Dave, I've read that Robert Duval has said that the role of Gus McRae is the best role since Hamlet.
Oddly, Lonsome Dove is a character piece that it is almost only incidentally a western. The more I read that book, the more I find in it. There are a lot of other Larry McMurty books but frankly to me Lonesome Dove is easily his best. Which is saying something because some of his other work is pretty damn good.
Random pix:
Man oh man do I love an excellent M6. When they were new I wanted one SO bad. They looked fast standing still...yes, I know they aren''t really all that fast. I don't care. I STILL want one.