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Open Range - 8/11/03 - R - 145m
Kevin
Costner - Charley Waite
Robert Duvall - Boss Spearman
Annette Bening -Sue Barlow
Director: Kevin Costner
Screenplay by: Craig Storper
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Official
Website
JEF
Can I just say it again? Duval is an amazing actor.
Ok, now that that’s clear… I, like probably many of you, was
not sure about this movie. Another western movie? Do we really need another
western movie? Well, Lyn and I went to see this, and I’m really
glad we did.
Storyline: Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) and Charley
Waite (Kevin Costner) are two aging cowboys. Free grazers to be exact,
they transport cows/steer/cattle across the open plains of the west. Boss
and Charley have two hired hands to help out “Button” (Diego
Luna) and “Mose” (Abraham Benrubi). Button was about 16 or
17, and Mose was probably in his 20’s but still a bit of a child
at heart. It was a nice relationship between to two grizzled guys of Boss
and Charley trying to teach Button and Mose the ways of the trade, and
at the same time instill in them some lessons of life, such as honor,
and integrity.
The story picks up when the 4 cowboys settle down for a big storm on the
outskirts of a small town known as “Harmonville”. Harmonville
is run by a rich rancher Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon). Baxter has the
law bought and paid for and in his back pocket and shall we say is a not
the nicest guy in the west. When Mose gets sent back into town to pick
up some supplies the trouble begins. The rest of the movie explores the
honor of Boss and Charley as they try to put things right in this small
town of Harmonville. In addition to this main storyline the movie also
explores a love interest of Charley and Sue Barlow (Annette Bening) who
is the town doctors assistant or nurse.
I think the three biggest pluses of this movie are the cinematography
and the acting and the storyline. I really liked this storyline, which
is a bit of a rarity with Hollywood movies. But this story had a little
bit of everything, action, adventure, romance, gun slinging, suspense,
etc… I found myself really starting to care about the people of
the small town of Harmonville.
The cinematography was beautifully shot. The landscapes of the “wild
west” were amazing. The shots of the green rolling pastures, and
the mountains in the distance, along with the dirt roads of the small
western town really felt like a window into the old west. I find a bit
Ironic or perhaps sad, that the filming location was in southern Canada.
It seems sad that the producers of this film for whatever reason had to
leave the true beauty of the American West to shoot in Canada. This of
course is not meant to be a slam against Canada, it was beautiful land
regardless of where it was, but it just seemed odd, that in a story about
the American West, they had to leave the country to find suitable scenery.
Finally the acting was very well done. Duvall is a cowboy. Sure he’s
an actor playing the part of a cowboy, but this role just suits him to
a T. At 72 he’s still able to hold his own on the big screen with
the younger actors, and at the same time, imparts that tough as nails
attitude in his character, that any man would think twice about in getting
in a bar room brawl with him. Then in the blink of an eye or rather change
of scene he can impart such a wonderful warmth of character. I truly look
forward to seeing his soon to be released film with Michael Caine and
Haley Joel Osment called “Secondhand Lions”.
And then there’s Kevin Costner, who I’ve always been on the
fence with as far as his ability to act. Plagued with a bit of bad luck
in perhaps his choices of movies like Waterworld, or The Postman, This
movie I hope will turn that bad luck around. Costner can act well. Not
to mention this movie was also directed and produced by Costner. I think
this is a job well done on his directing skills. And he deserves every
bit of praise this movie will generate.
I also have to give a nod to Annette Bening who played the role of Sue
(Charlie’s love interest). She did a great job of portraying a tough
Wild West woman, and at the same time a caring gentle soul. Finally, kudos
to Michael Jeter who played Percy (I’m a big fan of Jeter –
On a sad note, I just discovered that Mr. Jeter passed away shortly after
this film (3/30/03)… He will be missed), and to Abraham Benrubi
who played Mose. Benrubi can act, and I hope that due to his large size
he does not become typecast.
As for flaws… I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the dialogue…
that it seems childish, or forced. Some defend it to say that’s
how they really talked back then, others slam it because it seems too
cliché. It didn’t really bother me too much. I guess I fell
in the first category, that this was how the people of that time and location
may have talked. Were they cliché phrases? Yes. In addition to
some typical western movie moments as well. But due to everything else
about this movie I was able to overlook these small flaws and appreciated
the movie as a whole.
I will not be so hesitant to see the next “Western” movie
next time around thanks to Open Range.
Yeeehaaaw
Jef
Here’s what Lyn thought…
Open Range - Costner
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Open Range - Duvall
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Open Range - Bening
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