Larry McMurtry Trivia

1. The book opens in a place familiar to us from "Dead Man's Walk". Where is it?

From Quiz Comanche Moon

Answer: The edge of the Palo Duro Canyon

The Rangers, commanded by Inish Scull, are on the trail of Kicking Wolf, who had run off twenty horses from a ranch near Albany. "'Kicking Wolf's never been caught, and the Captain's never been run off from,' Gus said. 'That's going to change, for one of them. Who would you bet on, Woodrow, if we were to wager - Old Nails, or Kicking Wolf?'"

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Comanche Moon"

Answer: 19

Captain Scull had asked Call if he had ever had an office job. Call wondered why he had asked him that, since his records clearly showed that he had been a Ranger since the age of nineteen.

From Quiz Dead Man's Walk

Answer: A whore

Matilda Roberts was "known throughout south Texas as the Great Western . . . almost as large as the skinny little Mexican mustang Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call were trying to saddle-break". We see, throughout the course of their journeys, that Matty's spirit is as large as her body.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Dead Man's Walk"

Answer: Turtle

She caught a snapping turtle in a river and walked toward the Rangers with it. When she got closer, she "swung her arm a time or two and heaved the big turtle in the general direction of a bunch of Rangers...They scattered like quails when they saw the turtle sailing through the air."

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - More Lonesome Dove

Answer: Mary Cole

Mary Cole was the widow of Josh Cole. Pea was trying to help her get the laundry off the line before a thunderstorm could soak it all. They didn't get them in before they were both soaked through. It was a memory that occasionally came back to Pea over the years.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Lonesome Dove"

Answer: Denver

In the movie version, Jake did say they were going to San Francisco. In the book, however, Jake says, "We've decided to try our luck in Denver for the time being, I believe we'd both enjoy the cool weather."

From Quiz More Than "Lonesome Dove"

Answer: Pretty Boy

They had written a screenplay on the subject the year before - "... we both decided that we would like to write at more length about the life (as we imagined it) of Charley Floyd. We began by talking out, and then writing down, an extensive, detailed outline of the book as we envisioned it. Each day, L.M. wrote a skeletal five pages; then D.O., putting flesh onto bone, made them ten." ("Pretty Boy Floyd", Collaborators' Note)

From Quiz Comanche Moon

Answer: He is the best horse thief

Kicking Wolf would prepare for days before raiding a horse herd, emptying his body of smells, and studying the herd to see which horse to approach first. "He prepared carefully, but mainly it was his grace, his ability to move without sound, that enabled him to go into a herd of strange horses at night and not alarm them. He wanted to be able to move close to the horses and stroke them - he wanted the stroking to begin before the horse was even aware that a man was there."

From Quiz Dead Man's Walk

Answer: Buffalo Hump

This is their first encounter with the big Comanche, but not the last.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Dead Man's Walk"

Answer: Shadrach

"The oldest Ranger, a tall, grizzled specimen with a cloudy past...".

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - More Lonesome Dove

Answer: Each of the cowboys

Po Campo had given each of the cowboys a "little woman". He told them it was to remind them of their sisters. In the movie we only see him give one to Deets and as soon as he hands it to someone else, he gets killed.

From Quiz More Than "Lonesome Dove"

Answer: The Last Picture Show

The movie is a pretty faithful retelling - if you loved the movie, you'll love the book. McMurtry followed this up with "Texasville" in 1987, and "Duane's Depressed" in 1999. Cloris Leachman won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her part as Ruth Popper. It was a career booster for the young, at that time mostly unknown, actors who played the younger generation - Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid... This was also director Peter Bugdanovitch's first major film.

From Quiz Comanche Moon

Answer: Kickapoo

Famous Shoes is one of my favorite McMurtry characters. "He moved fast, and yet no one ever saw him moving fast, a thing Call marvelled at. Sometimes he responded to questions and sometimes he didn't - but even if he chose to answer a given question, the answer would usually lay a little sideways to the question as it had been phrased."

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Dead Man's Walk"

Answer: Shadrach

Buffalo Hump once ate with the Rangers and wanted Matty, whom he called Turtle-Catching-Woman, to become his wife. Colonel Cobb asked his scout what Shadrach was called in Comanche and was told that it was Tail-Of-The-Bear. Cobb then told Buffalo Hump that Matty was the wife of Tail-Of-The-Bear. Buffalo Hump said that if Shadrach ever crossed the Canadian River he would take his scalp, the woman and his horse.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - More Lonesome Dove

Answer: Hacienda Flores

They had planned to steal the horses from Pedro Flores, who owned the largest ranch in Coahuila. When they went into Mexico at night, they thought that things went a little too easy for them. They found out later that they didn't have to worry about Pedro coming after them because he had died.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Lonesome Dove"

Answer: He expected to be fired anyway

He had been dreaming in the wagon when he accidentally shot his ten-gauge. This caused the mules to bolt and the wagon to be damaged. He expected to be fired. However, no one knew what had caused the accident.

From Quiz Comanche Moon

Answer: Buffalo Hump and a Mexican captive

"Buffalo Hump had fathered the boy on a Mexican captive named Rosa, a beautiful but troublesome woman who persisted in trying to escape....The winter after the boy was born she escaped again, taking the young baby with her." Buffalo Hump pursued her, but by the time he found her, she had frozen to death. The boy, however, was still alive.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Comanche Moon"

Answer: Dolly

Inish said that she only chose Inez to match his name.

From Quiz Dead Man's Walk

Answer: Clara

Gus meets Clara Forsythe, the love of his life, working in her father's store. "...she thrust the wadded-up paper from the doctor's package into his hand. 'Here, dispose of this, sir,' she said, with a fetching smile. 'Do what?' Gus asked, paralyzed with anxiety lest he do something wrong and scare the girl away - though, he had to admit, she didn't look easily scared. 'Dispose of this paper - I can see that you're tall, but I don't know if you're useful,' the girl said. 'I'm Clara, who are you?'" It looks like Clara set the tone for their whole relationship, right off the bat.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Dead Man's Walk"

Answer: Woodrow Call

Augustus was called "Silver Hair McCrae" because of his hair turning white at such an early age. Buffalo Hump, to the best of my knowledge, had no names for Bigfoot or Long Bill. Call got his name by shooting and killing one of Buffalo Humps' sons while in a flooded river. Buffalo Humps' son was trying to kill the Rangers by floating between the legs of a dead mule.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - More Lonesome Dove

Answer: A mule and a donkey

Sean was so scared when Call spoke that he jumped on the mule and tried to run. The mule, of course, was hobbled. I still think it was one of the funniest moments in the book and the movie.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Lonesome Dove"

Answer: Traded 28 skunk hides for her

Old Sam told Roscoe many times to "leave the gal alone, she's mine." He then explains that he gave 28 skunks hides for her.

From Quiz Comanche Moon

Answer: He will be outraged, and not accept her back if she is rescued

Maudy knows her husband will not come after them. "William barely had the competence to raise a small crop and gather a few livestock; he would never be able to follow their trail from the brush country to the empty plains." She also knows that if she IS rescued, it will make no difference. "Many men on the frontier made it clear to their wives that they would not be accepted back, if they were taken and allowed themselves to survive. Of course, some men wavered and took their wives back anyway, but William Clark had nothing but scorn for such men. A woman who had lain with a Comanche, or any Indian, could not again hope to be a respectable wife. "So Maudy knew she was lost - she had been nursing little Sal when the braves burst in. It was a moment of deep peace, her last. She was caught before she could reach the pistol. That night, when Tana began his outraging, Maudy knew that her life with William Clark was lost and gone. William would not think her worth recovery." The Rangers rescue Maudy and her remaining children, but she has lost her wits, (no wonder!) and never recovers them.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - "Comanche Moon"

Answer: Three Birds

Three Birds thought the trip into Mexico would bring them death. He was partially right. He was killed and Kicking Wolf was tied to the back of a horse and let go.

From Quiz Dead Man's Walk

Answer: Cobb shoots him

"'I won't do it, Colonel - I'll resign first,' Captain Falconer said. In a motion no one saw clearly, Caleb Cobb drew his pistol and fired point-blank at Captain Falconer. The bullet took him in the forehead, directly above his nose. 'You're resigned, Captain,' Caleb said." This is one of our first indications that Cobb is not really interested in running things according to strict military procedure.

From Quiz Larry McMurtry - More Lonesome Dove

Answer: Pea Eye

Newt heard a scream and before he even had time to look, "Pea Eye went racing past him, with the Captain just behind him." I'm not sure which one was hurt the most by this, his brother Allen or Newt.

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