The Novel That Changed Everything

When I first joined Western Writers of America in the early 80s, the conventions were doom and gloom. New York editors arrived, told us that the field was dying, publishers were cutting lines, and we should switch to science fiction-- wasn't Star Wars a western?

Then along came Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer winning masterpiece, Lonesome Dove, and everything changed. It was about a trail drive, and even more, about friendship. Solid, granitic, loyal friendship. Friendship so great that when Gus McCrea is dying in Montana, his friend Captain Call agrees to bury him in Lonesome Dove, on the Rio Grande, and Call takes the body in a wagon three thousand miles to the place where it all started.

Basil Poledouris, who brilliantly composed the Lonesome Dove theme, recognized the true nature of the story, and wrought some of the most tender themes ever to appear in a western. The miniseries so faithfully adhered to McMurtry's story that I can conflate them here. This was a story of the West, not a story about gunfights.

It changed western publishing; lines revived, and for a while, publishers allowed us to write genuine western stories, which sold to eager readerships.

Here is a clip of the ending, which ranks among the most moving endings ever put on film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLFDZx...