As the tale begins in 1858, Call and McCrae, some years away from becoming the cattlemen depicted in Lonesome Dove, are Rangers serving under the educated and eccentric Scull as they work to protect the territory against marauding Comanches, led by the stern, vengeful Buffalo Hump (Wes Studi) and his crazed son, Blue Duck (Adam Beach). When Scull's horse is stolen by one of the Indians, he sets out to retrieve the beast, promoting both Call and McRae to Captain, and the rest of the story revolves primarily around them; in fact, although there's a reasonable amount of action (including the Comanche raid on Austin that opens Part Two), Comanche Moon is much less plot-dependent than character-driven, and it is Call (tough, taciturn, and totally clueless when it comes to the fair sex) and best friend McRae (an open-hearted, self-described jester) who are the most engaging of the bunch as they navigate the deep waters of their work and love lives (McRae with Clara and Call with the prostitute Maggie Tilton, played by Elizabeth Banks). McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana's dialogue manages to be at once plain and poetic, colorful and poignant, and regardless of what's actually happening onscreen, the miniseries has a light, often whimsical charm that separates it from most Westerns made for big and small screen alike. Extras include a "making of" featurette and more. --Sam Graham

Stills from Comanche Moon (click for larger image)

Beyond Comanche Moon

Broken Trail

3:10 to Yuma

Cat Ballou

Comanche Moon

• Return to Lonesome Dove
• Dead Man's Walk
• Lonesome Dove
• Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo
• Lonesome Dove Collection (Lonesome Dove/Streets of Laredo/Dead Man's Walk)
• Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years
• Broken Trail
• Centennial: The Complete Series
• Lonesome Dove: The Ultimate Collection (10-DVD Set)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Steve Zahn and Karl Urban are credible as McCrae and Call while Val Kilmer gives a bravura performance as the eccentric Captain Scull. Filmed in Widescreen HD and with high production standards this should please most Western fans. Larry McMurtry's prequel is not the instant classic Lonesome Dove was but this adaption of his novel is still worthwhile. The supporting cast all do well especially Wes Studi as the Commanche Chief Buffalo Hump.

The acting, scenery and costumes were excellent. Unfortunately the editing was poorly executed. Take this back to the cutting board boys and I think you would have the quality and success of "Lonesome Dove". The story and writing was realy good. Timing was off with slow responses with many scene changes not matching up.

The story and all of the actors are wonderful. I will watch this one many times in the future.

Val Kilmer was absolutely awful as Inish Scull. Zahn did a decent job as Gus McRae (you can tell he had studied Duvall's portrayal of the character and tried to get down the technique, and while not perfect, it wasn't bad) - but most of the other actors literally sounded like they were reading right from the script. Urban was really a terrible W.F.Call, and while I thought West Studi was good as Famous Shoes in Streets of Laredo, he didn't seem to fit the role of Buffalo Hump in this one, not at all.

Almost no one seemed to have really gotten into acting their characters and it shows. Instead of giving the impression he was a tough, if slightly eccentric Yankee-in-Texas, he came across as a clown. I'm not even comparing it to Lonesome Dove other than to say Zahn did a decent job of learning Duvall's mannerisms for McRae, but even as a stand alone Western this one just felt cheap and looked cheap.

While I believe the novel Comanche Moon was a pretty decent read, this movie adaptation is the worst of the Lonesome Dove series. I've followed both the book and made-for-TV series for quite a while. I noticed Halmark/Artisan didn't produce this one as they did the others in the series (which were all better - I'd rank them in this order as the best to least: Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, Dead Man's Walk) and I don't know if that had something to do with it, but this was pretty bad.

Well,it will allways be pretty hard to fill ''lonersome dove's'' shoes,as far as both literature and filming the book are concerned.both,the author himself,and the filmmakers seemed to do a great job anytime they choosed to do a sequel on the genuine article;''COMANCHE MOON'' is no exception.great book,outstanding picture.Both,Steve Zahn and Carl Urban are more than convincing in playing two of allready classic western characters,McRae and Call.as a matter of fact one can see a lot of Robert Duvall in Zann's acting,and I couldn't imagine a younger Captain Call than the one played by Carl Urban.As for Val Kilmer as Inish Scull.well,that's a sight to behold.What can I say more.Read the book first,or watch only the film,all the same,it's a must for every western fan.