It's seems clear that Sidney Lumet was unfamiliar with the setting, the characters, the story...I mean, Gid is a cowboy wearing OVERALLS--Gid's NOT a farmer! He was afraid of Texas, and moved back east to New Jersey to shoot the remainder of the film--no wonder the film looks like a TV movie. It should have been directed by someone else, someone who understood the place, and written by a screenwriter who understood the characters and story, like McMurtry himself, perhaps??? Maybe someday it will be re-done, and done justly. It's a moving and complex story, one that deserves to be told in the affecting way it's written. Eastwood as director? It spans a 45-year period, and though challenging, with the appropriate writer and director and actors would make for a timeless, memorable film.
Review of Lovin' Molly
