Uva uvam vivendo varia fit

The above Latin phrase is taken from the book Lonesome Dove, and is the source of some consternation and humor. It was gratuitously put on a sign for the Hat Creek Cattle Company by Augustus McCrae. The humor stems from his not knowing any Latin. It just sounded educated to him. He and his partner, William Call, argue about it, with Call complaining about the “Greek”, and Gus correcting him, that it is Latin.

I don’t have the exact words, so cite from memory as I laughed out loud when I saw it:

Call” “What does it mean?”
Gus: “It’s Latin, a motto. It means what it says.”
Call: “You don’t know what it means either!”
Gus: [Changes subject]

The translation is “A grape changes color by seeing another grape” While Gus did not know what it meant, author Larry McMurtry surely did. The story Lonesome Dove is about the old west and a group of characters. The beauty of the writing is that each character, beginning to end, stays true to form. There are no transformations. Gus is a drunk and a womanizer, and also a decent man. Call is tightly wrapped, and even as he fathers a son, Newt, he never acknowledges him, and the boy suffers accordingly, his final words in the epic being “I ain’t got no kin.” This after Call has given him his horse, a watch, and a hat while unable to express his love for the boy.

The book was made into a four-part television movie broadcast in 1989, and it took the country by storm. There have been remakes, and three of McMurtry’s other books based on the same characters have been made into movies. But none have captured the magic of the original. As I see it, the reason is that it was novel for its time, and two other factors: Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones.  They brought their characters to life, gave them essence and spark, made them into interesting, flawed, honorable and courageous men, neither of whom knew a word of Greek or Latin. I do not understand the art of acting, that is, anyone can read lines, but only a few transcend the lines and create moments in time that remain indelible on our brains. Thus do we honor them almost as much as they do one another each March.

My problems with the book are few, but one in particular stands out: Jake Spoon.

Jake is a ne’er do well, a womanizer, gambler, drunk, and is handsome as he is charming. We meet him in Texas as he is on the run, having accidentally shot a dentist in Arkansas. He joins the cattle drive to escape being caught, and hooks up with Lorena, a whore (Diane Lane), and leaves her by herself as he heads into town to gamble and drink. She is captured by the evil villain Blue Duck, and Gus has to rescue her and bring her back to human form after rape and other unspeakable abuse.

Jake then ends up on the run again, having accidentally (again) shot a boy, and his traveling companions are pure evil. They plunder, murder, incinerate their victims, as Jake looks one. He wants to get away from them, and does not participate in the crimes. But Gus and Call and Deets (Danny Glover) catch up with them, and it is hanging time. As Newt, who loves Jake looks on, they decide to hang him even as they know he did not commit any crimes … on his own.

If I drive a getaway car in a bank heist, and someone gets killed in the robbery, I too am guilty of murder. That is the law, and in the old West, there were no appeals. Jake makes his case, but comes to realize that he is going to hang no matter what. He reconciles on the spot, tells his companions he never meant to harm anyone. Gus tells him he will send his regards to Lorene. “Who?” Jake answers?

Jake then spurs his own horse, and hangs himself, sparing his friends the trouble. Duvall says in retrospect that that particular scene in the movie moved him to tears, or almost. It troubled him deeply. For me, as I watched, I thought Jake should have gotten  reprieve. But McMurtry does not teach lessons, only life.

“He died fine,” says Gus when it is all over.

And indeed he did.