Dead Man's Walk | |
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![]() 1998 VHS Cover
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Written by |
Larry McMurtry (novel) Diana Ossana (teleplay) |
Directed by | Yves Simoneau |
Starring |
F. Murray Abraham Keith Carradine |
Composer(s) | David Bell |
Country of origin | USA |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 2 |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Suzanne De Passe |
Cinematography | Edward J. Pei |
Editor(s) | Michael Ornstein |
Running time | 283 min. |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | May 12 | – May 13, 1996
Chronology | |
Related shows |
Lonesome Dove Return to Lonesome Dove Streets of Laredo Comanche Moon |
Dead Man's Walk is an American epic Western adventure television miniseries starring David Arquette as Augustus McCrae and Jonny Lee Miller as Woodrow F. Call. It was directed by Yves Simoneau. It is a two-part adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry and is chronologically the third book of the Lonesome Dove series, but regarded as the first events in the Lonesome Dove franchise. In this prequel to Lonesome Dove, it is 1840s Texas, and two young men join the Texas Rangers unit that's on a mission to annex Santa Fe. The series was originally broadcast by ABC over two nights in May 1996, and was later nominated for several awards.
The series begins in the Republic of Texas in 1842, as Comanche warriors led by Buffalo Hump use the full moon to conduct slave-raids on settlements in northern Mexico. Woodrow Call and Augustus "Gus" McCrae are junior Texas Rangers of a larger party heading west to scout a road from San Antonio to El Paso. Tasked with night watching the camp, a drunk McCrae wanders off exploring and is chased and wounded by Buffalo Hump. The next morning, the group is ambushed and two of the party are killed and one wounded.
Three months later in Austin, another larger group is being assembled in order to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans as the Texan Santa Fe Expedition. McCrae encounters Clara Forsythe at the local store and Call meets Maggie at the local whorehouse. News of a Comanche raid takes the Rangers group west over the Brazos River, where they are ambushed while resting. Call manages the only kill of the punishment squad's raid, whereas McCrae proposes to Clara. Rejoining the expedition, they encounter Buffalo Hump again and learn (after inviting him to parley at their camp) that it was his son who died at the hands of Call.