Open Range

[poliphilo]

I love a good western.

And Kevin Costner's Open Range is a damn good western. It has all the basics: man with a past rides into town seeking vengeance, is redeemed by the love of a good woman and dispenses rough justice with his Winchester rifle and Colt 45. What's not to like? And the gun fight is quite possibly the most long drawn out in movie history.

Bang, bang, bang...(20 minutes elapses)...bang, bang bang, bang...

Costner is a fine character actor who attempted mid-career to turn himself into a superstar action hero and it didn't quite work. The chin is too weak, the charisma not sharp enough. Here he goes back to what he does best and gives a vanity-free performance- pegged-back and muffled and showing his age. He wears an in-period moustache and little tufty beard and allows his thinning hair to blow in the wind. Annette Bening eschews vanity too, playing her reluctant frontier virgin without make-up, while Robert Duvall, who has never bothered about his looks, is bald and crinkly and fat and totally lovable.

Costner directs. Lets hear it for Costner as a director! He gets great performances out of everyone, the pace is unfashionably slow and stately and appropriate to the material and the landscapes (The film was shot in Alberta, I think) are glorious. He's as good at the job as Eastwood is.

And that gunfight...oh, that gunfight!

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

As good as "The Shootist"?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Very different.

The Shootist is a revisionist western and Open Range is a traditional one. Also the Shootist had the inestimable advantage of starring John Wayne.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I'm not a HUGE fan of westerns, but the ones I have liked particularly (and actually bought as DVDs) have been things like "The Shootist", "Pale Rider", "The Gunfight" and "Will Penny".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There have been so few westerns recently. The last truly great one was probably Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven.

I grew up on the TV westerns of the 50s and early 60s- shows like Rawhide. I just love the genre.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I used to get up every Saturday morning at 7 so I could watch 'Armstrong Circle Theatre'- WESTERNS. Of course, that was back in the olden days, when they showed Roy and Dale, Hoppy, Gene, and Randolph Scott, The Durango Kid...ah, those were the days. Kinda weird that I was the only girl and the only one who liked Westerns.

I know not liking Clint Eastwood puts me in a minority. I'll take Costner's (supposedly) weak chin over Clint's clenched teeth ANY time. Too skinny, only one expression...Kevin ..well, he didn't look all that bad in Waterworld, and it seems to me he's in one of the best Westerns - Silverado.

Admittedly, I haven't seen The Unforgiven. These days my 'Kevin' preference has been Kevin Spacey.

But, I'd go see Kevin Costner as a cowboy. He was totally believable as a pitcher, and I don't care what anyone said, I loved him as Robin Hood. Even with his American Accent.

Just my opinion.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Waterworld was a fascinating concept, but the muscleman heroics of the ending bored me.

I think Kevin is a better actor than Clint, but rayther less charismatic.

Silverado seems to be a forgotten movie. I loved it.