It's probably well known that Kevin Costner once had Republican party sympathies , something that wasn't to fashionable in the Hollywood of the late 80s/early 90s . What might not be so well known is that he switched his allegiance to the environmentalists / greens at the turn of the millennium . This perhaps isn't so surprising because if you watch a film either directed by or starring Costner there always seems to be a running theme of the characters existing in a wilderness away from civilisation such as DANCES WITH WOLVES , PRINCE OF THIEVES and WATERWORLD alongside the philosophy that guns don't kill people , people kill people , or to be more accurate bad people kill people then good people kill bad people as seen in THE UNTOUCHABLES and THE POSTMAN with PRINCE OF THIEVES and WATERWORLD also coming into this category also
OPEN RANGE continues this Costner philosophy as we're shown men or horseback against a breath taking panorama of the untouched American wilderness . You can't help thinking that Costner would like nothing better to see the end of industrialisation and when landscapes are this remote and beautiful who can blame him . The story itself may be rather old fashioned almost in the vein of John Wayne but that doesn't stop it from being the best film with Kevin Costner for a very long time . The cinematography helps of course but the director's best idea was to employ Robert Duvall as co-lead Boss Spearman . Duvall of course is the type of very rare actor who can make a shopping list come alive and Michael Gambon is memorable as bad guy Denton Baxter
Some people might be put off by the fact that it stars and was directed by Costner and therefore expected a three and a half hour epic about nothing in particular . I also had these reservations but was glad I saw this . Duvall's performance and the bloody shoot out at the end had a lot to do with my positive opinion
OPEN RANGE continues this Costner philosophy as we're shown men or horseback against a breath taking panorama of the untouched American wilderness . You can't help thinking that Costner would like nothing better to see the end of industrialisation and when landscapes are this remote and beautiful who can blame him . The story itself may be rather old fashioned almost in the vein of John Wayne but that doesn't stop it from being the best film with Kevin Costner for a very long time . The cinematography helps of course but the director's best idea was to employ Robert Duvall as co-lead Boss Spearman . Duvall of course is the type of very rare actor who can make a shopping list come alive and Michael Gambon is memorable as bad guy Denton Baxter
Some people might be put off by the fact that it stars and was directed by Costner and therefore expected a three and a half hour epic about nothing in particular . I also had these reservations but was glad I saw this . Duvall's performance and the bloody shoot out at the end had a lot to do with my positive opinion