Shining the Truth on Comanche Moon

Anyone familiar with Texas history or geography has to suspend reality to enjoy Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon. I could probably come up with more, but here are 10 things non-Texans deserve to know about the CBS miniseries:

Torture cages. Huh? The only written reference to the use of torture cages by Mexican outlaws that I am aware of came in McMurtry's 1997 novel. I'm not saying outlaws and Indians during the 1850s were church deacons, but why build a fancy cage and hang someone over a cliff when you could just skin them alive and be done with it?

The rattlesnake scene: If you haven't seen the show yet, I won't spoil the surprise other than to say, no way, Scull. Now, the other rattlesnake scene, in which Maggie is hiding under a structure during an Indian raid, is quite plausible. Snakes like shelter, too.

The big raid: A friend asked, "Did the Comanches really raid Austin?" The answer is no. During the 1830s and '40s they did scalp people within walking distance of Austin's Congress Avenue, but never sacked the town. McMurtry's inspiration for this part of his novel and screenplay came from the so-called Great Comanche Raid, which occurred in the summer of 1840. In that raid, hundreds of Comanches under Buffalo Hump did indeed cut through Texas all the way to "the Great Water" (well, the Gulf of Mexico.) They did sack the coastal town of Linnville with such thoroughness no one ever bothered to rebuild it, the survivors deciding that Port Lavaca made a safer town site.

Speaking of Austin: Kudos for the realistic portrayal of the Texas state house. The capitol shown in the movie accurately depicts the 1850s capitol, an ugly limestone building constructed on the cheap that some wag later said looked like a "large sized corn crib, with a pumpkin for a dome." Fire gutted it in 1881 and the present pink granite capitol replaced it.

Central Texas does not look like New Mexico: The mini-series was shot in the Pecos River country of New Mexico, more than 600 miles from the capital city. Dirt in the real Austin is not sandy-yellow and the only hills visible from downtown stand at less than 700-feet elevation. You have to drive at least five hours from Austin before you start seeing country remotely resembling the Austin depicted in Comanche Moon. Why a Texas story could not have been filmed in Texas, I don't know. We still have a little room left.

The costumes: Whoever handled the wardrobe gets an "A." The period attire was accurate.

The dialog: McMurtry is a fellow Texan and he knows how we used to talk and how we talk today. The lines in Comanche Moon may not be as memorable as those in Lonesome Dove, but the dialog is both entertaining and relatively realistic. (Though I sure never heard the terms "poke" and "tup" used in the context McMurtry places them in.)

Real historical figures: E. M. Pease did indeed serve as Texas governor during the 1850s. Of course, Pease, not Captain Scull and wife, lived in the mansion depicted in the movie - virtually a dead ringer for the current Governor's Mansion built in 1857. Ben Lilly was a noted bear hunter, though not in the 1850s, and there was a real Quanah Parker. Richard King did build a million-acre ranch and Buffalo Hump was a real Comanche chief.

The Comanches: Their look, language (with subtitles) and attitudes were well drawn.

Parrots: Squawk! Parrots do occur along the Rio Grande, and in Mexico, but I never heard of a parrot attack. I've enjoyed plenty of parrot jokes over the years, but have never read of a killer parrot. Polly wanna an outlaw?