Open Range (2003)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 139m
Director: Kevin Costner
Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, Annette Bening
Synopsis:
In the 1880s an ageing cattleman takes his herd past territory dominated by the avarice of a wealthy and influential Irish immigrant, who takes against so-called 'freegrazers' and attempts to bushwhack the cowboys. As it happens, the cattleman's oldest and trustiest employee has kept a bushwhacking past a close secret until now, and the pair resolve to stand up to the corrupt town and its puppet lawman.
Review:
Outstanding mature western, evoking memories of Red River, High Noon (except the townsfolk do help a bit) and, more recently, Unforgiven, in its portrait of a reformed killer. There is a fascinating glimpse into the economy of the old west, as for example the desperate pair splash out on Swiss chocolate and Cuban cigars at the end, and a real sense of landscape and distances as in Costner's other films (enabling Bening to be left on the shelf pending Costner's arrival and making credible her risktaking move of accepting his offer). There is also a keen feel for frontier morality: unyielding but sentimental at the same time.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 139m
Director: Kevin Costner
Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, Annette Bening
Synopsis:
In the 1880s an ageing cattleman takes his herd past territory dominated by the avarice of a wealthy and influential Irish immigrant, who takes against so-called 'freegrazers' and attempts to bushwhack the cowboys. As it happens, the cattleman's oldest and trustiest employee has kept a bushwhacking past a close secret until now, and the pair resolve to stand up to the corrupt town and its puppet lawman.
Review:
Outstanding mature western, evoking memories of Red River, High Noon (except the townsfolk do help a bit) and, more recently, Unforgiven, in its portrait of a reformed killer. There is a fascinating glimpse into the economy of the old west, as for example the desperate pair splash out on Swiss chocolate and Cuban cigars at the end, and a real sense of landscape and distances as in Costner's other films (enabling Bening to be left on the shelf pending Costner's arrival and making credible her risktaking move of accepting his offer). There is also a keen feel for frontier morality: unyielding but sentimental at the same time.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 139m
Director: Kevin Costner
Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, Annette Bening
Synopsis:
In the 1880s an ageing cattleman takes his herd past territory dominated by the avarice of a wealthy and influential Irish immigrant, who takes against so-called 'freegrazers' and attempts to bushwhack the cowboys. As it happens, the cattleman's oldest and trustiest employee has kept a bushwhacking past a close secret until now, and the pair resolve to stand up to the corrupt town and its puppet lawman.
Review:
Outstanding mature western, evoking memories of Red River, High Noon (except the townsfolk do help a bit) and, more recently, Unforgiven, in its portrait of a reformed killer. There is a fascinating glimpse into the economy of the old west, as for example the desperate pair splash out on Swiss chocolate and Cuban cigars at the end, and a real sense of landscape and distances as in Costner's other films (enabling Bening to be left on the shelf pending Costner's arrival and making credible her risktaking move of accepting his offer). There is also a keen feel for frontier morality: unyielding but sentimental at the same time.