Duvall’s Choice: McCrae over Hamlet, 1980s Icon

“I said to myself, Now I can retire. I’ve done something. Let the English play Hamlet. I’ll play Augustus McCrae.” Robert Duvall, behind the scenes. 1980s.

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18 thoughts on “Duvall’s Choice: McCrae over Hamlet, 1980s Icon”

  1. Gus McCrae is one of my all-time favorite literary heroes. I can’t thank McMurtry enough for creating the character, and there aren’t nearly enough FU’s in the world for the way he got his ending… But Duvall was note-perfect, and he made it all go down smoother.

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  2. Arguably one of the best/truest portrayals of an American literary character onscreen. I’ll digress and tend to my biscuits.

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  3. I love the scene where Gus lassos Woodrow and drags him backwards off the Union Scout that Woodrow is beating to death in the middle of town. Gus holding his revolver by the barrel like a club and trying to calm Woodrow down.

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  4. Robert Duvall’s portrayal of Augustus McCrae, is the finest acting performance by anyone, in anything, ever, bar none.

    That’s a hill I’ll die on.

    The character was a fantastic creation by McMurtry, and when I finished the book I thought “I hope they don’t make a movie out of this, they’ll only fuck it up.”

    I didn’t think anyone could do a proper job of portraying either Gus or Call, but I was wrong. Duvall completely nailed it. So did Tommy Lee Jones as Call.

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  5. This was one of my dad’s favorites. I didn’t watch it myself until I was out of the house and then I finally understood why he always said “Well there y’are, Augustus”. Now I say it myself all the time xD

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  6. We just watched *Lonesome Dove* again for maybe the fourth time and Duvall is a main reason why. My husband’s been going around quoting  “Better to say it right out front because a man who does like to rent pigs…**he’s hard to stop**.”

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  7. “It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it”. Think it’s Gus that says that to newt. Use that all the time. One of the great characters of all time

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