by denouncing the sequel mini series. I suggest overlooking him just this once. You will miss out on another great story if you don't.