The Principles:
Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, Annette Bening, Michael Jeter, Michael Gambon
The Premise: Two free graze cowboys run afoul of an evil land baron and are forced to seek bloody justice… and maybe love.
Is It Good:
The best Westerns are about the end of something, and Open Range is about the end of an era of particular freedom. Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner are two cowboys who herd cattle across the country, grazing them wherever they find open land. But Michael Gambon’s evil rancher represents the new world of barbed wire and private property, the parceling up of the land that was once just the country. And he’s going to do anything to crush those damned free grazers.
Open Range is a weird egg; the last of Costner’s Westerns, it might also be his best, but the film has never truly gotten its due. The movie is a little schizophrenic – for the first hour or so it feels kind of like Oscar bait, and then it slow burns its way into a terrific and thrilling half hour long gun battle, but maybe that extensive shoot out wasn’t enough to get people through the movie’s leisurely start. I love it, though, and I think that the first forty or so minutes, while they could be condensed, help create a rich world and vibrant characters in an easy-going way that few movies get to do anymore.
That shoot out, by the way, is a classic. It’s got a nice Rio Bravo vibe to it as the ordinary townsfolk start standing up behind the free grazers, and Costner shows that while he really likes doing the big pretty landscape shots, his true directorial talents probably lie in smart, well staged action.
Is It Worth A Look: Without a doubt. Duvall’s performance alone is worth the price of admission, and I love the relationship he and Costner have. It feels real and lived in, but also has the weird distance you’ll get between two men who don’t talk about themselves much. Kim Coates is only in the film briefly, but I love his death scene. And Costner himself manages to craft a character badly in need of a redemption who doesn’t feel like one of his stock SoCal types.
For some reason Dances With Wolves is the Costner Western we’re all supposed to accept as the great one, but I think Open Range is so much better. Besides the fact that it doesn’t have the icky thematic concept of the white savior helping the noble savage, it feels more complete as a piece. Dances With Wolves is a soft-headed paean to something Costner can never be, while Open Range is a more compelling meditation on justice, freedom and second chances.
Random Anecdotes: James Muro, director of one of my favorite movies, Street Trash, is the cinematographer here. Any movie that lets Michael Jeter be an action hero is quite alright by me. Watching Open Range now is weird, as it features Dumbledore as a trigger-happy villain. This was the last movie Kevin Costner directed.
Cinematic Soulmates:
Red River, Unforgiven
Tally So Far
28 comments
I realize, looking at the 'Positive' and 'Negative' columns at the end of these MOTD articles, that this is the one area of the site where you err on the side of Positivity. I'd like to see you even out the score some. Say, take a look at some significant old movies that seem shallow in retrospect. It's interesting when culture ages poorly, and it can remind us that 2010 is not an exception–Hollywood's always had its darker days.
for some reason, I don't remember this one. already on my must re watch list..
as a fan of not really being a fan of westerns, i'm 30 btw now, I really enjoyed watching this when it came out. this, the proposition, and 3:10 to yuma are all great recent westerns. i couldn't get into apalooza though.
The kid is just an anchor to the first act, though. The movie barely recovers.
I need to give this one another look. I liked it when it came out. But I've never felt the itch to get back into that world. There's something flavorless in my memory of it, even though I remembering many great details about it. yeah, need to give it another look.
Fuck yeah X2!!
Magic, from the sound of a couple of the reviews (I think maybe an almost direct statement in one from the last few days?) some of these movies have seemed much (or somewhat) better upon viewing than remembered to whoever's doing the MOTD that day, so it's not exactly something that can be completely planned out (and the more immediate thinking rather than a planned review gives a nice touch imo).
Also, again just my opinion, but while a look back at bad movies is often fun/enlightening, I've most appreciated the MOTDs so far for giving me a bunch of movies I really need to see (or have wanted to, but now am even more interested in).
I liked that a lot of the gun battles were saved for the last 30 minutes. The matter-of-fact way it erupts in the third act, coupled with how goddamned loud the sound mix was in the theater made this a great western experience.
One of my absolute favorite westerns…and I like a lot of westerns. I find the relationship between Costner and Duvall makes me very emotional. And the fact that they take such exception to the fate of their dog along with their human companions makes me feel like blubbering every time. #3, I grew up pretty much hating the genre. Couldn't stand John Wayne either. But somewhere approaching middle age I developed a deep love for the genre, and a real appreciation for The Duke, too. Now I can't get enough westerns. I think it's because so many examples of great American cinema are westerns. Also, a good western is all about America, where it's been, and where it's going. #1, I agree totally. I'd love to see more of the sacred cows of cinema history given a clear-headed reappraisal.
Great call, this is one of the most underrated movies, not to mention Westerns, of the past decade. I think the films opening slow pace makes the finale that much better. Plus, I love the townspeople getting involved and coming to the aid of Costner and Duvall rather than hiding in the shadows. How many westerns do that? So great.
Well played, sir. This is a movie that I adore and gush about all the time. And it breaks my heart that no one has seen it. A fucking jem I say! Love when Butler gets his what what.
Couldn't agree more. I love this movie.
I love this movie dearly – I never forgot it, and I made a point on putting it on my favorites list for the last decade.
I didn't even know that the action was coming when I first watched this. It was great to see it when it did arrive and even better to see it handled like most gunfights back then… with the shooters standing a few feet apart from each other.
Glad to see this get some love. I'll bring it up as a good example of a modern western sometimes and people look at me like I have three heads. It's such a nice, little focused movie and Costner really knows what to do with it. And the way that gunfight starts is just bananas. Just a great cathartic moment.
Open Range is great. Was enjoying the movie a lot, but did a double take when the final shoot out happened. Couldn't believe what I'd seen.
I'd really like to think that Kevin Costner and James Cameron are fans of Street Trash.
Great write up Devin. Open Range is one of my all-time favorite westerns.
The SOUNDS of the gun shots in the shootout were amazing – probably the best designed gun-shot sounds I've ever heard. Not exactly realistic, but exactly awesome!
Yep, incredibly underrated. It really made me rethink my opinion of Costner.
Wait. Do you mean it's the last movie he's GOING to direct? Did Kevin Costner retire or something? WTF?
One of my absolute favorite westerns and movies. The final gunfight is just beautiful.
Amen. One of my favorite movies ever. It's really a shame that Costner let his ego get out of control and torpedo his career. The guy could do some really fine work in front of and behind the camera when he was on his game.
Great write up. Open Range is an amazing movie that far too few have seen.
Seeing Duvall blasting fools is worth the price of admission alone.
I love westerns, so I picked this movie up. I can't hardly understand a goddamn word they say in this movie. Granted I've always had some trouble understanding speech but I can usually get the gist of what english speakers are saying. However, I find this movie is unintelligible. I think the vocal track is horrendous. Whoever mastered this movie should be blacklisted from ever working in any audio media. I literally can not understand two words out of three.
Memory might be exagerrating this aspect, but one of the cool things about this flick is it doesn't give much obvious concession to the modern audience. It doesn't even give much concession to a Western watching audience, for that matter. You get the feeling you're dropped into an old timey place with an old timey language, logic and morality to it that's quite foreign at first. Even the other great revisionist/revival Westerns don't do this. The only other thing that I've seen to match that sort of feeling, even though Open Range isn't quite on the same level, is Deadwood.
#19: "The SOUNDS of the gun shots in the shootout were amazing – probably the best designed gun-shot sounds I've ever heard. Not exactly realistic, but exactly awesome!"
Most realistic gunshots I've ever heard in a movie. .30-30s don't go "pew pew."
This is one of those movies that if it's on TV I just have to watch it. I love the way Gambon's main heavy is kinda built up throughout the film & then when Costner finally meets him he just drops him in a blink! Hell, now I want to watch it again!!!
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