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by Jim Pappas Published: August 16, 2003
 Kevin Costner (Charlie Waite) and Robert Duvall (Boss Spearman) relax with a game of cards in, “Open Range.” Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Justice and Vengeance are all high concepts that are addressed in no-nonsense and straight ahead fashion by “Open Range,” as gritty and realistic a western genre film as has ever been made. Following, perhaps, in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven,” director and co-star Kevin Costner leads us into the lives of four free range cattle herders and shows us that within everyone exists the capacity for good as well as evil, and that sometimes the lines between them aren’t as sharply drawn as we probably like to think they are. Costner plays Charlie Waite, an apparently reformed hired gun who has hooked up with a cow puncher named Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), a young immigrant called “Button” (Diego Luna) and a big and gentle handy man, Mose Harrison (Abraham Benrubi). Together the four are driving cows through the Montana praries and valleys, “free-ranging” as it was called at the time in which the film is set, in 1882. These men are led both physically and mentally by the tough Spearman, who lives by his own ideas of freedom and justice that become challenged by a rancher named Baxter (Michael Gambon), a big Irishman who had come to America to start a ranch and a new life. The film opens with the four cowboys driving their herd through the countryside and enjoying each other’s company. Spearman has taken the young Button under his wing and is trying to instill in him his own concepts of virtue and honor. Waite is brooding and aloof, wrestling with the demons of his violent past, and Mose is a happy-go-lucky someone who just wants to belong. They also have a pet dog who travels with them and is the object of much affection by both Mose and Waite. These four represent the essence of self reliance and freedom, working together as a unit in order to survive the harsh reality of their existence. However, the free and easy lifestyle as typified by the free rangers is the object of scorn and hatred by some, and in “Open Range” the center of this enmity comes from a town called Harmonville which is nearby where they have driven their cattle. They send Mose into this town on an errand, and when he doesn’t return Waite and Spearman go into the town to find out what has happened to him. There they meet both potential friends and foes and find out that Mose is in jail after surviving (barely) a fight we later learn was orchestrated by Baxter in order to dissuade the free rangers from grazing their herd anywhere near his ranch. Baxter is the “boss” of this town and he is determined to remain so. It is in Harmonville where Waite and Spearman meet Sue Barlow (Annette Bening), sister and assistant to the town doctor (Dean McDermott). They are taken in by Ms. Barlow who helps to treat the injured Mose and there is an attraction between her and Waite that quickly becomes apparent, if not acted upon. Waite and Spearman are given custody of Mose by the town sheriff (James Russo, as Poole) at the urging of Baxter who just wants the four free rangers to disappear quickly. When it becomes apparent that the free rangers aren’t going to go away quietly, Baxter begins the process of ridding himself and his land of them. This process ends up killing Mose and leads to Spearman and Waite deciding to take what they perceive as justice into their own hands. There is a gun battle in “Open Range,” but it isn’t your typical western gunfight. This gun battle is real, stark, and cold blooded. There are no fancy bits of derring-do, or leaping onto horseback here. This is men pointing and shooting guns at each other, and it is chilling in it’s authenticity. There is no gratuitous blood spattering in “Open Range” but that doesn’t detract from the essential horror of it all. The horror of what can happen when mostly good men confront each other and when violence seems the only answer. In some ways “Open Range” is a metaphor for modern life. Movies tend to draw sharp dividing lines between right and wrong, but this film, to it’s credit, does not. We can both like and dislike Waite and Spearman. We can both like and dislike Baxter. There isn’t a whole lot of moral difference between the two opposing forces present, much like some of the conflicts going on around us in our world today. The film’s masterful screenplay is by Craig Storper and is based on the novel “The Open Range Men” by Lauran Paine. The writing is so good that one can believe that the events in this movie are taken from historical fact, or at least believe that events much like them did occur. Some will call this film brilliant, some will call it banal. Both of these opinions will be right as, like trying to determine who is right and who is wrong in the conflict between ranchers and free rangers, one can view this film both ways. I am on the side of calling this film brilliant, as I don’t recall seeing very many movies that so honestly portray it’s subject matter. Overall Rating: A |
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