Lonesome Dove (TV Mini Series)

Return (1989)

Robert Duvall: Augustus 'Gus' McCrae

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Gus refuses to have his leg amputated knowing he will die if he doesn't] 

  Woodrow Call : What do you want legs for anyway? You don't like to do nothing but sit on the porch and drink whiskey!

  Gus McCrae : I like to kick a pig every once in a while. How would I do that?

• Woodrow Call : You're one-of-a-kind, Augustus. We're gonna miss you.

  Gus McCrae : Even you?

  Woodrow Call : Even me. What you want me to do your half the cattle?

  Gus McCrae : I want you to buy 'em from me.

  Woodrow Call : Buy 'em from you? Hellfire, you ain't put in a day's worth of work in on 'em on this whole trip. You ought to just give 'em to me if you don't want 'em.

  Gus McCrae : You just said they were half-mine, are they half-mine or not?

  Woodrow Call : Yes, they're half-yours.

  Gus McCrae : Alright then. I want you to buy 'em from me, and give the money to... Lorena.

  Woodrow Call : Lorena. Well is there anything else? Are you sure you don't want me to haul you down to the South Pole and bury you down there? All you gotta do is ask.

  Gus McCrae : [chuckling]  Yeah, there is something else. I want you to tell Newt that you're his daddy. I've already told him myself, but I want him to hear it from you.

  Woodrow Call : You ought not told him that.

  Gus McCrae : What are you gonna do, shoot me for it? It's time you stopped mistreating that boy.

  Woodrow Call : I don't know that I ever have mistreated him.

  Gus McCrae : Well not giving him your name is mistreating him. Now he's the only son you'll ever have.

  Woodrow Call : I don't know that he is my son.

  Gus McCrae : I know it, and you know it. Darn, you're stubborn! No wonder women don't like you. Reach in that drawer there, find me something to write on. I want to leave a couple notes to Lori and Clara.

  Woodrow Call : [hands Gus paper and pen]  You want me to do anything about those Indians that shot you?

  Gus McCrae : We got no call to be vengeful, they didn't invite us here.

  Gus McCrae : [writing]  It's a dangerous business, writing to two women at the same time. I'm so light-headed I can hardly remember which one's which. Now this one, this one's for Lori. And this one here, my God...

  Woodrow Call : You want me to help you with that?

  Gus McCrae : What would you know to say to a woman?

  [falls asleep writing] 

  Woodrow Call : [places hand on Gus's chest]  Augustus.

  Gus McCrae : [Looks up]  My God, Woodrow. It has been quite a party, ain't it?

  Woodrow Call : Yes, sir.

• Gus McCrae : [Looking at a herd of buffalo, such as hadn't been seen in Texas for many years]  Pretty, ain't they?

  Pea Eye Parker : I reckon

  Gus McCrae : Let's chase 'em. You want to?

  Pea Eye Parker : Shoot us one for our supper?

  Gus McCrae : No, I mean chase 'em just for the sport of it

  Pea Eye Parker : to run them off?

  Gus McCrae : You don't get the point, do you Pea? I mean chase 'em, because before long, there won't be any buffalo left TO chase

  Pea Eye Parker : Them bulls 'll hook you. D'you remember ol' man Barlow? A buffalo hooked him bad

  Gus McCrae : Old man Barlow was a slow thinker, kinda like somebody else I could name

  Pea Eye Parker : Well he was a slow walker, too, after that buffalo got through with him. Wonder what ever happened to him...

  Gus McCrae : He married a fat widow over on the Blanco River, and had a passel of kids. Now you might as well have done the same thing yourself, since you don't want to chase buffalo

  Pea Eye Parker : Well I don't believe I'd want to chase buffalo even if I was married

  Gus McCrae : Forget I even mentioned it, Pea

  Pea Eye Parker : Well, I like bein' a bachelor, Gus

  Gus McCrae : That's good, Pea; I'm sure it's all part of god's plan that You ARE one

  [whistles & spurs his horse] 

• Pea Eye Parker : [Indians have attacked Gus & Pea, on a scouting expedition, wounding both]  They're gonna try sneakin' up on us in the dark, ain't they Gus?

  Gus McCrae : be takin' a chance if they do, couple of sharp-shooters like us

  Pea Eye Parker : I ain't no sharp-shooter. I usually miss if I ain't got time to take careful aim

  Gus McCrae : 'y god but it's depressin' to talk to you, Pea

• Augustus 'Gus' McCrae : Woodrow ain't much of a mentioner when he can avoid it.

  Newt Dobbs : Well Gus, is it that he don't like me?

  Augustus 'Gus' McCrae : No. No. It's just, he don't want to admit he's human, like the rest of us, that's all.

• Pea Eye Parker : What Indians is it we're fightin' anyway?

  Augustus 'Gus' McCrae : They didn't introduce themselves.

• Augustus 'Gus' McCrae : Hope you didn't through my leg away. I may wanna make a walkin' stick out of the bone.

• Pea Eye Parker : [after Gus tells him he has to sneak past the Indians and go for help]  What if they catch me?

  Gus McCrae : Well, they'll probably start by cuttin' your cojones off.