Streets of Laredo (1995)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Diana Ossana & Larry McMurtry, based on the novel by McMurtry
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Starring James Garner, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Ned Beatty, Randy Quaid, Wes Studi, Alexis Cruz and George Carlin

Anamorphic: No

My Advice: Avoid it

Captain Woodrow Call (Garner) has retired from the Texas Rangers, and after returning to Texas following his great cattle drive to Montana, has become a mercenary. The head of the Texas Railroad has hired him to find and kill Joey Garza (Cruz), a boy who kills for sport and has robbed a number of trains (including one with a U.S. Army payroll on board). Call’s friend and cohort, Corporal Pea Eye Parker (Shepard) decides not to go with him on this job because he has settled down with his wife Laurie (Spacek) and started a family. Call sets on his way hiring his posse as he crosses the Texas deserts. Eventually, Corporal Parker’s guilt for not being there for his friend gets the best of him and he sets out alone to find Call.

This mini-series was doomed from the beginning. It had way too much to live up to. Garner was forever going to be contrasted to Tommy Lee Jones (who played Capt. Call in the original Lonesome Dove. The story itself is simply not as strong as the original. Lonesome Dove was about a group of men who were on the peaceful mission of driving a herd of cattle across the country to Montana. Any of the adventures that crossed their path were all part of the mystique that is the Old West. In Streets of Laredo, there is only one mission and it is about killing a pre-pubescent boy who has a taste for blood himself.

Cruz’s Garza was so completely one dimensional that they really could have put a cardboard cutout of him in all the shots...and it might have improved the film. He was supposed to inspire fear in everyone around him, but I just kept laughing at him. There is a scene between he and Randy Quaid (who plays outlaw John Wesley Hardin) where Quaid completely dominates the scene and leaves Cruz curled under a table. Quaid’s Hardin was solid. Unfortunately, his character served no purpose in the story whatsoever. All he did was sit in a bar and kill men who pissed him off; there was no character arc for him.

On a positive note, Spacek was perfectly cast as the older Laurie (played by Diane Lane in the original). She had obviously done her homework then took the role and made it her own all the while staying true to Lane’s vision of the character. It really was a perfect balance. George Carlin was also a surprise in this film. I wish for his sake that he had been given the recognition that he deserved for his portrayal of Billy Williams. As with Spacek’s performance, it was obvious that Carlin took the time to really give his character the depth it needed.

The DVD treatment of this mini-series was pretty fair, really. There are no special features of any kind on this DVD. Nor should there be.

So, if you are a fan of the characters of the original mini-series, I would say avoid this one at all costs. It will only make you upset at the way they were treated.