Open Range
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| Open Range | |
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| Directed by | Kevin Costner |
| Produced by | Kevin Costner Jake Eberts David Valdes |
| Written by | Craig Storper Lauran Paine |
| Starring | Robert Duvall Kevin Costner Annette Bening Diego Luna Abraham Benrubi Michael Jeter |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures Beacon Communications |
| Release date(s) | August 15, 2003 |
| Running time | 139 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $22,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $68,296,293 (worldwide) |
Open Range is a 2003 Western movie based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. The film is directed and co-produced by Kevin Costner, who stars with Robert Duvall and Annette Bening.
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[edit] Overview
The movie properly belongs to the Western genre and is set in Montana in 1882 (the year is seen on a new grave marker) though the movie was filmed entirely on location in Alberta, Canada.
The background of the movie concerns the "range wars" that occurred in the American West in the late 1800s. The "wars" pitted those that believed in the "Law of the Open Range" - free access to water and grass for everyone, against the "barbed wire" men – land barons, who used the new fencing to define their empire and block the free-range cattlemen from moving their herds.
[edit] Plot
"Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall) is a free-range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi), Button (Diego Luna), and dog Tig is driving a herd cross country. Charley is a former soldier who fought in the Civil War and feels guilt over his past as a killer.
Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by a ruthless land baron, Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who hates free-rangers. Mose is badly beaten and then jailed by the town sheriff, Poole (James Russo), whom Baxter "owns." Many townspeople accept that Baxter is all-powerful and corrupt while others harbor animosity towards him. The only friendly inhabitant they meet is Percy (Michael Jeter), a livery stable owner.
Boss and Charley become concerned when Mose doesn't return. They retrieve him from jail but not before getting a stern warning from Baxter about free-ranging on his land. Mose's injuries are so severe that Boss and Charley take him to Doc Barlow (Dean McDermott). There they meet Susan Barlow (Annette Bening). Charley is attracted immediately, but assumes that Susan is the doctor's wife.
It turns out that Baxter does not really want Boss to move on; he wants the herd. After catching masked riders scouting their cattle, Boss and Charley sneak up on their campfire in the dark of night. Baxter's henchmen are forced to strip and are sent back to town on foot. Another ambush, however, happening at the same time, results in the killing of Mose and the dog Tig. Button is badly injured and left for dead.
Charley and Boss vow to avenge this injustice. They leave Button at the doctor's house and go into town, where during a flash flood Charley saves a townsperson's dog. Boss and Charley are threatened by Poole but refuse to back down. Shortly thereafter, they lock Poole in his own jail. Boss knocks him out with chloroform he has stolen from the doctor's office. Other henchmen meet the same fate; they are locked up in Poole's cells and knocked out with the drug.
Charley and Boss psychologically prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. Charley learns that Sue is the doctor's sister, not his wife. Charley declares his feelings for her (at Boss's urging) and she gives him a locket for luck. In the town store, knowing that a bloody confrontation with Baxter is inevitable, Boss and Charley buy expensive cigars and chocolate, reasoning that they might be unable to enjoy these later. Charley leaves a note with Percy, the livery stable owner, in which he states that if he should die, money made from the sale of his saddle and gear are to be used to buy Sue a new tea set.
Outmanned in a gunfight, Boss and Charley are pitted against Baxter and his many henchmen. Charley doesn't wait to be drawn upon first, cold-bloodedly shooting Butler (Kim Coates), the gunman who shot Button and killed Mose. The bullets begin to fly and Boss is wounded. Some of Baxter's men flee as Charley cuts them down one by one.
Rallied by Percy, the town begins to join the fight against Baxter. Even the frail Button stumbles out of his recovery bed in the doctor's house to side with his friends.
Baxter endangers innocent women and children to save himself. He ends up wounded and alone, trapped in the jailhouse. Boss rushes the jail. They both end up seated on the floor, pulling the triggers on empty guns. Boss stops just short of killing the mortally wounded Baxter, saying "you're not worth wasting a bullet."
With the battle over, Charley witnesses the casualties: dead bodies, shaken innocent bystanders, destroyed property. He speaks to Sue in private, telling her he must leave all this behind. Sue pleads with him to stay, saying, "I have a big idea about you and me, but I won't wait forever for you. But I will wait, for a time, for you to come back to me."
Charley does return, proposing marriage. They embrace and kiss. Charley and Boss decide to give up the cattle business and settle down in Harmonville, taking over the saloon, whose owner was killed in the gunfight.
[edit] Main characters
Bluebonnet "Boss" Spearman (played by Robert Duvall) is an aging cowboy and trail boss. He is an experienced cattleman, hard and a staunch traditionalist on the outside, but in fact a very caring man. He once had a wife and a child, but they contracted typhoid and died, causing him to abandon his old life. He is beginning to realize that free-ranging is coming to an end, and thinks he might like to someday live in town and run a saloon.
Charles Travis Postlewaite (played by Kevin Costner) was a soldier during the Civil War and later a gunslinger. Having killed a man who tried to rape his mother, he soon became accustomed to killing people. He went to work for Boss Spearman under the name Charley Waite for more than ten years. The terrible things he and others did in the past continue to haunt his dreams. When he arrives in Harmonville, his past catches up with him, but he finds a chance for love and a future.
Sue Barlow (played by Annette Bening) is the sister and assistant of Harmonville's physician, Doc Barlow, and lives with him in a house with a white-picket fence on the edge of the town. She falls in love with Charley Waite when the free-rangers arrive with a badly hurt Button. She is a strong and righteous woman, daring to speak up against the tyrant Baxter and putting herself in danger to protect her patients on more than one occasion.
Denton Baxter (played by Michael Gambon) is an Irish-born land baron who considers Harmonville "his" town. He uses his hired guns as well as the corrupt Marshall Poole to rule the town and keep off free-grazers. When he orders his men to ambush Boss Spearman's men, a brutal conflict begins, in which Baxter shows that he does not have a problem with putting women and children in the line of fire, finally turning most of Harmonville against him.
Button (played by Diego Luna) is Spearman's Mexican-born youngest hand and kind of a foster child to the other free-rangers who found him living on the streets years before. He is badly hurt by Baxter's men, but plays an important role in the final gunfight.
Mose Harris (played by Abraham Benrubi) is another of Spearman's hands, a large and peaceful man. He gets into a bar fight in Harmonville and is later killed by Baxter's henchman Butler.
Percy (played by Michael Jeter in his last on-screen role) runs Harmonville's livery stable. He warns Boss and Charley about Baxter's men and is the only townsman who stands with the free-rangers right from the beginning.
[edit] Reception and box office
Reviews were largely positive and Open Range was a modest success at the box office, making about $58 million in the U.S. alone. The film won the 2004 Western Heritage Award and has a "Fresh" 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb. It was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award, an MTV Movie Award (Diego Luna), a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award as well as a Taurus Award for stunt artist Chad Camilleri.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Open Range at the Internet Movie Database
- Rotten Tomatoes on Open Range
- Filming Locations
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