Open Range
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Canada
Movie Reviews of Open Range
Movie Review: Best Western since Shane
Summary: 5 Stars
This western keeps satisfying every time that I see it and I've seen it many times. The cinematography is excellent. Robert Duvall's acting is phenomenal. Kevin Costner's directing is also excellent (and his acting is OK also). The music is also good.
The movie leads up to gun fight in the streets of a small Montana town in 1882. The protaganists (Costner and Duvall) are trying to mind their own business, and keep their business alive. They are "open range men" who live off the land and move their cattle from space to space. But, the head cattleman of the area doesn't want them around. They are using, what he belives is, his land. Of course, the laws don't really allow him to own this land, but nevertheless, "he built this up with his own two hands".
This sets the stage for the ending conflict. And, the scenes build up a crescendo to this ending. The movie was based loosely on a book called the "open range men" that was actually set in New Mexico. Also, Kevin Costner apparently obtained the idea for this movie from an event that happened in 1884 in Lewistown, Montana. However, Costner rewrites the story, and his creativity shines through. In this situation, the open range men are the good guys and Costner is a gunfighter who is trying to change himself and hide from his past. The results are stunning. The gunfight is, in my opinion, the most realistically staged and believable western gunfight ever filmed. No, it is not as bloody as others, which is good, but the violence is palpable.
I hope that Kevin Costner creates more Westerns of this nature. I understand that the funding for this was tough, because of Hollywood's stupidity, but you can only hope.
Movie Review: Watch "Open Range"
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is wonderful, simply a treat to watch. I hadn't set out to watch it, having never heard of it. But while reclining on the couch one night I had HBO on and it came on. What a fortuitous event! I have just recently started buying up westerns on DVD, and rushed to add this one to my collection.
Why?
To begin with, the acting is excellent. Costner and Duvall are utterly convincing as their characters, and those characters are much more developed and deeper than perhaps any other characters I've seen in a western. These aren't shoot `em up, wild characters: they're men who have pasts which they've done their best to live down, only to be forced to have to drag them out and confront them anew by a rancher who doesn't take kindly to them, and shows it by attacking them. They don't like what they have to do afterwards, but they can't stand not to, so they prepare themselves and do what needs doing.
The cinematography and scenery are amazing: the movie centers around a town hewn out of the wilderness, with prairie all around; the only way to describe it is simply beautiful, in the truest sense of the word, and the camera presented it as such.
To be truthful, though, I really can't describe this movie acceptably other than to say that anybody who enjoys characters that feel as if they are/were real people in real settings, or westerns, or just plain good movies, should see it.
And, as a bit of bait to lure people to see it, I will say this: the beginning of the gun fight is simply the best I have ever seen, period; it is stunning and a bit comical in a macabre way if you have the expectation of your standard western shootout.
Movie Review: The Return of the Romance Western
Summary: 5 Stars
OPEN RANGE is top on the list of recent Western films - but then there really haven't been many decent Western films since Clint Eastwood's mighty THE UNFORGIVEN. But here is a majestically beautiful, seemingly endless expanse of open range with waving grasses, field lupine, ominous clouds, torrential rainfalls, and vistas that seem to extend forever. This 'place' is the true Star of the film and though we may long for the American prairie it depicts, in reality the star is Canada! The story is simple and direct - the cowman vs. the rancher. Kevin Costner and Robert DuVall (both in superb acting form) are bonded with Abraham Benrubi and Diego Luna are free ranging cattlemen who encounter the antipathy of evil and corrupt rancher Michael Gambon and strike at each other until the shootout in the local town decides the victor. The townsfolk include a Doc and his sister, Annette Benning, and a wily character plyer with gusto by Michael Jeter. Though this doesn't sound like much of a tale it is in the telling and the visualization that the magic happens. The discourses between DuVall and Costner are not only beautifully and subtly written, but they are played with enormous sensitivity. Director Costner knows when to let the universal beauty of the open range sing when it is the stage: he also knows how to handle the essentially dark interiors of the hokey little town saloon and jail. All of the actors are in synch with the tone of the movie and it is much to Costner's credit that he has resurrected The Western as one of the significant and sublime American art forms. A spellbinding, visually magnificent, excellent movie.
Movie Review: A View of the Real West
Summary: 5 Stars
Having been raised on a Cattle Ranch in Eastern Oregon in the 1930s and 1940s and remembering clearly talks with my grandfather who was a cowboy and military scout between 1878 and onwards into the 20th Century, I can appreciate good western stories and presentations. Even with all the "hoopla" that Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" got as well as his academy award, Kevin Costner has delivered in my opinion (and my grandfather's)a much more realistic view of the west and the people who lived it. But I guarantee you, unfortunately, he will not get an acadamy award. The story had range and believability and the actors delivered a realistic view of what life was in the west in the mid to late 1800's. It reads much like the journals my grandfather and grandmother left us to remember what life was like.Someday, holly-wierd will give Costner the credit he deserves. The man makes MOVIES that are entertaining and well scripted and acted.
The Open Range problem especially of the late 1800's was a very bad problem for independent ranchers who were trying to move their herds, large or small, and water and feed them on drives to railheads. Many of them were small ranchers with small herds, and the Open Range was their only salvation. When the Ranchers like the one depicted in this movie started fencing the range, violence erupted as it was depicted in this movie and people got killed including "hired guns". Louie Lamour also wrote great depictions of the "people" of the west. Costner has portrayed these people well and given them great believability. My grandfather would have been pleased.
Movie Review: Solid, mesmerizing western
Summary: 5 Stars
"Open Range" is an excellent poignant panorama of a western shot in the breathtaking praries of Alberta. Featuring two accomplished veterans of oaters Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner, the flick adroitly combines the brutal violence of the old west with the humane qualities of justice, comradery, love and respect.
Cowboys Costner, Duvall and two young heplers are driving a herd of free grazing cattle through the remote grasslands of the west. They unfortunately pass too closely to a town governed by a large cattle baron who is vehemently opposed to open grazing. With designs on stealing their herd the corrupt and despicable cattle baron played nicely by Michael Gambon has one of the helpers killed and severely injures the second. Duvall and Costner transport the injured boy through a driving storm to Gambon's town to be administered by the town doctor and vowing revenge. The boy is tended to by Anette Benning, the doctor's sister, as the doctor had been called away. Costner a former hired gun whose manner has softened in a 10 year association with his wise, old boss Duvall, becomes smitten with the matronly Benning.
The character developement is the movie is strong and solidifies the relatonships among the main characters. The cinematography expertly captures the beauty and vastness of the land. The action percolates to climax in one of the best and most authentic gunfights seen on the screen in a long time. Kudos to Costner who directed an outstanding saga portraying the drama of the old west.