Starring Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annete Benning, Michael Gambon, Michael Jeter, Diego Luna, James Russo
Written By:
Directed By: Kevin Costner
Studio: Touchstone
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I was looking forward to seeing this movie again because I really liked it when I saw in the theaters last summer. Yeah I know what you’re saying, it’s a Kevin Costner movie but this flick is good I tell ya! Open Range is like Unforgiven, they both have a similar style and story. A slow paced western about over the hill Cowboys.

Open Range is about 2 Cowboys (Boss Spearman {Duvall} and Charley Waite {Kevin Costner}) grazing their cattle across the country and running into trouble when one of their workers is missing in the nearest town. The town owner Baxter (Michael Gambon) doesn’t want free grazing around his town and tries to boss around Spearman and Waite. They don’t budge so Baxter kills one of Spearman’s men. Boss and Charlie get pissed and declare war on Baxter and his men.

The movie is slow but it still keeps the viewers interested in the story and characters. Once Boss and Charlie got into town, that’s where the story picked up. The gunfight towards the end of the film is the highlight. It’s gritty, action packed and entertaining! I like how Costner takes a step back from the starring role and let’s Robert Duvall shine in this movie. I also really liked Michael Jeter’s character in the film. He always played quirky likable characters in movies and it’s sad to see him pass away this year. Also composer of the film Michael Kamen passed away as well. He left behind a great score that fits the movie well. My only complaint about the movie is that the character of Baxter was fleshed out more and there was a few more action scenes in the film.

On to the Extras, which are on Disc 2. The first featurette is called American’s Open Range and it’s narrated by Kevin Costner. It’s a historical look at the real open range of the 1800s and how things were back then. It’s was informative but I felt it was too short. The deleted scenes were actually pretty decent because it showed more depth to the characters as Mose, Denton Baxter, and adds more depth to the relationship between Boss and Charlie. I think there should have been a few deleted scenes added back into the movie like the one where Baxter locks up the Doctor and kills the bartender. It showed he’s an evil man willing to kill someone who was on his side and it also showed that he didn’t have so much power as he thought. Beyond Open Range was the best extra because it was an hour or so Behind the Scenes look of pre-production, production and post production. You wouldn’t believe how hard things were on this movie. It couldn’t get financed at that time, and Costner and others were spending money out of their own pockets. Costner was working through pain and in post production, his appendix bursts and Robert Duvall had previously broken some ribs on a horse. I think he broke them not on during the making of though but before the movie started production. There was other things that happened but I can’t think of them at the top of my head. But the featurette was great. Other extras on this DVD 2 set is audio commentary by Kevin Costner, a music video montage and a storyboards of the movie. Overall, I like the extras and love the movie; if you like westerns, I’d definitely buy this DVD

Features:
– America’s Open Range”- narrated by Kevin Costner
– Beyond The Open Range- Director’s Journal
– Deleted Scenes
– Storyboarding: Open Range
– Music Video Montage

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
ENGLISH: DTS 5.1 CC

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: “Showdown at the Saloon” “Gunfight Begins” “The Town Helps Out”
Rating: Rated R
Running Time: 139 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: