Glad you're still enjoying it Lee!
And, Janice, your post came in as I was composing this.
*spoilers*I'm excited for you, Amanda! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the mini-series. I haven't seen it in a while, but I remember it was long!
Marie
Hi Marie,
I've watched the first installment so far... the part called "Leaving." And, there are many things I like about it. I think the setting for the town of Lonesome Dove and the Hat Creek establishment is perfect... exactly how I imagined it. I also think Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones are great as Gus and Call. Those two, along with Diane Lane as Lorena, seem like great casting. I still don't exactly know how I feel about Ricky Schroder as Newt... in this case he seems "fresh-faced" and innocent so that it works to a certain extent. Jake Spoon is visualized and played very differently from how I pictured him actually... when reading the book, I pictured Jake as being much more "dapper"... or at least I pictured him attempting to be more dapper.
I'm quite enjoying it so far, and I agree that it seems very faithful to the book. My one criticism is that it seems a little dated in terms of a production, especially in when it comes to special effects. To me, that aspect was pretty distracting actually.
I was also surprised at how quickly the moved through the whole Mexico episode in this early installment. The other thing that this production doesn't seem to do an equivalent job with as the book... is the depiction of the activity of herding the cattle and horses. McMurtry's written descriptions of the darkness, drama, scariness, etc. of herding the cattle at night and in storms, etc., seemed much more dramatic than the way it appears in the mini-series. It's so great to experience those dramatic moments of herding and all the details (like the dust, etc.) through the naive perspective of Newt... so we learn about the customs, unexpected elements and circumstances of herding along with Newt.