Friday, August 15, 2003
Costner's at home in gorgeous 'Open Range'
By WILLIAM ARNOLD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER MOVIE CRITIC
The first and last time Kevin Costner directed a western, it was "Dances With Wolves," a
three-hour epic that came out of nowhere to revive the genre, take the 1990 Best Picture and Best
Director Oscars, and establish Costner as both major star and star filmmaker.
In the dozen years since, Costner has not enjoyed a
similar major success, and the egotistic follies of 1995's
"Waterworld" and 1997's "The Postman" cost him
dearly in terms of fan and critical support. Few big stars
of recent years have fallen so far, so fast.
Thus, there's a certain air of comeback desperation about
"Open Range" and, unfortunately, it's not likely to be
assuaged with a big box-office hit. It's simply not the
same kind of audacious, politically correct,
across-the-board crowd-pleaser as "Wolves."
Still, I, for one, loved it. It's a gorgeously atmospheric,
perfectly cast, beautifully crafted oater of the old school,
made with heaps of integrity, no gimmicks and few
concessions to the box office. Its only real flaw is that it
strains a bit too hard to be a "classic" western.
Set in 1882, it's the story of a pair of affable but vaguely
anti-social cowpunchers with dark pasts (Costner and
Robert Duvall) who, while driving their herd across
eastern Montana, run afoul of a greedy Irish American
land baron (Michael Gambon).
It's the old homesteaders-versus-cattlemen formula, only this time it reverses the "Shane" premise
so it's the cattlemen who represent the higher qualities of free-spirited individuality, and the evil
squatter who embodies the forces that want to ruthlessly fence in the open range.
When the heavies savagely attack the cattlemen's camp, it segues into an epic tale of revenge, an
offbeat buddy adventure, an unexpected romance between the Costner character and a local woman
(Annette Benning) and, of course, a bittersweet elegy to the passing of the frontier.
Despite a good deal of action, it's rather slow-moving and often rather humorless and grim. In
mood, tone and spirit, it's much closer to westerns like "One-Eyed Jacks," "McCabe and Mrs.
Miller" and Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" than to "Dances With Wolves."
Visually, the movie is a constant treat. Costner and his crew have constructed a wonderfully
authentic clapboard town as the main set, they make marvelous use of their other remote Alberta
locations, and the cast is stocked with so many unfamiliar faces it almost feels like a documentary.
As a directing showcase, it's also most impressive. The pacing seems a bit off in places, but
Costner has a strong eye for eccentric character, a terrific feel for the beauty of the landscape and a
way with an action scene: His shootout climax is a virtuoso piece of work.
"Open Range" also scores as a star vehicle. Duvall, who gets top billing and the best scenes, is
irresistible as only he can be playing a variation of his "Lonesome Dove" character, Gus; and
Benning is utterly magical as a prairie-scorched matron desperate for love.
Costner, who has aged considerably in recent years and is not trying to hide it, is effortlessly
endearing in the more difficult of the three lead roles. He never gets much credit for it, but he's a
unique movie star with a very original and (to me, anyway) very appealing persona.
The word is its studio has little faith in this movie -- it was dumped on the August release schedule
at the very last minute with no fanfare -- but if the rest of the coming cycle of westerns sscheduled
for late '03 and '04 are half as good, moviegoers can consider themselves fortunate. |
