A trail that's raw, but dignified.

Publication: Newsday (Melville, NY)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday

Byline: Diane Werts

Jun. 23--Americans do, too, like poetry. We just call it something different.

The Western.

Whether it's the lyrical profanity of "Deadwood," the pyrotechnic violence of "Desperado" or John Wayne's psychological study "The Searchers," the frontier genre eloquently - and often elegantly - expresses the recesses of our communal consciousness.

While Westerns aren't everywhere anymore the way they were in the 1950s, the ones that still sprout manage to break the soil expressly because they're so potent. From Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" (1992) to last year's "Brokeback Mountain," they're Oscar-earning box-office magnets, and TV's rare forays can match them for satisfying depth. CBS' landmark 1989 miniseries "Lonesome Dove" repeats next weekend on Hallmark Channel (Sunday, July 2, 4 p.m.-midnight), just as its acclaimed star,...

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