For years, I’ve been saying that Lonesome Dove needs to be remastered. It was shot on film, finished on film, and with today’s technology could look infinitely better than the original transfer done in 1989.
Well, now it does - a new DVD of Lonesome Dove has been released with a pristine new transfer. Some people are carping that it has been letterboxed for 16×9, but they don’t seem to grasp that the film negative had enough image to accommodate letterboxing. True, you lose a bit of image at the top and bottom, but you gain the pictoral widescreen scope of a theatrical film.
Beyond the technical issues, Lonesome Dove is inarguably one of the best miniseries ever produced for television. Director Simon Wincer gathered an amazing cast - Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Angelica Huston, Robert Urich, Danny Glover, Rick Schroeder… all absolutely perfect.
Especially Duvall. He seizes the role of Gus McCrae and runs with it. You can put his performance in Lonesome Dove up alongside the very best of his feature work.
And my favorite film composer - the late, great Basil Poledouris - turns in a beautiful, melodic, rousing score that elevates the miniseries immeasurably, and won him a well-deserved Emmy.
Yes, it’s six hours. But it’s six of the best hours of television you’ll ever see.
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