Open Range
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Movie Reviews of Open Range
Movie Review: Tribute in the Saddle
Summary: 5 Stars
A great western gallops in rarely. This is a great one. More than an homage to the classic western films of John Ford and Howard Hawks, this film is a paean, a joyous praise, a stirring tribute. Kevin Costner as Dir/Prod/Star has firmly taken the helm, and steered the audience to a place in the past that is both familiar and surreal.When we actually study the pioneer West, we unearth sturdy men and women who toiled, reproduced, and died in pounds of alkaline dust and caked-on mud. Gae Buckley, the production designer, created a western town called Harmonville, and we are allowed the visceral and olfactory sensations of a frontier world; the fresh-cut wood, the oil and packing grease around the goods in the store, the stench of spilled spirits, the starch in gingham dresses, the refuse and waste left by livestock, and leather gunbelts, chaps, tack, harness, and vests.
The musical score was done by the veteran Michael Kamen, and it seems to twang, throb, and soar in perfect harmony with Rocky Mountain backdrop majesty, and the bone-splintering action. The cinematography was handled by James Muro, and it is graphic and beautiful; flowing effortlessly from close-up to vista, capturing the texture of the town and the Alberta, Canada locations (substituting for Montana). The script by Craig Storper, based on the novel by Lauren Paine, captures the language, cadence, and crackle of the West in the 1880's.
Kevin Costner is a risk taker, and he is a master of casting. He is very generous with his actors, and they have plenty of time to develop their characters. His character, Charley Waite, was a Civil War sniper, a killer of men; who has fallen in with an older cattleman ( Robert Duvall as Boss Spearman ), and the two hellraisers rein each other in. The scenes with the cattle give us a taste of the freedom and hardships associated with free-grazing. Their two hired hands, the young Diego Luna (as Button), and the hulking Abraham Benrubi (as Mose), strike all the right chords. One can empathize with Boss, who gets irritated with their playfulness, horseplay, and comic conflicts. The scenes out on the mesas, on the prairie, are idyllic, yet mundane and fatiguing. Cowboying can wear a man out. Mose is sent off to town to pick up some provisions, and when he does not return, the dread begins to mount.
Michael Gambon, as Denton Baxter, was the one-eyed jack in Harmonville; the cattle baron who had a crooked sheriff (James Russo as Poole), and a gang of killer thugs to enforce his will. The hired constabulary beat up Mose, and throw him in jail. Enter Costner and Duvall, fists clenched, blood in their eye, toting shotguns, and not willing to genuflect. This is a classic conflict that Costner takes time to set up. We get to know these men, and we begin to care about them. Some comic relief is set up by Michael Jeter (his final role), as Percy, the stable hand.
Added to the mix, we discover Annette Bening as Sue Barlow, the spinster sister of the local town doctor. He lines are few, and her screen time is limited. The part easily could have been forgetable if it had been played by a vacuous pretty face. But Bening beams with a windborne mature beauty, and a razor sharp intellect. She is wonderful in the part, delivering a fully-fleshed unforgetable performance that lingers in the mind long after the film is over.
Robert Duvall is the beating heart of the movie; his Boss Spearman is carefully etched and finely drawn. He is an old maverick, a cattleman who cherishes the freedom of the open range, and who will fight for that priviledge. He firmly believes in a vanishing code; like an old samurai. But his terrible tenacity is tempered with gentleness, dignity, and wisdom. If he is challenged, he simply will not back down. This role brings to mind the best of his work in LONESOME DOVE, and GERONIMO. His character is as authentic as a battered hat.
Costner has demonstrated his propensity for violence in other films, but none has ever been as convincing as his Charley Waite. Taciturn, quiet, even shy, this man is still capable when provoked to explode like a whirling dervish; leveling everything in sight. But this man is never out of control. He is cool and calculating in battle; like an athlete in a big game. And for me the love story somehow worked. Ms. Barlow needed a prairie prince to pluck her out of the nest and love her passionately. Costner fit the bill; rough-hewn and violent, yet still bashful and tender.
The gunfight climax is stark, stunning, and spectacular. The sound of the gun shots are heightened, and there is a sense of a battle in real time. One does not know if the protaginists can survive. You just have to hold your breath, and duck for cover. This film creates a validity for the genre, and it succeeds on every level.
Movie Review: "Ol' Boss Can Sure Cowboy..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Those who have a true appreciation for Westerns are more likely to enjoy Open Range, but such appreciation is not necessarily essential to the enjoyment of this movie. Nevertheless, this movie is probably not for everyone, as it might seem lame or dull to thrill-seekers. It seems to me that many of today's movie audiences have grown accustomed to fast-moving plots and will not be able to handle the meticulous way that the characters are focused on. The story moves along at a slow, deliberate pace and much of this movie is driven by character development. Short attention spans notwithstanding, those who enjoy a hearty, story-driven Western should enjoy the film. Even if you're not a big fan of the genre, you may be won over by Open Range if you're someone who doesn't need instant gratification when watching movies.
From a storytelling standpoint, Open Range is much like the classic Westerns of yesteryear; the difference between this movie and the classic American Western is that Open Range delivers a fresh approach to an old genre. The acting is at times so intense and strong, it gives the characters an amazingly convincing and realistic feel. Each actor seemed to become their character, making it their own; and as is the case with all good acting, I often forgot that I was watching actors performing fictional characters. It looked and felt authentic.
Open Range is full of honesty from top to bottom and represents old values such as loyalty, honor, and respect--the Cowboy Way. The dialog is representative of a straight-forward, pull-no-punches lifestyle of a cowboy in the late 1800s. Long-winded conversations are unnecessary, thus few words are needed between these men. Their friendship is strong and steady; there are no insecurities, hidden agendas, or jealousy. Things unspoken are just simply understood and there is no need to spell things out; and unlike today's "metrosexuals," these men see no need to give elaborate explanations of how they feel or why they feel that way. You say what's on your mind and you get to the point. They just get it. You can expect no bellyaching or melodramatics here. Rest assured, the strong, silent type is well represented here with sincerity and dignity in both Costner's and Duval's characters.
Duvall plays "Boss" Spearman, an old cowboy who herds his cattle from one open range to another until they are ready for market. Charley Wait, who is played by Costner, is Boss's partner of ten years. Then there's Boss's two workin' hands, Mose and Button. Mose is big burly looking man of imposing stature, but he's an affable fellow nevertheless, a gentle giant of sorts. Button is a young, eager but immature Mexican fellow that Boss and Charley helped get on his feet by giving him a job. Both Charley and Boss seem to have a sense of responsibility for Button, and they behave as father-figures to the young man, teaching him English and trying to instill a stronger sense of right and wrong in him.
Along the way, the four of them encounter some trouble in a very hostile Irish rancher, Denton Baxter. Baxter detests "free-grazers" and sees them as freeloaders who use up valuable grazing lands and force him to struggle to maintain his own cattle properly. When they approach within a few miles of a local town, Mose is sent to town on an errand. This is when the trouble starts and Open Range begins to pick up the pace a bit. In the interest of not revealing too much, that's all I'll divulge about the story.
Filmed in Alberta, Canada, the location for Open Range is a glorious thing of beauty. With mountains perpetually in the background and rolling hills of endless green filling the open range, you get a real sense of what it must have been like to freely roam the countryside of America back then. To add to an already ideal shooting location, Costner insisted that an old-style replica town be built specifically for the movie; and it pays off. The town in and of itself completes the final piece of the puzzle in its genuineness and it truly solidifies once-and-for-all the authentic look of the movie.
Westerns have always depicted the most classic American virtues of honor, justice, self-reliance, honesty, pragmatism, valor and an indomitable love of freedom. All of these are carefully integrated into Open Range, and the result is the best Hollywood Western that has been released in many years.
Movie Review: One of the best Westerns ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
The Western is alive and well!
Shreck2 was all rented out last night, so I grabbed the first thing that looked half-way interesting, and I am glad I did. In my opinion "Open Range" with Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall and Annette Bening is an unexpected masterpiece - Costner's best best directorial effort by far - and perhaps one of the greatest Westerns ever made. It belongs right up there with Shane and Unforgiven.
The plot is actually fairly predictable, and has been done many times before: classic good guy/bad guy hero/quest mythos straight out of Joseph Cambell. But here it is done simply superlatively. The acting, editing, scenery, character development and pacing are also exceptional, but the characteristic that stands above all else is the utter realism and the fanatical, obsessive attention to detail.
Some examples:
- Looking out onto the street of the frontier town through a window, you see the scene through the fly-specked waviness of poor quality cheap glass.
- The heroine looks like a frontier woman - the worry and toil lines in the face, the plain dress, the lack of Hollywood makeup. She is, nevertheless, very attractive - attractive simply because she is REAL and not a Hollywood Clone. We care about her as a person.
- The mud, the dirt, and the rain: Lots of it, and realistic as all getout. And the people exposed to it look as miserable and p***ed off as they would in real life.
- The reaction of the townsfolk to the coming gunfight: Gee, what do you do when faced with two enraged cowpokes who have locked up the corrupt, bought-and-paid-for Marshall and several henchmen of the villian and are wandering around town, armed to the teeth, looking for the best strategic/tactical location to have a showdown with the numerical superior bad guys? In the real world you leave town, which is what most of the townsfolk do, hightailing it en-masse for the church on the outskirts of town.
- The gunfight: as another reviewer on the Amazon site pointed out, the gunfight is utterly realistic: short, extremely violent, and chaotic. We are used to seeing Hollywood gunfights where the person shot slowly sinks to the ground with various facial expressions. Here, though, is the real world action of:
- Most shots are totally ineffective, either missing completely or grazing. In the real world it is extraordinarily hard to hit a man when both you and he are moving, ducking, weaving and dodging.
- Reloading: your hands are jerking and shaking and fumbling and dropping bullets and almost your gun because you are scared out of your wits and you are having an adrenilin rush.
- A man who is gut shot by a 12 guage shotgun at close range being thrown across the street to crash into a wall like a rag doll
(This last was very interesting, as the one note of gunfight UNrealism -- shared with virtually every single film I've every seen -- are the scenes where someone gets shot in the chest or stomach - or even leg - with a 45 cal bullet and is NOT out of commission for days if not weeks. It just doesn't happen that damage of that kind can be even partially recuperated from in 24 or 48 hours. But this bit of Hollywood magic is a plot-driven given in the world of film, and I doubt that any movie could successfully challenge it.)
I highly recommend this film, with a 9-1/2 out of 10 rating. It is one I intend to add to my personal collection.
Movie Review: A 5 STAR WESTERN FOR THE AGES
Summary: 5 Stars
The story is simple and you've seen it before. But it's never been done with this much HUMANITY and LOVE for the GENRE.
Robert Duvall as Boss Spearman and Kevin Costner as Charley Waite are free grazing cattlemen driving a herd across the untamed, unclaimed land of the Old West with the help of a couple of greenhorn hired hands, and a favorite dog. Boss is a gruff and simple gentleman. Charley is an ex-soldier haunted by the homicidal demons of his past. The cattlemen have encroached upon the territory of a ruthless Irish cattle baron named Denton Baxter who abhors free grazers and is willing to murder to steal their cattle. Ultimately, Charley and Boss go to town and leave their friends on the range. The dog and one of the trail hands, Mose, are killed (off camera) by Baxter's men. Button, the other trail hand, is critically wounded. Of course, with stubborn dignity, Charley and Boss vow to "kill them all" while manitaining their own tenuous hold on humanity. For Boss, the honor of their friends must be appeased without revenge. Charley, however, struggles between feelings of justice and vengeance. At a poignant moment in this film Boss demands, "CHARLEY, NO!! JUSTICE, NOT VENGEANCE." (At this point, I must disagree with the Amazon reviewer who states above that the thematic elements of UNFORGIVEN are more important. The themes are one and the same. Only the outcomes are different.) Risking the unwelcome specter of an unfamiliar town, Charley and Boss must get help from the town doctor for their dying friend Button. The doctor's sister, Sue Barlow, is played with grace and frontier naturalness by Annette Bening. It's here that trust and love finally meet up with Charley, whose life has been filled with disdain and loneliness. Will Charley leave the life of a lone cattleman and find some peace in a harsh frontier? You'll have to wait for the final shoot-out to find out. And what a shoot-out it is!! Probably the finest ever put on film.
OPEN RANGE is a brilliant script filled to the brim with laugh-out-loud humor (you'll split a gut when you find out Boss' real name.), simple frontier manners, and a shoot-out so realistic you'll be ducking under the couch for cover. Make sure you click on the DTS in the SET UP if you have it on your sound system. You won't believe how incredible this gun battle looks and sounds.
Don't listen to the reviewer below. Robert Duvall is masterful. I'm a member of the Screen Actors Guild. And any film director will tell you; the best acting entails NOT-ACTING. So yes, it's Robert Duvall doing what he does best; creating a character that you will CARE about. Next to THE APOSTLE and KILGORE from APOCALYPSE NOW, I think it's one of his greatest performances. Kevin Costner, as usual, gives an understated performance and some magnificent direction. Costner has a great LOVE for this genre and it BLEEDS all over this picture. IT'S DERN NEAR PERFECT.
MY FAVORITE LINE: "If it don't stop raining, there'll be trout fishing on Main Street."
IF YOU LOVE WESTERNS AND DON'T OWN THIS, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? YOU'LL BE SHOWING THIS ONE FOR YEARS TO COME. THIS IS A CLASSIC WESTERN IF EVER THERE WAS ONE. UNFORGIVEN is wonderful, but I think this is a better film.
Movie Review: What's left to say?
Summary: 5 Stars
I generally write long reviews but in this case so much has already been said by the reviewers here, much of which I wholeheartedly agree with, that there seems little left for me to add. Suffice it to say that I love westerns, though not, for the most part, the weak, formulaic efforts of earlier eras. Shane, of course, is one dramatic exception and there are a few others. But on my view the western really came into its own in our more recent era with films like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer (giving an incomparable performance as the legendary dissolute and consumptive, Doc Holliday).
Well, Costner has matched them with this one. Open Range is a relatively simple story, lovingly shot in beautiful scenic country, that builds an elegaic picture of the glories of solitude and self-reliance in the old West of American myth. Although it seems a bit slow because of the long build-up to the action of the tale, if you're fascinated by the Western mythos, as I am, the film is altogether absorbing and hypnotic. (My wife, on the other hand, isn't and swore she'd never go with me to another Western after this one!)
The tale follows the fortunes of four cowboys running cattle, without a ranch as a base of operations, as they come into conflict with a more settled cattleman (brilliantly played by an arrogant and ruthless Michael Gambon). Boss Spearman (a crusty and altogether believable Robert Duvall . . . and no, his character is nothing like his earlier Gus MacCrae, in Lonesome Dove, despite other comments here) leads the outfit which consists of one other mature cowboy, the mysterious and moody Charlie Waite (Kevin Costner) and two younger cowpokes, one a might slow in the head, the other barely more than a boy.
After an unexpected confrontation with the local cattle baron's men leads to trouble for the outfit, things go from bad to worse as Boss and Charlie must find a way to secure their cattle, save the young cowpoke's life, and repay the cattleman for the damage he has done to them. Everything culminates in a marvelous gun battle that really does seem to capture the madness and confusion that these things must have been like, while avoiding the stylized theatrics that Hollywood usually resorts to in portraying these kinds of confrontations. The human side of the characters is richly delineated throughout as Costner's Waite wrestles with the demons of his earlier life, as a killer and gun hand, and Boss struggles to find a way to reconcile himself to the decline of cattle herding as he has known it. Annette Benning, who plays Sue, the sister of the town doctor, yearns to break through to these men and especially to Charlie Waite, for whom she develops a deep attraction.
My only complaint in all this is that the film took way too long to end after the denouement. Costner as director seemed unable to let go, dragging out the resolution to the point where it seemed tiresome, even to me. But that's a small criticism for a film this good. I don't usually do it, but this time I actually bought the DVD. This is the kind of film I like to have on my shelf.
SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga