Bandolero shares characters with Lonesome Dove

I was hoping that I would be the first one to see the similarity. I'm sure many others have and have not written anything about it.


I don't know about the lawsuit. I'm not sure you can copyright a name in a movie. My name has been used by characters in movies before and I have yet to sue. I have to make one confession. In my opinion Larry McMurtry is one of the two greatest writers of the twentieth century, and I have held that belief since 1969.

Before saying or writing about this conjoining of characters, I checked two sources for works by Mr. McMurtry, and, of course, the writers of Bandolero on Imdb. I have yet to find any attribution of Bandolero or any of its writing to him.

There is at least one other character in common to "Lonesome Dove" and one plot similarity. The character similarity is Dean Martin in Bandolero being named Dee. The plot similarity is that July Johnson, in both works, is chasing a character named Dee, who has taken up with Johnson's wife or betrothed. The "Dee" in Lonesome Dove is Dee "Bood". I don't recall the spelling of "Bood" in the novel, but it is no where close to Martin's name in Bandolero.

I want the reader of this entry, if any, to again be aware of my affinity for McMurtry's writing, and while writing this entry I have been thinking about it and I believe McMurtry to be the sole best writer of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I believe that there is one explanation for the names in Bandolero being purloined from McMurtry, instead of the reverse suggested by the relative dates of these works.

McMurtry has said in interviews that "Lonesome Dove" was written first as a screenplay for John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, and it had lain around for some time in this form before he rewrote it into a novel; therefore, it is possible that the names and plot similarity could have been taken from McMurtry's work and used in Bandolero (without credit being given).

I intend to look into this matter as far as I can (or until I tire of it), and I will update this as warranted.

jtrussell

The US always does the right thing -- after all other alternatives have been exhausted.

I just watched it again. I never would have made the connection but now that I look it does look like a 1st draft of Lonesome Dove. I assume they used some of McMurty's ideas. I don't know why he kept the names the same as it does seem strange. Judy Johnson and Roscoe chasing a woman with an outlaw named Dee. It makes the whole movie much more interesting.

I noticed this more than 10 years ago and posted about it here and on usenet.

many many years ago larry mcmurtry once wrote a book about hollywood called FILM FLAM. I do not recall much from the book, but it showed his extensive knowledge of hollywood even many decades ago. So most likely mcmurtry was an uncredited script doctor.

Now here is something else for you: I am pretty sure that he also wrote CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB, and that movie was ALSO a basis for lonesome dove, as was bandolero.

james lee barrett is credited for writing both bandolero and Cheyenne social club.


My documentary in progress:
http://www.leftwingmediamachine.blogspot.com

There is no grounds for a lawsuit. If anything the writers of Bandalero! would have a better case against McMurtry.

The novel Lonesome Dove was not published until 1985, many years after the movie Bandolero. McMurtry wrote a screenplay in 1972 on which evoled into his novel. It was called The Streets of Laredo and 75 pages long. Wayne turned the part down and the script was never made into a movie.

McMurtry had to purchase the The Streets of Laredo screenplay back from the studio which owned it for legal reasons before publishing his novel.

It is unknown if the Judy Johnson, Roscoe, and Dee characters were in that screenplay but legally that would not matter.