Movie Review // Open Range (2003) with Kevin Costner & Robert Duvall

Whew, I don't think I've ever watched and reviewed something this quickly. xD But I’ve been wanting to see this one in its entirety for a long time and what better occasion than today being LOWCW and The National Day of the Cowboy? 

(Stopping for a moment to let all that sink in.)

Ok, let’s do this thing and get started, shall we? Here goes.

For the official summary: "Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) and his cowhands Charley (Kevin Costner) and Mose (Abraham Benrubi) are driving cattle across a large expanse of country. When Mose ventures into a sparse village to buy a few necessities, he is met with violent hostility from Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), an affluent landowner, and his right-hand man, Poole (James Russo). When Mose doesn't come back, Boss and Charley realize he's in trouble, so they plot to get him back and get revenge on those who captured him."

(Hmmm. Well, that wasn't as comprehensive a summary as I'd hoped. Suffice to say, there are other sub-threads in the plot, but I don't wanna spill too many beans on that, so I'll let you have the delights of discovering them for yourself.)

Initial thoughts

I was worried about some of the lines being a bit contrived at the beginning + the whole little Blind Man's Buff moment, but I think that may all grow on me over time, and it’s also a nice reminder that daily life has always been daily life, full of all the little things.

Button's and Mose’s characters are sweet and well done.

Mr. Woodhouse does a quite adequately intimidating job as the arch-villain.

As for the stars of the piece, Charley and Boss play off each other brilliantly.

Boss is grizzled with experience and slightly garrulous. Charley is strong and silent, struggling with his inner demons. 

Both have their rough edges. And both have their irreverent moments, particularly in one scene early on, where they’re struggling to understand why things have to happen the way they do in this fallen world. 

Both are rigorously honest. 

I love how they take turns leading in different pinch moments in their different areas of expertise. I also like how there’s never any sort of ridiculous blow-up between them. Little disagreements, and a bicker here and there, yes, but no irremediable, solely-added-for-extra-drama blow-ups. The bad guys are running amok and our heroes are going to solve this thing back to back. 

I like how they show that toughness and gentleness and vulnerability and strength are not mutually exclusive. It’s a story about found family and tight friendship and a glimpse of what real manhood with a backbone looks like. 

There is action and excitement, but all throughout it’s about making the small things epic. And that's one of the reasons I love westerns in the first place, but this one really does it exceptionally well. This afternoon I was studying it some more and noticing how the pacing of the story echoes the very feel of the wide open land: with the excitement tingling way deep down -- growing bigger and grander every minute -- yet rooting your feet to the ground, making you want to just stand and think and think and think and breathe till your lungs burst. 

Back to the plot, I feel like their process of outwitting the bad guys was pretty original, as well as the final moments of the shootout. Speaking of which, I thought it very neat how they showed the aftermath (which I understand was very much done on purpose). 

This is also a random note, but the doctor has a limp and, along with a few other little things popping up, got me thinking how I love good stories that don’t spill everything, reminding us there are any number of other interesting stories springing off our current one. 

I’m still a little confused by the flow of the ending, but maybe that'll sort itself out as I keep thinking on it. I have heard some people complain about the romance, but honestly, I think it flows pretty seamlessly through the whole thing, at least until you get down to the scene between Sue and Charley right after the shootout. The segue into there did seem rather awkward (and I know this is the movies), but again that’s how real life is sometimes -- awkward with imperfect timing.

Content 

There’s quite a smattering of language and altogether I’d say not for small fry. That said, apart from the language, it has less blood and less iffy-ish, awkward situations than Tombstone, for instance. Around the 1:22:50 mark a man does see a woman through an accidentally cracked door in her corsets, but they're thoroughly decent corsets and nothing follows. In this case, apart from the language (which, near as I can recall, is old school cuss words) I think the rating makes it sound way scarier than it is.

Final thoughts

Now that I’ve hopefully acquitted myself with full impartiality on all the above, I’m gonna pull out the stops a bit. Because with beautiful, sweeping cinematography, this setting has it in spades. The landscape is STUNNING Y’ALL! *heart eyes* I’m swept away by all the gooooorgeousness. It’s incredible, amazing -- almost everything I love about western land rolled into one. <3333 (And I love all the pouring water.)

Going back to the story, there are little gems of humor and real sweetness scattered throughout. There’s so much quiet character development: between Charley and Boss's friendship, and the growing father/son dynamic between Boss and Button, and the attraction and growing love between Charley and Sue…. Eeeeeeesh. It’s just so gentle and deep and good. 

Men are manly and women stand strong – speaking for peace, yes, but also encouraging their men to take the enemy. 

And when it comes to the romance, I love how it’s not soppy at the end. It’s romance that orients the man back to his mission. 

I want to see it at least once more before deciding exactly which spot it's appropriated (ha! who am I fooling? y'all know I'm terrible at making such definitive decisions), but this really has got it all -- all the reasons I love westerns -- and, endearing and breathtaking all at once, it's somersaulted onto my top ten list.

I'd love to hear if you've seen it and your thoughts!

~ My Tag Answers for Legends of Western Cinema Week 2020 ~

1) What's the last western you watched? 

The Fastest Gun Alive (1956).

2) A western of any stripe (happy or tragic) where you were highly satisfied by the ending? 

Apart from my top favs (cause, for me, I have to be very satisfied with the ending for it to land on that list a'tall, obviously) and I've only seen it once, but I was floored with how much I actually enjoyed The Gunfighter (1950) with Gregory Peck. It does end with a funeral, but somehow it's not ultimately tragic. It was gripping and just ended up giving that deep "ahaaaaaa" feeling. 

3) The funniest western you've seen? 

Um... of the ones I feel like mentioning at the moment (and I know it might not be everyone’s cup of tea and I really have to do a Deeper Examination post one of these days), but the 2013 Lone Ranger took me by surprise. There are so many unexpected lines, quirky funny camera angles, and oft-times dead pan delivery; I was literally giggling while watching (and now cracking up writing this), so we'll go with that one. 

4) What similar elements/themes show up in your favorite westerns?

For more of why I deeply love westerns you can click here, but manly friendships/brothers in arms/a good sidekick pairing, and loyalty. I’ve also been thinking a lot the last couple weeks about how manly men are sometimes a bit rough round the edges and how that comes out so perfectly in westerns. There’s evil to fight right there in front of you and it isn’t a time for mincing words and feel-goodiness. Men and women stand strongly and unapologetically for what they believe in, because generally they believe it’s worth dying for. 

5) Favorite actress who made one or more westerns? 

Ooh, this one’s super hard… There are so many lovely, talented actresses, but Claire Trevor would be high on the list, and Katy Jurado's talent and interpretation of her role in High Noon is excellent.

6) Favorite western hero/sidekick pairing? 

I can't decide if it's your typical sidekick situation, but one that keeps coming to mind a ridiculous amount lately is Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea) and Dick Allen (Robert Preston) in the 1939 Union Pacific. It's all a long standing, erstwhile friendship, with one friend turning to scoundrelly ways. And at such times real, deep, have-your-back, loyal friendship hurts. 

And there's a love triangle. And lots of outside tensions and pressures and sticky situations that land them ultimately in a giant shootout (which isn’t really between each other... it’s complicated), and it's so big and huge and leaves me in an emotional puddle and I still want to break down in floods of tears whenever I think of it. And after all that it still has a happy ending. *sniffing for all the deeply right reasons* 

7) Scariest villain/antagonist in a western?  

Apart from some spaghetti westerns (where the villains tend to be very despicable and scary to boot), Jack Elam's character in Rawhide (1951). Everyone's ok, but the way he plays out the ending makes your stomach drop through your boots. Of course, because it's a classic oldie though, the final climactic shoot out with the hero is epic. 

8) Favorite romance in a western?

 

Ringo and Dallas in the 1939 Stagecoach. 

 Always. <333 

9) Three of your favorite westerns? 

Soooo... what to do, what to do... *tapping fingers on keyboard in long indecision...* You’ve all heard about my top favorites list before (which list is due for a teensy shuffle and shake up anyhow), so going instead with the ones that I want to drop everything and watch right here and right now, at least bits and pieces: 

Wanted: Dead or Alive

 

The Magnificent Seven

Silverado 

10) Share one (or several!) of your favorite quotes from a western.

 

 

“I've got two guns. One for each of ya.” Tombstone 

“If anything’s worth having, it’s worth fighting for.” 

“If you want a man to do a job, don’t take away his tools.”

Both from Wanted: Dead or Alive

Movie Review // Wanted: Dead or Alive, Season 1 with Steve McQueen

Sooo…. after some inexcusable and longwinded delays (which you don’t want to hear about and we won’t get into here), I FINALLY delved properly into this and… oh my great cactus blossoms, it ended up totally sucking me down its splendid rabbit hole. (Thank you for that Natalie and Hamlette, true friends ye are XD), and I’m so happy about it!! 

First to get some generalities out of the way. This review is for the first season. When I last checked Prime has seasons 2 & 3 too, which is where I’m hoping to watch them (our tv is just giving me a bit of a hassle with compatibility for some reason, so figuring that out).

It has a number of familiar, and some quite famous, faces, so that’s fun. The acting’s good, and the plot lines are varied and original -- it’s quite impressive in that regard actually. Some of the dialogue and also the fight scenes are sliiiiiightly staged (i.e. even I know there’re some better self defense tactics than some of the folks used), but of course, even for the most skilled in that area there’s the difference between practicing something and actually doing it in the heat of the moment, and in this case there’s the whole cinematic effect thing as well. Also, like it or not, I’ve realized even heroes have to mess up occasionally for things to get out of hand and create story and all that. 

Content wise, there's lots of shooting and some of the bad guys are real baddies with explicitly wicked intent; also due to Randall’s job description there are some more complex themes to grasp, (and he does enjoy chatting with saloon girls here and there, though it never states or shows that that actually develops into anything), so with younger fry I’d say it’s a step up from Andy Griffith and the Richard Greene Robin Hood, if that’s helpful. (And the great thing is, it's a tv series, so as with all tv series, some episodes are more intense and/or just a slight cut above the others, but if you're concerned about anything, you can easily skip any eps and adjust for viewership, etc.)

Now we’ll get down to more of the good stuff and why I enjoyed it so much. 

There are lots of surprising twists and turns, and while not mystery, it is about fulfilling the mission and thwarting the bad guys, and as such y’all know how I’ll love it. ;) It’s about building and maintaining justice in a lawless land, and our protagonist Josh Randall actually using his role as a bounty hunter in building that, fighting to make sure everyone gets fair play.

And, I know both still exist today, but for all the lawlessness in a time and place where there was a real marketable need for bounty hunters, it shows the historical fact that (though it was the wild west) they were sticklers for proper procedure, and there were also way more records and official justice than you might think. 

As for the characters peopling this wild west: real life is messy. Because of common grace and because they bear God’s image, bad people can still do good things -- and, as is the case since the beginning of time, some of the 'bad guys' aren't so much out and out evil as just downright Pigheaded Idiots. By the same token, good people sin, and good people, trying to do good to others as best they can, also sometimes just plain put their foot in it. 

One thing I found most interesting and somewhat unusual, is in it showing the bad, black-hearted women of the frontier (and I don’t mean saloon girls), just as much as the men. Much as I love a sweet, rosy-haloed Dickens heroine once in a great while, it’s bracing to see something realistic, without being morbid or depressing either, so I grew to appreciate that. There isn't any ongoing love interest, but there are a couple good sweet women he meets (and I'm totally going to need to write at least a short story spinning off the Double Fee episode).

As for our main character, Josh Randall: he’s resourceful and smart -- generally smart as a whip, careful not to rush to judgment but clearheaded as to the depravity of man; a loner yet able to make friends easily; and with little flashes of dry humor, usually with a wry twist. (To applicably quote Blackadder, “You’ve really worked out your banter, haven’t you?” “No, not really. This is a different thing; it’s spontaneous and it’s called wit.” Ha, love that quote and it keeps coming to mind when thinking of WDoA. ;D) 

I’ve realized (despite Shadow on the Mesa being such a top favorite), I’d not thought a terrible lot on how other people would perceive the character of a bounty hunter. I guess because in SoTM, you can figure out pretty quickly his level of honorableness, etc., so you don’t see (quite) as much what preconceptions other people have coming face to face with it, i.e. viewing him as being a heartless, violent mercenary. But that’s part of what makes this so good too -- it’s a job someone has to do, but Randall makes sure he does all in his power to bring the wanted in alive for a proper trial, even to the extent of putting his own life on the line. And practical, sometimes brusque, and always laconic, he often quietly helps those in need -- sometimes with his services, at other times even giving away his reward money, and then after all that, downplaying his good deeds and sidestepping effusive appreciation -- it’s like he feels it’s no more than he ought to do.

As you've gathered, usually I do like a good romance, but I don’t feel like this needs it. You do feel achy sorry sometimes for just what a lonely job it must really be, not being able to trust anyone hardly ever, except (most of) the grizzled old sheriffs, but I think here it helps contribute to that relentless twinge of longing that most all good epic westerns have. Very satisfying. 

 ~

In conclusion I’m very VERY happy to say I ended up loving it (well, season 1 and looking forward with cautious yet very enthusiastic optimism to seeing the others ;D). Seriously y’all, you’ve GOT to come and join me down this particularly splendiferous rabbit hole!!

Why I Love Westerns

"What makes a western? It seems to me that it's not simply that it took place in the western part of the United States, nor is it big hats and peacemakers and horses. I mean, all of those are elements, certainly, but what makes a western a western to me is that you lack the recourse of civilization to work out whatever the problem is, and therefore characters must work out the dilemmas for themselves."

~ Walter Hill ~

So, why do I love westerns?
 
Well, it all goes so deep. Not to be cliche, but deep right down past the soles of my boots and into the soil itself.

There's the epic-ness and the grandeur; which is all part and parcel of my love for the western land itself, with all the varieties that entails. The high outcroppings. The sun coming up and slanting long, or turning to a golden haze at sunset through the pine trees. The western grass that grows long and green and turns to that special wispy crunch by high summer. Mountains, snow drifts, aspens, and high altitude pines growing short, stubborn, and twisted against the wind. And smoothly rounded rocks and fast rushing water. Thinking back, I can definitely say my love for the landscape first spurred my love of westerns as such. We didn't watch many (as in any at all really) when I was little, but we did drive back and forth across the wide open spaces. So then when I started delving into all the delights of western film, it was a natural (and very fast) progression. A peopling of those wide spreading places. ;)

Through it all there's a bigger-than-life sort of feel, but yet it's REAL. And so when it comes to story (book or film) whether or not each and every story (of the excellent ones anyway) is completely and utterly historically accurate to the very last iota -- doesn't really worry me. It's like the knightly tales of honor and daring. It's what Tolkien was trying to do for England in Lord of the Rings. It's the stuff of true myth and legend. The stuff of which heart stories are made.

"The English have Shakespeare, the French have Moliere, the Russians have Chekov, the Argentines, have Borges, but the Western is ours--from Canada down to the Mexican border."

 ~ Robert Duvall ~

As for the men of this wild western landscape… (and the women as well I suppose, but let's not take on too many things at once) whether or not they like the challenges -- or even the land itself -- it still shapes who they are, irrevocably. It dyes them in the weave.

(In the following, I wanna make it clear I do not think you have to be in or from the west to identify with and have a deep passion for your calling, so let's just be clear on that.)

Now I'm not romanticizing here, as I'm thrilled to be married to such a man myself (which personal experience has led to a lot of these cogitations and this particular light bulb moment), but in whatever capacity -- rancher, lawman, homesteader, trapper, cowboy, railroad baron, etc. -- the calling and occupation of the men of the wild frontier country is integral to their very identity. (My western man, for instance, who's a business owner dealing with emergency communications, would have owned the telegraph company; really a very apt comparison. :)) But it's who they are. And they're proud of it.

And generally (in the stories I tend to love anyway) they naturally tend to have a very defined vision of life -- principles they live by, compromises they’re unwilling to make. And they follow through on those with dogged, sticky tenacity. They’re the protagonists I love rooting for and it’s WHY I love rooting for them.

They’re taking dominion and -- even on a regular, run-of-the-mill, ordinary week -- the stakes are real, and they're ginormous. Whether or not they carry a gun (and whether they can even be a real western man without one, or under what circumstances that might happen, is a discussion for another time), but their days are played out with live ammo.

You say what you mean and you mean what you say, or take the consequences. Who you stand with and what you fight for matters. Loyalty matters. (“Whose side you on, boy?”) There's no room for dithering about. It's a world of manly men who (while they can be the deep, complex, strong silent type) are bold and forthright when they do speak. Men who are confident and secure enough in their own opinions to joke and rib each other.

So there're the recurring themes of treachery and loyalty; and who has your back. Along with this, the man-to-man friendships aren’t soppy. They’re gritty and real and often forged under fire. These men are strong and courageous, and if they're not, they face down the fear.

(The view out my dining room this morning. <3)

Truth be told, I’m a western girl through and through. The Tetons and Yellowstone country are my happy place. Sagebrush and Ponderosa pines can make me cry. There’s a mounted antelope head above our couch that’s one of my favorite things about our living room. Gun belts and saddles and well-worn slouch hats and the sound of horse hooves pounding are signs of thrilling adventure.

In the westerns I love things can get dark -- there can be a lot of sweat and blood and tears and hard work and tragedy by times -- but it's all worth it. Because the other side of it all is magnificent and breathtaking -- full of lovely, incredible, heart-stopping heroism and tales of epic redemption and good gifts. And surrounding all of it -- running through every story -- is the whole rich, alluring, wide spreading land itself, a world to tame and conquer and be fruitful and run wild in.

It's beautiful!