In Spike Lee’s 25th Hour (2002), actor Brian Cox delivers one of the most shattering final lines in movie history when he caps off his hopeful description of an alternative reality for his wayward son: “This life came so close to never happening.” And I must admit: Those words come back to haunt me whenever I sit down to write about Lonesome Dove, the classic miniseries—based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel—celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.
Consider: If John Wayne hadn’t heeded the advice of director/mentor John Ford, McMurtry might never have written the original novel in the first place. And if James Garner had been in better health at the time the novel was adapted into the epic 1989 miniseries, he, not Robert Duvall, likely would have been cast as the former Texas
