In Bandolero!, Sheriff July Johnson has the same name/role as he does in Lonesome Dove. Do you know what the correlation is?
Jim Burris
Mission Viejo, California
Bandolero!, now out on DVD, was first released in 1968, starring James Stewart and Dean Martin. The story is about two brothers on the run to a place in Mexico called Bandolero. They’re accompanied
by Raquel Welch, who remains amazingly beautiful despite all the hazards faced along the trail.
In Bandolero!, the trio are pursued by Sheriff July Johnson. I can’t find a real person in the historical West by that name. It’s my opinion that McMurtry borrowed the fictional July Johnson from the movie for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove. (In McMurtry’s story, July Johnson is the sheriff of Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Johnny Boggs recently took a road trip, see p. 72.)
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