‘Open Range’ a thoughtful, poignant film
Published 8:30 am Thursday, February 28, 2008
Just when you thought the big screen Western was dead, Kevin Costner returns with the thoughtful and poignant new film, “Open Range.”
“Open Range” is a diamond in the rough in the larger mine(field) of summer movie blockbusters. With “Open Range,” Costner returns to a familiar genre that has also garnered him his greatest success. In 1990’s “Dances with Wolves” Costner briefly set himself apart from most actors-turned-directors by crafting a visually awing and emotionally compelling tale of the American West. Since that time, however, he hasn’t been able to duplicate the masterful storytelling that won the film seven Academy Awards.
“Open Range” may not capture the attention of the Academy this time around, but it is a film worth contemplating nonetheless. Set at the close of the 19th century, Charley Waite (Costner) and Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) work as freegrazers, cattle herders who roam the vast unclaimed western prairie. With the help of two younger men, Mose Harrison (Abraham Benrubi) and “Button” (Diego Luna), Charlie and Boss drive the herd on to feed in the next grass rich valley they find. But this way of life is quickly becoming a thing of the past as the “free” land is settled by ranchers and farmers.
A confrontation in the town of Harmonville leads the men into new territory, literally and figuratively. When Mose is attacked and beaten while on an errand to the general store, then accused of starting the fight, Charlie and Boss set out to retrieve him from the jail. The men soon discover that Marshall Poole (James Russo) is in the back pocket of greedy rancher Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who views freegrazing as a threat to his wealth and freegrazers as despicable vagrants. What seems initially to be a reasonable, if uneasy, resolution to the matter is swiftly and tragically escalated by Baxter. Charlie and Boss soon find themselves forced to contemplate the moral consequences of defending the lives of their young hired hands, as well as their own, through violence.
From a storytelling standpoint “Open Range” is not so different from any other recent Western tale, if not for the appearance of Sue Barlow (Annette Bening). While caring for the injured Mose, Sue, the town doctor’s nurse assistant, finds a quiet chemistry building in each interaction she shares with the subdued Charlie. It is a love affair of few words, restrained by both the convention of the day and the hesitation of two people entering middle age who have resigned themselves to living life alone. The choice to cast a “mature” actress — rather than someone young enough to be Costner’s daughter — was a wise one. Bening plays Sue as a weathered, authentic prairie woman — makeup isn’t needed to convey the inner and outer beauty of a woman who says “I’ve been holding my love for a long time.”
The other strong performance in “Open Range” belongs to Robert Duvall. As the elder cattleman to Costner’s Charlie, Duvall’s performance is potent and believable. Some of the strongest scenes of the film are Duvall’s, as Boss weighs the depth of his principles and his enduring friendship with Charlie.
As the title suggests, “Open Range” is also about the expansive — and vanishing — Western landscape. You wouldn’t think that this was James Muro’s first outing as director of photography, but his approach to cinematography, from the vastness of the freegrazer’s prairie to the closed-in oppressiveness of town life, is impressive. And while Charlie Waite’s emergence from a spiritual wilderness isn’t as compelling as that of Lieutenant Dunbar’s in “Dances with Wolves,” Costner has in many ways matured as both an actor and director.
Like the chocolate and cigars Boss buys before the big showdown, it’s the nuances that make “Open Range” bittersweet — and what elevates it from a run of the mill cowboy story to an ode to the end of an era in American history.
