Saddle Tribute

TRIBUTE IN THE SADDLE

OPEN RANGE (2004)

A great western gallops in rarely. This is a great one. More than an homage to the classic western films ofJohn Ford and Howard Hawks, this film is a paean, a joyous praise, a stirring tribute. Kevin Costner asDir/Prod/Star has firmly taken the helm, and steered the audience to a place in the past that is both familiar and surreal.

When we actually study the Pioneer West, we unearth sturdy men and women who toiled, reproduced, and died in pounds of alkaline dust and caked-on mud. Gae Buckley, the production designer, created a western town called Harmonville, and we are allowed the visceral and olfactory sensations of a frontier world; the fresh-cut wood, the oily packing grease around the goods in the store, the stench of spilled spirits, the starch in gingham dresses, the pungence of refuse and waste left by livestock, and the fresh leather of gunbelts, chaps, tack, harness, and vests.

Charley: I'm not going to my maker without knowin' your given name. Mine ain't Waite. It's Postelwaite. Charles Travis Postelwaite. What's yours? Sure ain't Boss.
Silence from Boss Spearman.
Charley: I mean it, Boss. I'm asking you straight up.
Boss: It's Bluebonnet.
Charley: Bluebonnet?
Boss: Bluebonnet, yeah.
Charley: No middle name?
Boss: No, just Bluebonnet Spearman. And don't you tell no one. I want to hear you swear an oath now, go on.


The musical score was done by the late Michael Kamen, and it seems to twang, throb, and soar in perfect harmony with the Rocky Mountain majesty and the bone-splintering action. The cinematography by James Muro was both beautiful and graphic; flowing effortlessly from close-up to vista, capturing the texture of the town, and of the Alberta, Canada locations (substituting for Montana). The script by Craig Storper, based on the novel by Lauren Paine, captures the language, cadence, and crackle of theWest in the 1880's.

Boss: It's a pretty day for making things right.
Charley: Well, enjoy it, 'cause once it starts, it's gonna be messey like nothing you ever seen. Men are gonna get killed here today, and I'm gonna kill them.
Boss: I aim to kill Baxter and those that done this, and if that marshal gets in the way, I'm gonna kill him too. So you best get your mind right about what's got to be done, Charley.
Charley: I got no problem with killing, Boss. Never did.

(To the Marshal)
Boss: We got a warrant sworn for attempted murder for those who tried to kill the boy who'se laying over there at the Doc's, trying to stay alive. Swore out another one for them that murdered Mose, the big fella you had in your cell. Only ours ain't writ by no tin star, bought and paid for, Marshal. It's writ by us, and we aim to enforce it.

Kevin Costner is a risk taker, and he is a master at casting. He is very generous with his actors, sharing a scene or directing it, and he leaves plenty of time for them to develop their characters. His own character, Charley Waite, was a Civil War sniper, a killer of men, a former gunman and desperado; who has fallen in with an older cattleman (Robert Duvall as Boss Spearman), and the two hellraisers rein each other in. The various scenes with the cattle gave us a taste of the freedom and hardships associated with free-grazing. Their two hired hands, the young DiegoLuna (as Button), and the hulking Abraham Benrubi (as Mose), strike all the right chords. One can empathize with Boss, who gets irritated with their playfulness, horseplay, and comic conflicts. The scenes out on the mesas, on the prairie, are idyllic, yet also mundane and fatiguing. Cowboying can wear a man down.

(Charley kicks Button off his horse. He falls into the river.)
Button: What you do that for?
Charley: Cheating at cards.
Button: I apologized to you for that.
(to Boss Spearman)
Button: Eh, Boss? I apologized to him.
Boss: Evidently he ain't over it yet. A man's trust is a valuable thing, Button. You don't want to lose it for a handful of cards.

Mose is sent off the town to pick up some provisions, and when he does not return, the dread begins to mount. Michael Gambon, as Denton Baxter, was the one-eyedjack in Harmonville; the cattle baron who had a crooked sheriff (James Russo as Poole), and a gang of killer thugs to enforce his will. The hired constabulary beat up Mose, and toss him in jail. Enter Costner and Duvall, fists clenched, blood in their eye, toting shotguns, and unwilling to genuflect.This is a classic conflict that Costner takes time to set up. We get to know these men, and begin to care about them.

Charley: (Burying Mose and Tig)Be right to say some words.
Boss: You want to speak with the man upstairs, go on and do it. I'll stand right here and listen, hat in hand, but I ain't talkin' to that son of a bitch. And I'll be holding a grudge for him letting this befall a sweet kid like Mose.
Charley: Well, he sure as hell wasn't one to complain. Woke with a smile, seemed like he could keep it there all day. Kind of a man that'd say 'good morning' and mean it, whether it was or not. Tell you the truth, Lord, if there was two gentler souls in this world, I never seen 'em. Seems like Old Tig wouldn't even kill birds in the end, Well, you got yourself a good man and a good dog, and I'm inclined to agree with Boss here about holding a grudge against you for it. I guess that means Amen.

Some comic relief is set up by Michael Jeter (his final role), as Percy, the stable hand. Added to the mix, we discover Annette Bening as Sue Barlow, the spinster sister of the local town doctor. Her lines are few, and her screen time is limited. The part easily could have been forgetable if it had been played by a vacuous pretty face. But Bening beams witha windblown mature beauty, and a razor sharp intellect. She is wonderful in the part, delivering a fully-fleshed unforgetable performance that lingers in the mind long after the film is over.

Robert Duvall is the beating heart of the movie; his Boss Spearman is carefully etched and finely drawn. He is an old maverick, a cattleman that cherishes thef reedom of the open range, and who will fight for that priviledge. He firmly believes in a vanishing code; like an old samurai. But his terrible tenacity is also tempered with gentleness, dignity, and wisdom. If he is challenged, he simply will not back down. This role brings to mind the best of his work in LONESOME DOVE and GERONIMO. His character is as authenic as a battered hat.

Mose: Ol' Boss sure can cowboy.
Charley: Yep. Broke the mold after him.

Boss to Baxter: Cows is one thing. One man tellin' another where he can go in this country is somethin' else. That rancher sat in that jailhouse, sneerin'nd lettin' his lawman lay down the law 'til he figured it was time to show us who gives the orders around here--sticks in my craw.

Boss: I was married once...never knew that did you, Charley? Had a wife and a child. Sweet little spread too. Nothing fancy but we was young, loved each other...never had a cross word. They caught the Typhus and died...and after that, home didn't seem a place to spend time. But believe I've changed my mind on that, now that I'm gettin' on in years. If Button lives, and we survive Baxter, I aim to see there's a house he's a sleepin' in, instead of the cold prairie.

Boss: Man's got a right to protect his property and his life,and we ain't lettin' no rancher or his lawman take either.

Costner has demonstrated his propensity for violence in other films, but none has ever been as convincing as his Charley Waite; taciturn, quiet, even shy, this man is still capable when provoked to explode like a whirling dervish; leveling everything in sight. Yet the man is never out of control. He is cool and calculating in battle; like an athlete in a big game.And for me, the love story somehow worked. Ms. Barlow needed a prairie prince to pluck her out of the nest and love her passionately. Costner fits the bill; rough-hewn and violent, yet still bashful and tender.The gunfight climax is stark, stunning, and spectacular. The sound of the gunshots are heightened, and there is a sense of battle in real time. One doesnot know if the protaginists can survive. You just have to hold your breath, and duck for cover.

(Charley has explained his strategy for the upcoming fight)
Boss: Sounds like you got it all worked out.
Charley: Yeah, except for the part where we don't get killed.
Boss: We come for justice, not vengeance. Now them is two different things.
Charley: Not today they ain't.

This film creates a validity for the genre, and it succeeds on every level.

Glenn Buttkus 2003