MOVIE - OPEN RANGE - Review Rating $$$ (OUT OF 10)
A WORST MOVIES OF 2003 SELECTION
STARRING - Kevin Costner (Charley Waite), Robert Duvall (Boss), Annette Bening (Sue), Abraham Benrubi (Mose), Michael Gambon (Baxter), Michael Jeter (Percy) & Diego Luna (Button).
DIRECTOR - Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, The Postman)
Based upon the novel, "The Open Range Men", by Lauran Paine.
Open Range is so bad it almost makes you regret that Clint Eastwood revived the Western with his brilliant film "Unforgiven".
Open Range is actually a Harlequin Romance with a gun fight at the O.K. Corral. The plot amounts to the domestication of our hero, Charley Waite (Costner), who till he meets the lone single woman in town, is as untamed as the wilderness he herds cows through. This gentlemen, is a corny date movie, not an epic western.
There are three main themes running through Open Range. The first, which is poorly developed, involves the conflict between the last of the open range herders and the beginning of more formalized ranching. Open Range is virtually devoid of any historical context in this regard. Adding insult to injury the film's villain, the evil rancher who runs the town, is such a stock character that its laughable. The end result is that the confrontation at the O.K. Corral lacks any really compelling basis, beyond simple revenge, since once our heroes triumph over the evil villain they decide to give up the way of life they are supposedly so intent on defending.
The second theme running through the movie, possibly to compensate for the weakness of the open range/rancher conflict, is revenge. The evil rancher's henchmen not only kill two of Waite's coworkers but his loyal dog as well. There are some lines, apparently, that just shouldn't be crossed. We know that Waite is very fond of his dog because there are countless shots of the dog on the open prairie (one of many examples of Costner's pathetic directing in this film). Just in case we miss the fact that Waite is an animal lover he rescues another local dog in town. Lassie wasn't this corny.
The third theme involves the blossoming relationship between Waite and Sue (Benning). Even by Harlequin Romance standards the ties that bind these two lonely folks are pretty flimsy. Unless Sue placed a personal ad seeking a SWM, age 40-50, who loves dogs, cares about friends and has killed before and will kill again, the attraction between the two doesn't make a lot of sense.
As you watch Open Range you may also begin to wonder about little things like where do all the townspeople live? Except for the Doctor's house there doesn't appear to be another home in the immediate vicinity. They might live in the local saloon. The reason I say this is that during a torrential downpour, that threatens to wash away the town, all of the townspeople have congregated there.
The gunfight is the best part of the film but it lacks any real tension or significance for the above noted reasons. It is not good enough, however, to justify sitting through the rest of this overly long film just to see it.
If your significant other asks you to go see, or rent, Open Range run for the hills as fast as you can.
Running time - 135 minutes.
Check out my TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2003 list.
Alternative Reviews:
Roger Ebert's Review
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews
OFFICIAL OPEN RANGE WEB SITE
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© Copyright
2005
David Schwartz.
Last update:
2/28/05; 1:47:40 AM.
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