Open Range Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)August 19th, 2003
OPEN RANGE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Kevin Costner has returned to the western
with a film that has a lot of visual style but is
damaged by a cliched and overly familiar storyline. At times the storytelling is sluggish with some
scenes that just linger on and wear out their
welcome. The film has a long build to the gunfight every viewer knows is coming, but it is worth
waiting for. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1
(-4 to +4)
We see fewer and fewer westerns these days, but as a genre the western refuses to die. It is too popular a genre to go way forever. And this season the western proves itself very much alive with the release of OPEN RANGE. It is not a classic western, as some are claiming, but it is worth seeing.
One of the standard plots of the Western is of the little so- called wars that took place over the use of range land. It was sheep men against cattlemen and free-grazers against homesteading ranchers. Traditionally in films the homesteaders are portrayed positively and the free-grazers associated with lawless elements. They are drifters and rustlers. Not so in OPEN RANGE. While this film has many cliches, that is not one of them. It is 1882 and times are changing. Ranchers with title to land are replacing the drifting free-grazers. The homesteaders don't want to have strangers grazing their cattle on their land. OPEN RANGE makes its heroes the free-grazers who are accustomed to grazing their cattle where they want and recognizing no claims of ownership of range lands. The villain wants to keep the free-grazers away from his town and will run off or kill any free-grazers who come around.
But cowmen with drifting herds are still common and "Boss" Spearman (played by Robert Duvall) is one of them. Boss's main hand is Charley Waite (Kevin Costner who also produced and directed the film), who has worked for Boss for ten years. Then he has the big friendly Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the kid, Button (Diego Luna).
We see little tensions among the men. Button cheats at cards, is caught, and apologizes. Charley is not quick to forgive him. Then Mose goes into the local town and just doesn't come back. Boss and Charley go looking for him and find the town ruled by the bully Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon). Baxter owns the town Marshall (James Russo) and between him and a gang of enforcers, Baxter has things pretty much his own way. He does not want free- grazers around his town and perhaps wants to grab the Spearman herd. Baxter's men have picked a fight and badly beaten Mose and had the Marshall take him to jail. Boss and Charley spring Mose and take him to the local doctor, but the fighting continues until Boss and Charley are up against Baxter and his men. The town is polarized. Some were sick of Baxter and were waiting for the spark to move against him. Some still side with Baxter. The viewer knows by experience with western films that this whole situation can end only one way, with a gunfight.
This script by Craig Storper, based on the novel THE OPEN RANGE MEN by Lauran Paine, develops an affectionate relationship between the principled Boss Spearman and his chief hand. They kid each other and work well together in a deep respect. Charley has a dark past, but Boss knows to leave it alone. Few films want to portray close male relationships for fear the relationship will be misinterpreted as sexual. These men are good friends who know each other well.
The plot of OPEN RANGE is one that is similar to many western films of the 1940s and 1950s. You have the good guys just trying to eke out a living and the bad guys bullying them and provoking a fight. Many of the touches seem a little manipulative, like having Baxter's boys kill Mose's dog. Nobody wants to see a dog die. This is a dark film. It is dark visually and dark in tone. In moments of the character's anger we hear thunder in the background as storms are brewing. The tension in the characters is matched by the tension in the weather as we see arks of lightning in the sky. Like the buildup to the storm, this film has a long buildup to a violent, if somewhat disorganized, gunfight.
James Muro's camerawork keeps much of the film shrouded under overcast skies. We see wide vistas under heavy, ominous clouds. This keeps the color pallet limited and some scenes deliberately under-lit. Frequently Muro and Costner have the screen fade to black after a scene and allow a few seconds of pause, a style we have not seen for a while. Some of the rain imagery seems a direct homage to UNFORGIVEN, a film that has many of the same themes. But if OPEN RANGE has to be imitative, UNFORGIVEN is a good film to imitate. Still OPEN RANGE gives us more an homage to the old westerns than an original new story. I rate it a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected]
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
