A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Open Range

Date Viewed: 8/16/03

Details:

Robert Duvall

Kevin Costner

Annette Bening

Michael Gambon

Director: Kevin Costner

Score: 1/2

The Review: Not the scenery nor the costuming -- you notice first the dialog. From the start it seems crude, stunted, vestigial -- trivial and superficial. Then you come to think it's just part of the role: post-Civil War cowpokes who grew up with little education, and certainly no training in rhetoric or eloquence. Finally it slips into the background, the characters come to the fore, and the bumbling and stilted dialog somehow fits, or at least there's no cognitive dissonance.

Taken from a comparatively unknown genre novel ("The Open Range Men," by Lauran Paine), this Western drama follows a pair of open range cattlemen (Duvall and Costner) through several encounters with some town-folk and corrupt lawmen who hold no truck with "free rangers." Contains a kernel of truth, but not as powerful as Dances With Wolves; occasionally endearing, but nowhere near as entertaining as the excellent Silverado; occasional dark character insights, but never the unremitting depths of The Unforgiven.

Not to be ignored, the background is indeed gorgeous, if geographically a bit mixed (Calgary, Vancouver, and the Stony Indian Reservation).

29-Aug-03

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