This is a great two-hour motion picture. Unfortunately, it runs 20 minutes longer than that.
Open Range (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:168
Fresh:132
Rotten:36
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: A simple tale, well told, Open Range is one of Kevin Costner's better efforts.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Academy-Award® winning director Kevin Costner ("Dances with Wolves") helms this traditional Western tale of a way of life that is quickly disappearing. Boss Spearman (ROBERT DUVALL), Charley... Academy-Award® winning director Kevin Costner ("Dances with Wolves") helms this traditional Western tale of a way of life that is quickly disappearing. Boss Spearman (ROBERT DUVALL), Charley Waite (KEVIN COSTNER), Mose Harrison (ABRAHAM BENRUBI) and "Button" (DIEGO LUNA) freegraze their cattle across the vast prairies of the West, sharing a friendship forged by a steadfast code of honor and living a life unencumbered by civilization. When their wayward herd forces them near the small town of Harmonville, the cowboys encounter a corrupt Sheriff (JAMES RUSSO) and kingpin rancher (MICHAEL GAMBON) who govern the territory through fear, tyranny and violence. Boss and Charley find themselves inextricably drawn towards the inevitable showdown as they are forced to defend the freedom and values of a lifestyle that is all too quickly vanishing. Amidst this turmoil, life suddenly takes an unexpected turn for loner Charley when he meets the beautiful and warm-spirited Sue Barlow (ANNETTE BENING), a woman who embraces both his heart and his soul. As these courageous men prepare for the decisive battle that looms, they are also forced to confront and conquer their own internal demons. -- © Touchstone Pictures [More]
Starring: Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon
Starring: Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Abraham Benrubi, Diego Luna, Michael Jeter, James Russo
Director: Kevin Costner
Director: Kevin Costner
Screenwriter: Craig Storper
Producer: David Valdes, Kevin Costner, Jake Eberts
Composer: Michael Kamen
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures
Reviews for Open Range
Despite some lapses in taste at the end, Open Range is competently directed, though rarely inspired. No one is going to mistake Kevin Costner for John Ford.
If the climax of Open Range is disappointing, the ending is almost intolerable, as the plot descends into a twinkling love story, and Costner reverts to filmmaking aimed at 12-year-olds.
The first two hours of Open Range are a great pleasure, and the final minutes come as a vague indigestion.
Open Range is not in the same league with Dances, but this compelling drama stands on its own as one of the best films of the summer.
With actors less sure than Duvall and Bening alongside him, Costner's old-fashioned Western would collapse. With them in the saddles, it rides into the sunset in high style.
Costner saves his best work for the finale, an electrifying gun battle that steers clear of Western clichés to re-create the chaos and brutality of a place thick with flying bullets.
A good film struggling to free itself from directorial excess. . . . Open Range strives for the heft of [director Kevin] Costner’s signature work, Dances With Wolves,” but this tale is too simple for the royal treatment.
...a movie my 79-year-old grandfather will love. And I can't think of a better compliment.
The final shootout belongs in the Western pantheon with the poetic, anti-heroic shootouts in Anthony Mann's The Far Country and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
Western's sincerity and Robert Duvall's warm, fascinating lead performance can't make up for a rough ride with an uneven tone.
This is by far the best film Costner has made in the past six years. As always, his direction misses no details, instilling considerably more sensitivity in the movie than you might expect to find in a Western.
(Costner) musters quiet moments of humbling tenderness and knee-buckling violence, and also knows when one should outweigh the other.
As comfortable as a well-worn saddle, Open Range is something you might have caught one Sunday afternoon on Turner Classic Movies.
Latest News for Open Range
October 26, 2006:
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September 28, 2006:
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This week at the movies, we've got jive talking woodland creatures ("Open Season," with Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher). We've got a school for Coast Guard rescue... More...
May 11, 2005:
Costner & Kutcher to Become Coast "Guardians"
Production Weekly brings news of an upcoming Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive") action flick that will star Kevin Costner ("Open Range") and Ashton Kutcher... More...
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