Open Range

Released 2003
Stars Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Michael Jeter, Diego Luna, James Russo, Abraham Benrubi, Dean McDermott
Directed by Kevin Costner

The story here – based on Lauran Paine’s novel – is a simple old fashioned Western. What makes it special is its realism – including a brutal climactic gunfight that doesn’t romanticize violence in the least – its understated dialogue, and the strong performances across the board. Duvall takes the lead, and the others are right there with him. Costner doesn’t seem wooden – as he is often accused – both because he plays so well off Duvall and because his character is a man of few words, which is well suited to Costner’s laconic acting style.

The greatest strength of Open Range is its credibility, from quiet and mildly humorous little moments like an accident in the midst of a rainstorm and Boss and Charley’s sharing of their real names just before the big fight unfolds, to the way it shows that people who are shot are terribly damaged, and that the aftermath of a bloodbath is a whole lot of dead men in boxes. Costner has taken a simple story and he has told it well. Open Range is a Western that makes the genre real and relevant, regardless of the era.

Summary by Brian Webster

I'm not a fan of Westerns, but I loved this movie. It made me feel the allure of living on the open range, where there's no traffic, no bills, no rat race, and the only commitments are those to your companions. It's a life of hard work, but the freedom is appealing. This movie enthralled me. It's beautifully paced, gorgeous to watch, and the performances are so natural it didn't feel like a movie. Robert Duvall is simply magical, and he has a rapport with Costner that's rare in the movies. I would have given it four stars, but it wasn't perfect. There were two things I didn't like--the score and the tacked-on romance. This is the type of movie that deserves to breathe with the sounds of nature, but the score fills the empty spaces with sappy strings. Then there's the romance, which was just out of place. Annette Bening was very good in her role, but the romance was like a quarterback wearing a catcher's mitt--it just didn't fit. --Bill Alward, February 20, 2004