“Open Range”

By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Strong, silent cowboys wrangle with ruthless land barons in the blazing guns western "Open Range" (Touchstone).

Kevin Costner, who dons a director's cap as well as a Stetson in the film, indulges in a kind of spacious filmmaking, which, despite moments of heavy-handed melodrama and a disturbing, revenge-driven plot, effectively evokes the mythic tone of this most American of genres.

Costner, no stranger to stirrups, is back in the saddle as Charley Waite, a cowboy who must have attended "Duke" University with a major in spitting.

Waite, a decent man still haunted by his shadowed past as a commando during the Civil War and later as a hired gun, has found relative peace driving cattle herds across the open range, alongside father-figure Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), an ornery old cowpoke with an innate sense of justice.

But times are changing. The frontier is disappearing, as the "open" range is closed in by the fences of rich ranchers like Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who view "free grazers" like Waite and Spearman as vermin, to be dealt with accordingly.

When a posse of Baxter's men kill one of Waite's hands and critically wound another, Waite and Spearman vow to exact retribution -- which, as proscribed by the code of the West, is meted out by the barrel of a shotgun. The ensuing confrontations with the town's corrupt sheriff (James Russo), a sadistic tin star on Baxter's payroll, unleash Waite's violent inner demons.

The only balm for his seething rage takes form in the person of Sue Barlow (Annette Bening), the town doctor's cultured, spinster sister, who immediately takes a shinning to the troubled gunslinger. But before Waite can hang up his revolver, he and Spearman must stand up to Baxter and his quick-draw lackeys in a high-noon showdown.

First the good. After the assault of Hollywood's annual summer schlock and awe campaign, it is refreshing to see a movie that at least makes an attempt at narrative and character development -- though the story would have been better served if Costner had corralled in the film's 2:15 running time.

Echoing the big-sky grandeur of classic Western films with their inherent paeans to freedom, honor and friendship, Costner genuflects more than once at the altar of John Ford, practically branding each frame with the initials "JF." Short of rolling tumbleweeds, Costner has herded just about every cowpoke cliche onto the screen -- Baxter's men are so evil they shoot Waite's dog -- but the unabashed earnestness of his storytelling makes it harder to find fault with its formulaic predictability.

Costner seems at home on the range, playing his taciturn straight-shooter with an archetypal blend of Gary Cooper integrity and John Wayne grit. Duvall adds much-needed levity to the mix, serving as a complimentary foil to Costner's brooding gravitas.

Now the bad. Even in the lawless Wild West, certain rules of aesthetics should have been enforced. The music director's face should adorn a wanted poster for compounding every moment of melodrama with a swell of strings. Also nothing triggers a stampede of audience laughter like hackneyed dialogue or a misuse of slow-motion shots.

Bening seems out of her element, too glamorous even without any make-up. While everyone else is covered in trail dust and mud, she appears fresh-scrubbed, as if she just snuck off to the little spa on the prairie for a quick facial.

And finally the ugly. The action of the film is fueled by a problematic theme of revenge. Understandably, given the story's historical context, the deferment of law enforcement to legitimate authorities was not always an option, forcing people of good conscience to resort to a form of vigilante justice.

But Waite and Spearman's single mindedness seems driven by darker impulses of the eye-for-an-eye variety, rather than any sincere hunger for justice in the Christian sense.

To his credit, while the film does contain some graphically violent images during its gunfight-at-the-OK-Corral-like finale, Costner does take pains to show Waite's moral misgivings about the acts he is about to commit, a pang of conscience which ultimately suggests the film's redemptive message.

While this cowboy movie will probably not be lassoing any Academy Awards, you never know -- come Oscar night, Costner may be standing on stage explaining "How the Best was Won."

Due to recurring gunplay, including a violently jarring image and minimal vulgar language, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.

* DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.