Lonesome Dove (1989)

Lonesome Dove is a western television miniseries directed by Simon Wincer, based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically. The movie starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Chris Cooper and Diane Lane.

Plot: Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae (Duvall) and Captain Woodrow F. Call (Jones), two famous former Texas Rangers, run a livery called the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small dusty Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Smooth, charming and easy going, Gus loves women and women return the sentiments, but he's twice a widower and he never marries the love of his life, Clara (Anjelica Huston). They work on a poor ranch with several cowboys, including a young man named Newt. The story begins in the small town of Lonesome Dove, as Jake Spoon, portrayed by Robert Urich, a former Texas Ranger and comrade of Gus and Call's, shows up after an absence of more than ten years. He reveals that he is a man on the run, a fugitive after having accidentally shot the dentist of Fort Smith, Arkansas in a gunfight. The dentist's brother-in-law happens to be the sheriff, July Johnson portrayed by Chris Cooper. Reunited with Gus and Call, Jake's breath-taking description of Montana inspires Call to gather a herd of cattle and drive them there, to begin the first cattle ranch in the frontier territory. Call is attracted to the romantic notion of settling pristine country. Gus is less enthusiastic, pointing out that they are getting old and that they are Rangers and traders, not cowboys. But he changes his mind when Jake reminds him that Gus' old sweetheart, Clara, lives on the Platte, 20 miles from Ogallala, Nebraska, which is on their route to Montana. Captain Call prevails. They make preparations for their adventure north, including stealing horses in Mexico and recruiting almost all the male citizens of Lonesome Dove.

Ironically, Jake Spoon decides not to go after all, being selfish and undependable and because he promises to take the town's only prostitute, Lorie, to San Francisco. Ogallala also happens to be the destination of the pregnant Elmira, the wife of Sheriff Johnson. She runs away to meet up with her true love, Dee Boot, and soon falls in with a gang of rapacious buffalo hunters. Sheriff Johnson, along with his son and deputy, heads north in pursuit of Elmira. While travelling through a forest, Sheriff Johnson's party is soon joined by a young girl fleeing from an abusive "owner." Gus and Call soon catch up to Jake Spoon and Lorie. Spoon selfishly abandons Lorie to go gamble. Before he returns, Gus and Lorie encounter Blue Duck, a notorious bandit with a grudge against Gus and Call. Blue Duck kidnaps Lorie and attempts to sell her to a gang of Comanchero bandits. Knowing that Gus is in pursuit, Blue Duck asks the Comanchero/bandit gang to kill Gus when he arrives. Gus and the bandits engage in a brief gun battle that quickly turns into a stalemate. Gus is pinned down by the bandits' gunfire until nightfall, when Sheriff Johnson's party arrives and drives off the bandits. Sheriff Johnson agrees to help Gus rescue Lorie. They ride to a hilltop above the bandit camp. However, while Gus and Johnson ride down into the bandit encampment and battle and kill the Comancheros, Blue Duck slips out and murders the remainder of Sheriff Johnson's party, steals their horses, and runs away. Gus and Lorie, reunited, ride north to rejoin Call and the herd.

–from wikipedia