One of the worst movies of 2006 was Barry Levinson's debacle Man of the Year. It was just painful to watch. But since Levinson was executive producer of what could be the best television show in history, 'Homicide: Life on the Street,' I tend to cut him a lot of slack. It seems he will attempt to win me back in 2008 by directing Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore in an adaptation of Larry McMurtry's 2000 Western novel, Boone's Lick.

Moore will star as Mary Margaret Cecil, who loads her large post-Civil War Missouri family into a wagon and heads for Wyoming in search of her husband, Dick. That's not just his name, that's an apt adjective for his personality. Mary Margaret is joined on the trek by Dick's brother, Seth (Hanks), who, in the novel at least, has a little bit of Gus McCrae from "Lonesome Dove" in him. I can't really see Hanks playing that type of person, so maybe they will alter the character for the film.

McMurtry himself is adapting the book with his sometime writing partner, Diana Ossana. They, of course, collaborated on an Oscar winning screenplay for last years gay cowboy tearjerker Brokeback Mountain. The assemblage of talent looks good at this point. Here's hoping Levinson makes a comeback from the Robin Williams assisted debacle.