I first heard about this film when leading star, producer and director Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, Wyatt Earp, Waterworld, The Postman) when he appeared with Little Ant & Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway, I had been interested in seeing it for years, I'm glad I finally watched when I did. Basically in the year 1882, in the Old West, open range cattleman Bluebonnet "Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall) and his hired hands, former Civil War soldier Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), gentle, boy-like cook Mose Harrison (Abraham Benrubi) and 16-year-old Spanish kid Button (Diego Luna) are driving a herd cross country. The cowboys head into the town of Harmonville for supplies, there they are encountered by corrupt Sheriff Poole (James Russo) and kingpin rancher Denton Baxter (Sir Michael Gambon), who through fear, tyranny and violence govern the territory. Boss and Charley find themselves dangerously entangled into an inevitable showdown, after Mose is arrested for starting a fight and is beaten in jail. Mose is released and taken to Doc Barlow (Dean McDermott), there the men also meet the doctor's sister Sue (Annette Bening), Charley is immediately attracted to her, and after, initially assuming she was the doctor's wife, they start a romance. With the help of friendly livery stable owner Percy (Michael Jeter) the open rangers are ready to fight for the freedom and values of a lifestyle that is all too quickly vanishing, before this Poole is locked in his own jail cell, along with his deputies. Gunman Butler (Kim Coates), who shot Buttons and killed Mose, is shot dead, and after an intense firefight erupting in the streets Baxter is mortally wounded and dies, in the end Boss and Charley, with Sue, decide to give up the cattle business and settle in the town. This does not have the same epic scope as masterpiece Dances with Wolves, but Costner does a fine job directing, and acting, Duvall is great being restrained but dignified, and Gambon gets his time being nasty, this is one of those cowboy movies with only a little action and more dialogue, but it does work well as a character relationship story, and it does have beautifully scenery throughout, an interesting and worthwhile western. Good!
Review of Open Range
