Posted on 03/28/2021 8:19:43 AM PDT by Twotone
Larry McMurtry died this past week, in the small town where he was born and spent almost all his life - Archer City, Texas, where his greatest film was partly shot. He was principally a novelist, but Hollywood came a-callin' early, turning his very first book into an effective vehicle for Paul Newman, Hud (1963). It wasn't long before McMurtry was being asked to do his own adaptations of his novels, and by the time of the telly version of Lonesome Dove he was a bona fide famous screenwriter. His blockbuster was Terms of Endearment (1983), which Kathy Shaidle wrote about for us here. His masterpiece was his very first screenplay, which I reviewed four years ago:
The Last Picture Show is set a long way from the glitter of Houston, in a northern town up near the Oklahoma border that does not show the state at its most appealing - a desolate, decrepit Main Street, tumbleweeds bowling down it, dusty pool hall, flimsy screen doors banging in the wind, you know the drill. It's a simply constructed tale on a familiar theme, following the final year of high school through to the dawn of adulthood. But I have always loved this film, since I first saw it when I was about the age of its protagonists, and it has stayed with me over the decades.
So, once you exclude Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show, what's left? Well, there's always the film for which he won an Oscar, a decade-and-a-half back, by which point he was an admired enough screenwriter that he was being asked to adapt not just his own work but that of others - in this case, a short story by Annie Proulx. Brokeback Mountain (2006) was touted as the first gay western:
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Excellent post.
I will always appreciate and thank him for Lonesome Dove for the reasons you stated. So many fine moments with regard to the human condition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5vskCOPEeg
Just a few here.
Gyllenhaal is a good actor. He should have won an Academy Award for “Nightcrawler.”
tight butt holes.
man!
lots in that scene....including the gut wrenching father/son relationship.
Here’s my favorite quote (well, maybe not...here is a favorite!) from the book:
“Imagine getting killed by an arrow in this day and age,” Augustus said. “It’s ridiculous, especially since they shot at us fifty times with modern weapons and did no harm.”
“You always was careless,” Call said. “Pea said you rode over a hill and right into them. I’ve warned you about that very thing a thousand times. There’s a better ways to approach a hill.”
“Yes, but I like being free on the earth,” Augustus said. “I’ll cross the hills where I please.”
He did not write BM he adapted it to a screen play
that’s correct
and i think that the focus on BM in his life-work is a bit out of balance, and too much emphasized
that said, he did win an academy award, so it’s a “major” work in that sense....part of his life-work. i just don’t like the greatness of his work to be overshadowed by it....and I’m saddened that too many conservatives are too focused on that. especially when so much of his writing and indeed his life (not all of it....just the parts I approve of :)) are profoundly conservative and culture-building
I don't know what made me say that!
McMurtry didn’t write “Brokeback Mountain.” Annie Proulx did. (I never read it.)
McMurtry did write the screenplay. (I never saw it, but from all accounts I read and from a couple of friends who saw it, it was essentially forgettable.)
Loved that book.
I thought about it, and it was a temptation.
However, I decided against it and went into another field, in which I was quite successful.
One of the main reasons I refused to go is that I suspected that somewhere along the way a casting couch, possibly a homosexual one, would show up, and I had no intention of doing that. For one thing, I told myself, at that age I was screwed-up enough as it was. I didn't need any help.
I've never regretted my decision. I have had a wonderful, highly successful, and very wholesome life, full of all the blessings I could ever want.
Hollywood degeneracy? Hell no! I want no part of it.
I don’t know anyone who made it through Lonesome Dove who doesn’t feel the same say
Larry purchased the collections of several used bookstores as they closed.
He knew the value of old books and bookstores. I never did get an opportunity to visit his but I did look through some of those books in their original stores.
nice!
here is the link to the bookstore:
from time to time, I search their catalog to see about a particular title of rare Texana. Not surprisingly, their collection is superb. I take great comfort in knowing that I can get my hands on particular titles, as/if/when I need to.....
enjoy the browsing at that website!
And I recognize a few stores and am even a repeat buyer from some.
Larry and other authors have said that being able to walk through a bookstore or library rather that simply a search engine, list, or card catalog leads to discovering books you didn't even know existed on subjects you had no interest to begin looking at.
Thanks for getting back. I found the post via a username search. As near as I can tell, it’s his only one!
If Steyn could dial back some of that 'too cute by half' stuff - his performance would be stronger. Radio and TV appearances would become more enjoyable...
Neither.
They are both just jerks.
No need to read any more into it then that.
Maybe he was a druggie who couldn't figure out that you take too many pills you die?
The only question I would have is that if these two guys went in ASAP for Gay sex then how was it determined who was on top and who was on the bottom.
Description of your library holdings please?
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