# Lonesome Dove (1989)

> Two aging former Texas Rangers lead a daring cattle drive north to Montana in search of one last grand adventure.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/38195

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 4
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: western, drama
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Robert Urich, D. B. Sweeney, Danny Glover, Ricky Schroder, Glenne Headly
- TMDB rating: 8.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: wistful, elegiac, rugged, melancholic, epic

## What critics say

Viewers regard Lonesome Dove as an acclaimed, epic western miniseries whose sprawling scale and rich characters make it a landmark of the genre.

## Synopsis

Lonesome Dove (1989) is an American western miniseries created for CBS, a four-episode limited series of roughly ninety minutes each. Robert Duvall plays Augustus "Gus" McCrae, a retired Texas Ranger who joins his old partner Woodrow F. Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones, on one last venture: stealing more than a thousand head of cattle from rustlers across the Mexican border and driving the herd roughly 3,000 miles north to the grasslands of Montana. Their crew of mismatched hands includes Dish Boggett (D. B. Sweeney), Joshua Deets (Danny Glover) and the young Newt Dobbs (Ricky Schroder), while Diane Lane's Lorena Wood Parker and Anjelica Huston's Clara Forsythe Allen bring romance and complication into the frontier world. The engine of the story is the long, dusty trail itself, with rivers to cross, storms, outlaws, and hard labor shaping each stage of the journey. Set in the nineteenth-century American frontier after the Civil War, the miniseries moves at a measured pace with a sprawling, unhurried scope. Its tone is wistful and elegiac, balancing rugged violence and humor with tender reflections on friendship and mortality. Fans of Deadwood, Red River and The Wild Bunch will find resonance in its blend of frontier grit and mythic melancholy. Its epic cattle-drive storytelling and grand western canvas make it a classic for patient viewers.

## Shows like Lonesome Dove

- [Texas Rising (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55745)
- [Into the West (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/10329)
- [Comanche Moon (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/16891)
- [The West (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/28324)
- [1883 (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/98430)
- [Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/23016)
- [True Women (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/66240)
- [The Sacketts (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/21443)
- [Centennial (1978)](https://ember.film/tv/5306)
- [1923 (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/119818)

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