Very entertaining movie, worth your time and money!
Written: Sep 25 '03 (Updated Sep 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Entertaining, believable, beautiful movie!
Cons: A little too much gunfight
The Bottom Line: Good for an evening out, especially for those who love westerns and/or romances. Great for Duvall fans.
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| nlleigh's Full Review: Open Range |
At a time when there are hardly any westerns, this one is good enough to recommend to anyone. This is a wonderful movie with which to break the dearth of westerns! Although I did not see as much of Kevin Costner as I would have liked, his role was played to perfection. In fact all of the characters were thoroughly believable, good and bad alike. The bad ones are really bad, and I disliked them intensely, and the good ones I loved passionately. Which is how it should be!
The cinematography was awesome, giving one a sense of the vastness of the long-ago and far-away open ranges, before barbed wire. I could not find one unbelieveable or unrealistic part in the movie. The worst part of the movie was the gunfight at the end, but it was handled well, without much gore.
Costner takes a back seat to Robert Duvall in this movie, which surprised this Costner fan, but he finally comes into his own with Annette Bening, who plays the town doctor’s sister. Costner plays one of Duvall’s lonely but honorable and trustworthy hired hands who is bothered by his somewhat shady past, which he finally manages to overcome. Duvall does a wonderful job as usual portraying his character, ‘Boss’, a fiercely loyal, trustworthy, determined and honorable old cowboy.
Abraham Benrubi does a fine job as a huge, lovable and loyal cowboy who gives sage advice to the young cowhand, played by Diego Luna. Both of them comprise the rest of Boss’s crew. Michael Jeter does a wonderfully believable job portraying the crusty stable keeper who winds up aiding the good guys.
Michael Gambon, playing an Irish immigrant who is determined to eliminate once and for all free-grazing, is such a thoroughly bad guy that one almost wonders if he isn’t going to start foaming at the mouth before too long. The town marshall, (James Russo) is another character you love to hate. As the two lead 'bad guys,' they are really bad, so much so that one wonders how the townspeople could have put up with them so long.
The plot of this film rises above standard western fare, depicting the end of an era (free-range grazing) and the people who loved the life and made a living with it, and the greedy ‘bad guys’ who want it ended by any means possible. The director and cast have done an exceptional job with all aspects of this film.
The gunfight would probably keep this from being a family movie, but it is thoroughly entertaining for adults. I do not usually watch westerns, finding the major portion of them predictable and boring, if not too bloody. But this one was done in a way that says 'modern movie' and is refreshing and alive, and totally believable. (Except possibly for the large number of gunfighters who are pitted against Duvall and Costner (and ultimately the whole town) in the gun battle towards the end of the movie.) And I had to wonder how all those bullets managed to miss both Duvall and Costner. But it is almost worth seeing just for the scenery! The plot is simple, maybe even a trifle predictable, but thoroughly enjoyable nevertheless. I greatly enjoyed this one, and recommend it highly for an evening out. And so would all of the cowboys that brought their wives and friends to our theater to see it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nlleigh
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Member: Nancy Leighton
Location: New Mexico
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 8 members
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