This is a joke. The author is responsible for the opinions expressed in the text.
Actor Robert Duvall has died and everyone is writing about his supporting role in The Godfather. Nobody talks about the effort that truly made him immortal.
I remember the TV, it was thick, small and black and white. There, exhausted, I saw the first part of a new western series. A group of cowboys cross a river with a lot of cattle. Someone screams in pain. Was he cast out? No, he is attacked by water snakes. Hundreds of them hang on him like bundles.
After that concussion I couldn’t stop watching “Lonesome Dove” (or “Den länga färden” as it’s called in Swedish). Based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, it is often considered the best western series of all time. Western fans in the USA adore him as if John Wayne had played all the roles. “Many rank it among the best half-dozen Western productions in all categories,” wrote True West magazine, and they should know it.
In the series, Robert Duvall plays the aging captain of the Texas Rangers, Augustus “Gus” McCrae. Along with his old gunslinger (literally) Woodrow Call and a cast of local talent, he embarks on one final adventure: transporting a herd from Texas to Montana.
The interaction between McCrae and Call is unforgettable. A slow bromance between two men who have endured the greatest hardships and have a capital of violence that is unnecessarily hidden behind an everyday surface that can shatter at any moment.
Duvall was born for his role, and looks like he was born under his hat. It is described by experts as a variant of the Montana hat style: two handles on the brim, a noticeable notch and the characteristic high, forward-sloping crown.
Robert Duvall said that he was offered a sombrero and replied that he would then turn down the role. Instead, he chose his own hat, inspired by images of the Texas Rangers on the border with Mexico.
And no matter how clever critics think Duvall is in his Godfather costumes, it’s impossible to beat the magnitude of his contribution to Western style: For all time, people will stroll up to American Hatters and ask for “the Gus.”
Read more of Helmerson’s series, for example about how there was (almost) a revolution against SL.
