Larry McMurtry

Larry Jeff McMurtry (1936-2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas. He is known for his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove, a historical saga that follows ex-Texas Rangers as they drive their cattle from the Rio Grande to a new home in the frontier of Montana, and for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries, his novels Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975) were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins).

Works

Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas

A visceral deconstruction of Academy Award nominated Peter Bogdanovich and the nervous breakdown he nearly had while shooting THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

Release Date1991-09-06

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

The Murder of Mary Phagan

In early-twentieth-century Atlanta, the murder of a young girl prompts strong reactions from the community and ultimately leads to the arrest of a man who could actually be innocent.

Release Date1988-01-24

DepartmentWriting

JobStory

Episode Count2

Vote Count5

Comanche Moon

Comanche Moon is a television miniseries that is an adaptation of the novel of the same name. It aired on CBS beginning Sunday, January 13, and continuing Tuesday, January 15, and Wednesday, January 16, 2008. It is a prequel to the original Lonesome Dove miniseries.

Release Date2008-01-13

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count3

Vote Count35

Streets of Laredo

Captain Woodrow Call, now retired from the Rangers, is a bounty hunter. He is hired by an eastern rail baron to track down Joey Garza, a new kind of killer, only a boy, who kills from a distance with a rifle.

Release Date1995-11-12

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Episode Count3

Vote Count26

Lonesome Dove

A pair of longtime friends and former Texas Rangers crave one last adventure before hanging-up their spurs. After stealing over a thousand head of cattle from rustlers south of the border, they recruit an unlikely crew of hands to drive the herd 3,000 miles north to the grasslands of Montana.

Release Date1989-02-05

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Episode Count4

Vote Count195

Brokeback Mountain

In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

Release Date2005-10-22

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count7190

The Last Picture Show

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

Release Date1971-10-03

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count719

Joe Bell

The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.

Release Date2020-09-14

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count248

Terms of Endearment

Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.

Release Date1983-11-20

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count780

Hud

Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."

Release Date1963-05-28

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count328

Dead Man's Walk

The final chapter of Larry McMurty's popular and critically acclaimed mini-series, 'Lonesome Dove', recounting the thrilling first adventure of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call. Great Cast!

Release Date1996-05-12

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count3

Vote Count22

The Evening Star

Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.

Release Date1996-12-25

DepartmentWriting

JobAuthor

Vote Count68

Texasville

Summer, 1984: 30 years after Duane captained the high school football team and Jacy was homecoming queen, this Texas town near Wichita Falls prepares for its centennial. Oil prices are down, banks are failing, and Duane's $12 million in debt. His wife Karla drinks too much, his children are always in trouble, and he tom-cats around with the wives of friends. Jacy's back in town, after a mildly successful acting career, life in Italy, and the death of her son. Folks assume Duane and Jacy will resume their high school romance. And Sonny is "tired in his mind," causing worries for his safety. Can these friends find equilibrium in middle age?

Release Date1990-09-28

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count53

Buffalo Girls

The bold escapades of tough-talking Calamity Jane Canary and her illustrious cohorts. It's the waning days of the Wild West and Jane, the rough 'n' rugged cowgirl, is searching not only for her long-lost daughter, but the Wild West she once knew. Jane traverses plains, mountains and continents until she finally discovers the answer to her problems: Dora, the vivacious, gold-hearted madam who's been her one true friend all along.

Release Date1995-04-30

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count22

Montana

Hoyce and Bess Guthrie are long married Montana ranchers who come to a major crossroads in their lives. An oil company has offered to buy them out and Hoyce wants to sell while Bess hopes to keep the land in the family for future generations.

Release Date1990-02-09

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count5

Falling from Grace

Rock singer John Mellencamp makes his screen and directorial debut in this story by "Lonesome Dove" author, Larry McMurtry. The story, not too separated from Mellencamp's real life, finds him as a country music star whose meanderings and philandering has thrown his life into turmoil. Returning to his native Indiana to try to reestablish a normal life. Instead he takes up with an old lover (Lenz), ignoring his loving wife (Hemingway), and duplicating the lifestyle of his womanizing father (Akins).

Release Date1992-02-21

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count11

Johnson County War

The three Hammett brothers, Cain, Harry and Dale are caught in a conflict that escalates rapidly and the old farmers facing against new farmers who have settled in the green grasslands.

Release Date2002-08-24

DepartmentWriting

JobTeleplay

Vote Count13

Lovin' Molly

Spanning nearly 40 years from 1925 to 1964, two Texas farm boys; straight-arrow Gid and laid-back Johnny fight over the affections of the beautiful and headstrong Molly Taylor, who consistently refuses to marry either of them.

Release Date1974-04-14

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count6

Memphis

Two men and a woman in the deep south of the 1950s plot to kidnap a child from a wealthy black family, mistakenly believing that no one will try to stop them.

Release Date1992-01-27

DepartmentWriting

JobTeleplay

Terms of Endearment

A look at the complex relationship between a mother and her dying daughter. A remake of the 1983 film TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel