Larry McMurtry

[michaelflanagansf]

Greetings!

This is the thread where you can discuss all things McMurtry!  As there has been interest expressed in other threads about books other than 'The Last Picture Show' (which has its own discussion group here: http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=12054.0) you now have a place to discuss them!

Please feel free to compare Mr. McMurtry's works with one another; to discuss the similarities and differences between his books and the films made from them and to discuss the similarities and differences between Larry McMurtry and other authors.

This is also a place where you can discuss relevant items related to Larry McMurtry's life.

For reference material here is a page dedicated to Larry McMurtry from the New York Review of Books:

http://www.nybooks.com/authors/3

Here is a website related to Larry McMurtry from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/mcmurtry.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Here is his webpage from IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0573505/

And here is a "Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers" at the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX:

http://www.rice.edu/fondren/woodson/mss/ms276.html

If you have additional websites associated with Larry McMurtry, please post them here as well!

[Nikki]

Fantastic Michael -- you really rise to the occasion!! Hooray for McMurtry!!

Nikki

[Nikki]

In her Acknowledgements to "That Old Ace in the Hole." Annie writes: Larry McMurtry of Booked Up in Archer City, Texas, supplied me with out-of-print books on panhandle history, geography and ways.  "That Old Ace.." was written after BBM the story, but before BBM the movie. Wonder if Annie and McMurtry discussed BBM then, and did it lead to a discussion about possible movie?

[dejavu]

Hi, Nikki,
Do you know more specifically when "That Old Ace" was written?

I read that the initial draft of the screenplay was written only three months or so after BBM the story was published in The New Yorker.  Diana and Larry wrote it just based on their own enthusiasm for the story and their belief that a movie could be made from it.  I think they contacted Annie immediately to get permission ("option it") but put up the money themselves.   

Maybe I have that wrong; it's been a while since I read that.   Was "That Old Ace" written immediately during that three-month period after BBM the story was published, or later?

[dejavu]

Great idea, Michael.

There's a thread (or used to be) under "actors, actresses, etc." for McMurtry and Ossana but it hasn't had any activity since the Awards.  I kept hoping someone would discuss other books and movies of his there, but it didn't happen.

This is a much better place for it.

I've heard so much about Lonesome Dove, I'd like to read it -- but would probably have to drop out of discussion of something in the main book club, to do so.  One of these days, though.  I've always heard that Lonesome Dove was part of a trilogy, finally thought maybe it was a trilogy (three parts) itself due to its length.  But recently one of the TLPS reviews mentioned that the so-called "trilogy" is actually:
   Lonesome Dove
   Streets of Laredo
   Dead Man's Walk
   Comanche Moon
Some of the information in that TLPS review was incorrect (for example, saying that TLPS was the third of a Thalia trilogy which included two previous books).  Does anybody know if the four books I listed above do in fact form a series of four, and therefore should be read in that order?

I own most of those books (not sure about Comanche Moon) so it's just a matter of finding time, time, time...

[Nikki]

Hi, Nikki,
Do you know more specifically when "That Old Ace" was written?

I read that the initial draft of the screenplay was written only three months or so after BBM the story was published in The New Yorker.  Diana and Larry wrote it just based on their own enthusiasm for the story and their belief that a movie could be made from it.  I think they contacted Annie immediately to get permission ("option it") but put up the money themselves.   

Maybe I have that wrong; it's been a while since I read that.   Was "That Old Ace" written immediately during that three-month period after BBM the story was published, or later?

My copy of That Old Ace... has 2002 on the verso -- check the internet for more info.

[dejavu]

Then my guess is they already knew each other from discussions about BBM (which hadn't been filmed yet, but which had been developed into a screenplay) and maybe that's why she stopped in to talk to him in Texas (or had him send books to her).

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Didn't Annie say -- I'm going from memory here -- that she had met Larry McMurtry before she was approached about the screenplay?  I thought she knew him from spending time doing research in Texas. 

[Nikki]

dejavu,

My copy of "Commanche Moon" lists it as completing McMurtry's "epic four-volume cycle of novels of the American West that began in 1985 with the Pulitizer Prize-winning masterpiece, "Lonesome Dove." Both Dove and Moon stand alone. I read Dove first and now reading Moon -- both trace the lives and adventures of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call as Texas Rangers. McMurtry touches on pre and post Civil War - Indian tribes and culture -- lives of cowboys and Texas Rangers, and sweeping descriptions of the west. They are written in epic proportions.  Both are laced with a poignant love story.

 Another interesting novel is "Zeke and Ned" co-written by McMurtry and Diana Ossana -- about two Cherokee warriors and the white man's justice -- takes place after the Civil War -- not as lengthy as Dove and Moon.

[Nikki]

Didn't Annie say -- I'm going from memory here -- that she had met Larry McMurtry before she was approached about the screenplay?  I thought she knew him from spending time doing research in Texas. 

Sounds right to me!

[michaelflanagansf]

For those of you looking the older archived thread about Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is here:

http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=85.0

[thanks for pointing that out Dejavu - we shouldn't lose access to that material]

Most of the material here seems to be particularly geared towards BBM - and although it's fine to discuss that here too, my idea here was to give us a forum to discuss McMurtry in a broader context - his work and his other films.

Speaking of his other films and books - are there fans of the first movie he wrote a script for, 'Hud', here?  And has anyone read 'Horseman Pass By' which it was based on?

[dejavu]

I saw "Hud" the movie twice, once on TV when I didn't know until the credits at the end that it had anything to do with Larry McMurtry.  And then again on DVD this spring, after another Forum member suggested that it would be good for anyone who saw BBM because of similarities in style. 

I liked it and always remembered it from the first time (even without remembering the name of the movie then) because it had such good characterizations: the old man, the son Hud (Paul Newman), the grandson/nephew, the housekeeper, and also all the cattle.  It was a sorrowful story that brought tears to my eyes; everybody came to a bitter end.  (It's the one where the old man's cows all have to be shot by the agricultural inspectors because one has turned up sick with hoof and mouth disease, and then the old man seems to die of a broken heart -- he even had to shoot his two "pet" prized longhorns.) 

The old man reminds me now a little of Sam the Lion.  "Hud" seemed like a pure SOB.  His nephew really looked up to him, wanted to be like him (and this other Forum member said he sensed some homoeroticism there) but eventually became disillusioned with him totally.  The housekeeper (Patricia Neal) is the object of Hud's desire and tries to force himself on her, whereupon she quits, and even laughs that if he hadn't tried to rape her, she might have eventually voluntarily slept with him (words to that effect).

No, I haven't read "Horseman Pass By" and that's not among the McMurtry books I inherited.  I heard "Hud" was based on a "portion" of "Horseman Pass By" -- haven't tried to find the book yet or compare.

[michaelflanagansf]

Well...I was just looking for 'Hud' related information and I came across this site.  Cute picture of Larry McMurtry with his son James.  But what's interesting is that I didn't know Larry McMurtry and Ken Kesey ('One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest') knew one another!

http://www.skypilotclub.com/mcmurtry.html

[michaelflanagansf]

Here's a review of 'Hud' that has a great picture of Newman with Brandon De Wilde:

http://hoopla.nu/films/hud/hud.html

And apparently Patricia Neal has a performance in the film that does about what Cloris Leachman did with Ruth Popper in 'The Last Picture Show'.

Here's a good review:

http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/movies/full_review/342.html

I really have to watch this again - bot the relationship between the Lonnie and Hud characters and the disfunctional family look like they deserve a re-evaluation in light of reading 'Postcards' and 'The Last Picture Show'

[Nikki]

FYI,  I see where "Commanche Moon" is being made into a mini-series. If it's as good a production as "Lonesome Dove" was, we're in for a real treat. I continue to read the book (Moon)-- always amazed at McMurtry's description of the American west -- vivid and fascinating!