James Garner Westerns con’t: Streets of Laredo / 3 part mini-series 1995 / Part 1

Capt. Woodrow F. Call: I will not tolerate rude behaviour!”

Fortunately, Streets of Laredo is chock full of rude behaviour.

I selected this version of the very famous song The Streets of Laredo by Ed Bruce (http://www.edbrucemusic.com/) (writer of “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “You’re the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had“) because Bruce is a close friend and co-hort of James Garner. And I like it.

MFW STREETS OF LAREDO

Larry McMurtry’s Streets of Laredo • Official Trailer • Miniseries

LARRY MCMURTRY STREETS OF LAREDO

I have no problem understanding what people like about McMurtry’s writings: Lonesome Dove (1986 Pulitzer Prize winner) etc. of which Streets of Laredo is part of his enduring saga of Woodrow Call – and others – It’s the people in his stories. They are fully realized and believable. Real. And we like them and admire them. His people are honest, hard working, caring, loyal, honest … good people. Not perfect in any way – but good. They have standards and they have a code – and they stick by – and stick together. We come to care about them and relate quite a bit with them – I hope. McMurty’s stories are good too – filled with these interesting characters and his great knack for excellent dialogue. No problem finding quotes in his writing.
Streets of Laredo is excellent. Streets of Laredo Banner Streets of Laredo starts out with a coyote howling in the sunset and plaintive death march of the song Streets of Laredo … giving a sense of loss – that something is ending rather than beginning. And in the opening scene we see the no longer young Woodrow Call (Garner) preparing for a journey … his last quest ??

Streets of Laredo James Garner Banner

Posters

They don’t usually make many posters and such for TV events (tell that to Game of Thrones) so we often have to rely on DVD covers and the like for any promotional images. As such:

STREETS OF LAREDO BANNER IMAGE

STREETS OF LAREDO DVD 3

STREETS OF LAREDO DVD

STREETS OF LAREDO DVD 2

Notice anything about one of these DVD images?
It’s reversed. Yes. This is something that you encounter
very often on the internet – reversed images. Why? I don’t know.
It’s annoying. For one thing it’s dishonest. Secondly, sometimes
you can’t tell which is the honest/correct/original image.
Why do people do this? It can’t be done accidentally.
It’s a head 
scratcher … ??

Reviews

SOL IMDB
I rate it an 8 out of ten
SOL Rotten Tomatoes
“54%” !!??? – that’s insane.

STREETS OF LAREDO – DVD review
I was completely caught up in this gritty Western.
http://moviemet.com/review/streets-laredo-dvd-review#.UrWy6tJDtwA

James Plath's picture
James Plath
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 – 12:00 am
” … a considerably better-than-average Western . . . even if it isn’t quite the same caliber as “Lonesome Dove.” It hooked me right from the beginning, and that’s worth something. Like the best mini-series, “Streets of Laredo” depends upon strong characters to make the difference, and they do.”
Alexis Cruz does a fantastic job as the child killer, but so does Randy Quaid as John Wesley Hardin and Ned Beatty as the self-appointed law west of the Pecos, Judge Roy Bean. Even comedian George Carlin turns in a decent performance as grizzled carryover from “Lonesome Dove.”
Bottom Line: As a stand-alone mini-series, “Streets of Laredo” merits a high 7 to a low 8 out of 10. As a sequel? It’s probably not going to satisfy anyone looking for consistency from film to film. But I think the first point trumps the second. Always.”

______________________________

If interested in finding Streets of Laredo you’ll have no problem – it’s freely available on YouTube – all 3 parts in blazing Hi Res that you can watch right on your computer – though I downloaded it and Rose and I enjoyed watching it on her big screen TV.

That’s enough for today …

Coming Up …
Streets of Laredo: The Cast

Author: jcalberta

Howdy! I love Westerns. ... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new. This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates. All this - and more ... Yee Haw ... !! - jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator

4 thoughts on “James Garner Westerns con’t: Streets of Laredo / 3 part mini-series 1995 / Part 1”

  1. I missed Lonesome Dove, but was back in the US in time for “STreets of Laredo.” It was very well done, though pretty grim. Eventually I caught up with Lonesome Dove, which turned out to be just as grim, or maybe grimmer. My live is pretty grim and I tend to avoid things that make me feel worse. But … for Garner I make exceptions.

    1. That darn Lonesome Dove was nominated for 15 awards – won seven. Established Duvall as a Western Icon. I believe this Streets of Laredo though will come to be more greatly appreciated as time goes by.
      Yeah there’s some grim folks in there for sure.

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