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Stars: Robert
Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, and Michael Jeter
Writer: Craig
Storper
Director: Kevin
Costner
Feature length:
139 minutes
Extras: Feature
Length Audio Commentary With Actor/Director Kevin Costner, “America’s Open
Range” Featurette, “Beyond Open Range” Director’s Journal, Deleted
Scenes With Optional Introductions On Select Scenes By Kevin Costner,
“Storyboarding Open Range” Featurette, Music Video Montage, Bones Trailers
Languages: English
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and
French Language Dolby Digital Surround Sound
Subtitles: English
Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Two-Disc Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 18
Sound: DTS Digital
5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical
Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Home Video
Distributor: Touchstone Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: R
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
I like Kevin
Costner. I don’t go see every movie he appears in, but I don’t think I have
seen every movie any other Actor or Actress has ever appeared in either. “Open
Range” is the third feature film to be directed by and co-starring Kevin
Costner and it is certainly a good western, which is the genre Costner appears
to be most comfortable in anyway. It can’t be easy to direct and act in a
feature length motion picture for anyone so when a person does a more than good
job at both I think one can’t help but figuratively take their hat off to the
individual who has succeeded. Costner is a part of a group of free grazers that
drive cattle along while living off the land. It is a tough job and an existence
that is extremely perilous. Four people managing cattle on the open range can
fall victim to so many elements that it is almost a miracle that anyone can
successfully make a living at it for any amount of time. After more than ten
years, the men encounter animosity when they send one of their hands to the
nearby town. After the person doesn’t return in 24 hours, they go into the
town and find that he has been beaten and arrested unjustly by the locale
Marshall, who is in the pocket of the town kingpin (Michael Gambon). They
realize very quickly that the man who runs the town means to steal their cattle
using the local Marshall and his deputies as his muscle. Upon returning to the
range, they find a group of masked riders staring down the cattle from afar with
weapons drawn. This turns out to be a ruse to draw Costner’s character and his
Boss (Robert Duvall) away from their camp. While they are sneaking up on the
horse riders, men from town kill their recently returned wounded cowboy and
leave their youngest assistant nearly dead. This prompts a series of events that
leads to a violent confrontation back in town. Annette Bening serves as love
interest for Costner’s character while James Russo plays the corrupt Marshall.
The late Michael Jeter delivers a terrific character performance too.
The film manages
to call to mind several other westerns while maintaining an integrity all it’s
own. Touchstone Home Entertainment’s DVD edition presents “Open Range”
with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio and it captures the
vistas and countryside with breathtaking clarity. The English DTS Digital 5.1
Theatrical Surround Soundtrack is very well mixed with a full three-dimensional
sound recreation so you can almost feel as if when the rain falls, the drops are
landing all about you. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also
very well mixed. A French Language Dolby Digital Soundtrack and English Captions
and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as well as Spanish Language
Subtitles are encoded onto the first disc as options too. Kevin Costner provides
a detailed screen specific feature length audio commentary track on disc one and
he also provides optional videotaped comments before select letterboxed deleted
scenes on disc two (30:57). With or without the optional introduction these
deleted scenes can also be viewed as one reel (24:31) or individually. The
deleted scenes are detailed as “Send Mose To Town” (: 24), “River
Campfire” (2:02), “Tracking Mose” (2:42), “Mose’s Story” (3:20),
“Watching From Jail” (: 58), “Toss Jail Keys” (1:16), “Wife &
Child” (1:23), “Rip It Down” (1:09), “Charlie With Dead Man” (1:15),
“Baxter Kills Bill” (2:48), “Livery” (2:20), and “Cemetery” (1:33).
Other extra
features on disc two include Costner’s video journal about the making of
“Open Range” (65:50) that can also be viewed in eight individual vignettes.
Costner also provides the narration on a short featurette detailing the
historical aspects of the free grazers in the 1800’s (12:44). A storyboarding
featurette (6:37) and a music video montage (4:32) are also included on disc
two. A reel of bonus trailers (9:25) that include previews of “Hidalgo”
(2:35), “Cold Creek Manner” (2:33), “Veronica Guerin” (2:10), “Haunted
Mansion” (1:17), “Alias” (: 32), and an ESPN TV spot (: 17) wrap up the
extra features included in this DVD set. The interactive menus are well rendered
and easy to navigate.
“Open Range:
2-Disc Collector’s Edition” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on
and offline from Touchstone Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2004
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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