Intermission: 'Open Range' classic fit for neo-western genre

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Jim Wunderle is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.|ret||ret||tab|

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Once upon a time, the western was a staple of the American film industry. Slowly but surely, the genre became stale and watered down, and the public's taste changed. The once mighty western was nearly forgotten. Sergio Leone (and star Clint Eastwood) kept a glimmer of hope alive with the "man with no name" series ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," et al.), but the days of the big-budget western saga seemed all but lost.|ret||ret||tab|

Then in 1992, Eastwood himself as director and star brought gunslinging glory back to the big screen in a big way with "Unforgiven." The film was hailed critically, and the public loved it, as well.|ret||ret||tab|

Now, another actor/director with a love of the western presents a high-profile project. While Kevin Costner's "Open Range" is markedly clichd, it uses those clichs with much reverence and style. Not as groundbreaking as "Unforgiven," the film is nonetheless a fine example of the style and will please lovers of the cowboy picture with its sense of familiarity and a classic, altruistic, "white hat/black hat" motif. |ret||ret||tab|

Unlike most of today's ber-macho heroes, the good guys in westerns do what they do because it's the right thing to do, not to boost their own egos or obtain more power. |ret||ret||tab|

Boss Spearman, Robert Duvall's character in "Open Range," sums it up succinctly: "Cows is one thing ... but one man telling another man where he can go in this country is somethin' else." These men have values and they're willing to die for them. Why? Because they are worth dying for. |ret||ret||tab|

Let me say at the outset that Duvall once again proves there is not a better actor working today. Costner, while competent, always takes some getting used to. One tends to be aware that it's Kevin Costner acting. But Duvall is Boss Spearman from the first frame, and his presence adds a lot of depth to the film.|ret||ret||tab|

Boss and longtime saddle partner Charley Waite are cattlemen, "free rangers," who drive their herd from one place to another to graze. The American West of the 1880s is changing rapidly with ranchers fencing off the open range and keeping their land strictly for their own cattle.|ret||ret||tab|

Boss, Charley and their two hired hands, Mose and the young Button, are grazing their herd outside the town of Harmonville. When Mose fails to return from a trip into town for supplies, Boss and Charley go and have a look. What they find is a town controlled by a free-range hating rancher named Baxter who controls the U.S. marshall and most other aspects of the community. Mose, badly beaten, is in jail and it takes some stern negotiation to obtain his release.|ret||ret||tab|

Boss and Charley take him to the town physician, Doc Barlow. While there, Charley is smitten by the doctor's sister, Sue. She's the archetypical "not so young anymore good woman looking for her one good man" character seen countless times before. Played wonderfully by Annette Bening, Sue is the love interest whom we know will end up taming Charley and settling down with him, happily ever after. |ret||ret||tab|

Bening, as beautiful now as she was in "The Grifters" in 1990, is an anomaly among Hollywood beauties. She's not afraid to look human. The closeups in "Open Range" reveal a face with character lines, even ... gasp ... wrinkles! A refreshing change from the stretched-beyond-belief phony faces of vain actresses and actors who refuse to accept the aging process as a natural progression of life.|ret||ret||tab|

The good doctor fixes Mose up, but the cattlemen's troubles are just beginning. Baxter has warned them to clear out of the territory and sends a group of his hired thugs to the free-rangers' camp to inflict some less-than-friendly persuasion.|ret||ret||tab|

The result is loss of life, near loss of life, a dead dog and a Boss who is more firmly resolved than ever to stand up for what he believes; what he knows is right.|ret||ret||tab|

Even after riding, working and living together for a decade, there is much that Boss and Charley don't know about each other. Classic good guys in westerns tend to be men of few words who say only what is necessary. Boss, and we, find out a lot about Charley's past and realize he will be a formidable ally in the gunfight that is guaranteed to ensue.|ret||ret||tab|

And what a gunfight it is. Costner, along with cinematographer James Muro, takes a familiar situation and gives it a stamp of originality, much the way other directors are constantly reinventing another old standby, the car chase.|ret||ret||tab|

The townspeople (basically good folks, but scared of the tyrannical Baxter) come to the aid of Boss and Charley somewhat, but it is their war to win, and it comes as no surprise that they do.|ret||ret||tab|

I was worried by the previews for this film and Costner's track record is somewhat spotty. In the end, though, I was more than pleasantly surprised by "Open Range" and think it will be remembered as a classic of the neo-western genre. It's fine entertainment, blended with traditional western values. |ret||ret||tab|

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