Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely marvelous!
Review: Robert Duvall has to get an Oscar nod for his great acting (but he always does a effortless job), you can't see anyone else play "Boss". Also great kudos for Kevin for directing this picture, taking his time with each shot to tell a story in each scene. Though it may be a little slow for some people who are used to scenes of people dying the first 10 minutes and car chases. But the movie is set to timing of how the "open range" was. Things are laid back and when you stop you take a full view of the great open land. Also, a great accomplishment and going against the grain of casting a REAL OLDER WOMAN in the picture where mostly movies today have a older man with a MUCH YOUNGER WOMAN. You can tell Annette's character is the same age as Kevin's. A great effort!
Rating:
Summary: Open Range is all Duvall
Review: Robert Duvall is at his best in this movie. He steals whatever thunder Kevin Costner may have hoped for. It is a must see in the big theater for all the bigness of the great outdoors. It may have been filmed in Canada, but it looked like what the "old west" might have looked like in the era of the film.
Duvall is John Wayne in this film. Costner did his best job of acting since Dance With Wolves. This is not a typical Costner film. It's better. I can hardly wait for it to come out in DVD. My screen isn't big enough at 36" to give this film its due. See it on big screen.
I'd vote Duvall Best Actor for his part in this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Open Range- A Fine Film
Review: It's nice to see there are a few good films out there now a days. Open Range, directed and starring Kevin Costner is a appealing and well done film. Coster and Duvall lend strong perfomances to this Western along with Annette Bening. Though not as good as Clint Eastwood classics such as Unforgiven, 1992.
Open Range is based on the book, "The Open Range Men" by Laurie Paine, a fine adaption done by Craig Storper.
Costner and Duvall are free grazering cowboys, though there profession is hated by many, especially a deadly rancher (Michael Gambon). Gambon and his men kill one of Coster's. Costner and his loyal friend Duvall are out for vengeance. The story leads to an intense finale. Bening plays a nurse who helps
them on the way. The performances are simply the primary attraction of this film. In fact this one is possibly an oscar contender.
Open Rage is rated R for Violence. A mild R by rating standrards, the violence includes mainly an intense gunfight near the end, which includes a few point-blank shootings some of which are graphic. There are also some pistol whippings earlier in the film. Brief sexual innuendo and mild profanity also earn the "R" rating. Open Range is a fine Western, told in the classic tradition as Dances With Wolves. Worth viewing in theatres and possibly owning on Video or DVD.
and mild profanity al
Rating:
Summary: Open Range
Review: I really liked the movie. The gunfight at the end was great! Beautiful photography, good acting, good story. I would like to see a sequel......
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: This was an "OK" movie. It was a quite slow in the beginning and it made you wait until the very end to get to the main gunfight scene. The movie was a little tough to follow and difficult to understand what was going on and what people were referring to in a number of different scenes.However, the illustration of the different characters was very well done. The viewer was easily able to follow and become familiar with the individual personalities of the men (and woman). Additionally, I thought the acting was superb. Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall were great together, as well as Annette Bening who did a wonderful job in playing her role. Though pretty bloody, the ending gunfight scenes were fun and exciting, as long as you like that kind of stuff like I do!
Rating: 
Summary: enervating western
Review: **1/2 Call me a contrarian, if you like, but, for some strange reason, I have always found myself more favorably disposed towards Kevin Costner's "failures" as a director (i.e. "Waterworld" and "The Postman") than towards his respectable, highly acclaimed "successes" ("Dances With Wolves" and his new film "Open Range"). Those former films may have been bloated, overlong and over-budgeted vanity productions, it's true, but at least with each of them, the director was willing to take a number of chances. His westerns have been bloated and overlong, too, but they've lacked the kind of risk-taking spirit that allows us to forgive some of the filmmaker's trademark excesses and indulgences. "Open Range," for all its high-minded seriousness, is a pretty tedious affair - undramatic, longwinded and plodding. The screenplay by Craig Storper, based on the novel by Lauran Paine, is the oldie about the "freegrazers" who come into conflict with the settled ranchers who don't like the fact that these rootless steer drivers are trespassing on "their" land. It's 1882 and, apparently, most of the once-unclaimed Far West territory has been parceled out to the highest bidder leaving little open range for the free-spirited cattlemen. Costner and three of his freegrazing buddies find themselves in a deadly feud with the leaders of a nearby prairie town. It's a stale story that culminates in a thunderous, but surprisingly unconvincing Main Street shootout (unconvincing not because the violence is unrealistic or poorly staged - it's quite well done in fact - but because some of the characters behave in ways that defy any credibility whatsoever). Something decent might have been made out of this material had Storper and Costner not turned it into a soporific snorer with endless dialogue, minimal action and a crushing air of reverential self-importance. Robert Duvall gives a finely etched performance as the grizzled old cowpoke who appears all tough and gruff on the surface but who is just a big old softie underneath all the leathery skin and bristly whiskers. Even though the character itself is little more than a hoary cliché, Duvall makes the most of his opportunities. Costner does well within his more limited acting range, but his character is even less well developed than Duvall's. Annette Bening is stoic and valiant as the requisite love interest for Costner, but poor Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien," "Frida") is wasted in a nothing role as the young sidekick who ends up spending most of the movie either unconscious or laid up in bed recovering from a gunshot wound suffered early on. As a director, Costner generates a fairly impressive feel for the immensity of the plains and for the part weather plays in the lives of those who live there, but these alone are not enough to sustain our interest over the duration of a two hour and eighteen minute movie. Even the attempts at humor ring hollow and untrue. "Open Range" may be more of a "success" with critics and audiences than were "Waterworld" and "The Postman," but that, given Costner's rather strange track record, may be less of a good thing than it would appear at first sight.
Rating:
Summary: You'll feel at home on this *Range*.
Review: For the summer of 2003 to yield a good movie has proved to be a minor miracle; the fact that KEVIN COSTNER is the one who has provided it is a pretty major miracle. One certainly may be forgiven a degree of skepticism about his new film *Open Range*: this is the guy who gave us the politically correct *Dances With Wolves* and the disastrous *The Postman*. But in *Open Range*, Costner eschews all efforts -- or so it seems -- to make a "grand, epic work of art". In other words, he avoids the pretentiousness that one has come to expect from him. The simplicity of the story aids him in keeping things simple. In a nutshell, this Western is about a pair of "free grazers" (Robert Duvall and Costner) who come into conflict with a regional cattle-baron (Michael Gambon, practically twisting mustache-ends). Gambon, for pecuniary reasons, despises the whole idea of an "open range", and wants not only the area land to be enclosed . . . he wants the free grazers to get the hell out of his territory. Trouble ensues. Duvall and Costner find themselves gearing up for revenge after Gambon's gang kills one, and maims another, of their hired cowboys. Our heroes find a sympathetic ear and hearth at the local sawbones' house, which is kept in order by fading beauty Annette Bening. While she tends to the maimed cowboy, Costner falls awkwardly in love with her. There's plenty of time for this, because the movie is in absolutely no rush: it spends a good hour building up tension after we know that there's a big gunfight coming. (In fact, it probably dawdles a little too long in getting to it.) Costner is then generous with the action: the gunfight is a protracted affair lasting maybe twenty minutes, very well-staged, with realistic-sounding gun shots which properly sound like cannons going off (these guys carry large double-barrel shotguns). The final scenes dissolve into sentimental mush, but we're so grateful at having gotten this far with Costner without him screwing things up, we don't really mind. I urge all grown-ups to go see *Open Range*. It matters little if you like Westerns or not. The fact is, if we don't support fine efforts like this, they'll stop bothering. Let the Hollywood suits know that teenage boys who play video games all day are NOT the only consumers of movies.
Rating:
Summary: Fine incarnation of THE WESTERN as American Myth...
Review: Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall quietly shine in excellent reprise of most American of AMERICAN films, THE WESTERN. Beautiful photography of panoramic often breath-takingingly majestic vistas of THE OPEN RANGE, frames classic confrontation between Good & Evil in uniquely American Myth of honor-in-Freedom, incarnated as THE COWBOY.The movie is not for cynics nor PM Deconstructionists who no longer fathom honor as a celebration and defining quality of Manhood. The story of a Range War is simplistic and predictable. Yet again and again Costner, Duvall and fine supporting cast--including Annette Bening in HEROINE role radically contrasting and castigating her epicene,eviscerated Yuppie Mother in AMERICAN BEAUTY--illuminate virtues of Christian Goodness(It's not for nothing a spare, white clapboard "Puritan" Church building features repeatedly in characterizing sequences of the film).The SHOWDOWN battle...unsubtly Apocalyptic...is directed with Peckinpah-like technical power but does not glory in VIOLENCE it displays:it simply and masterfully renders it as ARM OF JUSTICE necessitated when Law is no longer agent of Justice but its perversion in furtherance of EVIL. GREED(incarnated in ruthlessly selfish CATTLE BARRON)is obvious Capital Sin brought to reckoning in OPEN RANGE. But...ironically and with uncommon Purity of Heart in our time of Sexual Decadence...so is LUST. "May I kiss you?" asks Costner's hero to the woman he's come to deeply admire and cherish; and whose Possible REJECTION he fears more than gunmen/enemies'.45's. "I have been saving MY LOVE,"replies Bening in affirmation that is blistering indictment of PM culture that--as Bob Dylan once proclaimed in SLOW TRAIN COMING--"turns its young daughters into whores." Joseph Campbell in HERO WITH 1000 FACES explores The Call, Ordeal,Temptation and final Triumph(Return)of The Good Man as champion of Justice through the Ages.American FREEDOM briefly shined as momentary Novus Ordo Seclorum(New Order of the Ages).That this Order is under frontal assault abroad, and more invidiously at home is manifest to anyone not a fool or complict in its furtherance. OPEN RANGE reasserts Individual Goodness as center and anchor of AMERICAN FREEDOM. Values underpining this goodness...and kind of individual...are blatantly scorned. GOOD, EVIL and daily personal confrontation with SIN have been replaced with APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR framed in epicene language of Political Correctness... OPEN RANGE--merely a movie, of course-- rings with greatness seen in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, HIGH NOON and few rare Westerns. Kevin Costner has...as director and actor...essayed many films and roles as American hero(from Eliot Ness; to Baseball Players of great talent and heart;to THE POSTMAN). Not all efforts succeeded or have been appreciated. Some failed. Others are("artistically" regarded)unsophisticatedly corny/puerile if innocuously entertaining. OPEN RANGE may be PM corny; but it's entertaining often GRANDLY BEAUTIFUL. I submit there's nothing puerile about its simple...fairy-tale like...rendering of battle for Truth,Justice and (once-treasured)AMERICAN WAY. It's fine cinematic incarnation of(the best)AMERICAN MYTH. See it and regard sincere effort to tell a good(yes:violent)story. Lastly ponder the Battle Theme opposing spiritual,psychological and political ennervation--if not evisceration--and IMPRISONMENT here on the world's last vestige of OPEN RANGE...(4 & 1/2 stars)
Rating:
Summary: Augustus Rides Again
Review: Open Range Augustus McCrae is Robert Duvall's signature role, and for good reason -- it's one of the finest pieces of acting you'll ever see. He enjoys playing a cowboy the way Gene Hackman enjoyed playing Lex Luthor -- his pleasure is obvious. So it's inevitable that "Open Range" will be compared with "Lonesome Dove," especially as both films share a major thematic element -- the long friendship ("It's called a decade.") of two men. Not surprisingly, "Open Range" comes up short. The script is the main offender. Although "Open Range" runs 135 minutes, and most of the story is drama (the final shoot-out occupies less than half an hour), the characterizations are remarkably thin. Unlike "Lonesome Dove," which immediately outlined Gus and Woodrow's personalities and relationship, "Open Range" fails to provide dialog and situations that show us exactly who Boss and Charley are. Much of the language is ill-considered. I have no problem with pithy, aphoristic dialog that bears no relation to the way people actually talk; you expect that in a drama. You don't expect 19th-century characters philosophizing in ways that would be appropriate for 20th-century folk. Larry McMurtry got away with it, because Gus was portrayed as a self-aware, smartass intellectual. But it grates in "Open Range." There's nothing new about the plot -- the evil agro-capitalist and his lackeys are wiped out when they hurt "decent folk" who aren't afraid to fight back -- but the obvious borrowings surprised me. We're treated to a inferior rehash of "Gus beats up the bartender." Annette Benning is given the obligatory line about the implicit "marriage" of two old cowpokes. And what is arguably the film's funniest line is stolen from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"! Pairing Duvall with Costner does nothing to make Costner look good. He's always been appealing, in a laid-back, puppyish sort of way, but his acting chops are limited. He does worse reading from the printed page than delivering lines from memory! Costner's weakness is emphasized by the disparity in acting styles. Duvall gives a "British" performance, with the appropriate weight and inflection applied to each word. Costner is of the "American" school, in which a line of dialog is simply spit out, with the words themselves -- rather than their performance -- conveying most of the meaning. Duvall is disappointing. It's impossible to imagine even a mediocre performance from the guy, but his Boss Spearman is no more than Augustus McCrae without the PhD. He hasn't made the effort to fill in what's missing from the script, then find a way to perform it. * On the other hand, Robert -- like Sean -- has gotten hot in his geezerhood. Given the right script (and someone to convince him to stop shaving) he could easily become a sex symbol. (Not that he'd be interested, of course.) Costner's direction is the best thing about "Open Range." It's either brilliantly considered or utterly incompetent. I lean toward the former. Costner refuses to interpret the material, letting almost everything speak for itself. We've seen this sort of movie a hundred times, and whenever you think Costner will "emphasize this" or "punch up that" in the expected fashion, he refrains. It's a pleasure watching the story unfold with minimal intrusion of cliched artifice. A good example of this occurs near the end, when Boss pleads with Charley not to kill a man he's already wounded. Most directors would take it as a two shot with Duvall and Costner. Instead, Costner shows all of it from the point of view of the wounded man on the ground! As in "Dances with Wolves," Costner shows his eye for scenic effect, and lets character interactions unfold at their own pace. Unfortunately, this makes the script's failure to flesh out those interactions all the more obvious. The R rating is marginal. It could arguably have been PG-13. The shootout is quite violent, but there's little gore and no gratuitous reveling in the killings. The worst is a bullet to a man's forehead, and we've seen that in "Gone with the Wind" (G) and "Treasure Island" (PG). There's no reason your teenage kids shouldn't see "Open Range" if they're interested. Recommended, with reservations. It's better than you might expect, but not as good as it could have been. * This is not an unreasonable expectation. Consider "Mrs. Brown," whose script depends almost wholly on acting rather than dialog to make its points. Judy Dench and Billy Connolly deliver.
Rating:
Summary: another good Western movie
Review: This movie is cool. Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall are great together, as cowboys who are trying to defend their cattle and their range. In the time of the open range, these ranchers have to defend their property, sometimes with guns. There's enough action to keep the movie going, and a good story as well. Go see it and stuff!
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