Oh, Kevin Costner - even though he's made some real stinkers in the past few years. Waterworld pretty much sunk, The Postman was probably the reason for all of those crazy mailmen, and 3,000 Miles to Graceland made people want to run 3,000 miles from the movie theater.
But, it's hard to forget about the good old days. Remember, "If you build it, they will come?" How freaking awesome was that? And what about Dances With Wolves, when was the last time mass amounts of people sat in movie theaters for more than four hours? And of course, who could ever forget Robin Hood? Sure, the English accent could have used a little work, but Costner was much more of a bad ass than Errol Flynn ever could have dreamed of.
There's got to be some kind of turn around coming up, right? Well, Open Range may not be up to the same epic scale as Dances With Wolves or capture the sexual essence of Bull Durham, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
The movie stars Costner as a cowboy named Charlie Waite. He and his partner Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) earn their living by free-grazing their cattle across the western plains. When bad weather forces them into a small town, they find that their kind is not welcomed in them there parts. When one of Charlie and Boss's crew members gets a bullet wound, they take them to the town doctor where Sue Barlow (Annette Benning) is working as a nurse. Then the requisite love affair ensues between Charlie and Sue. It could be seen from about 3,000 miles away, but their scenes together are actually pretty believable. It's also nice to see the casting decision to go with an appropriately aged actress instead of some ridiculously young fledgling.
There's some gun fighting and beautiful cinematography, but the real beauty of the film comes from the relationship between Charlie and Boss. They share an overt appreciation for each other while speaking very few words.
Last month Harkins Valley Art theatre hosted a sneak preview of the new flick, produced and directed by Costner, and he showed up to answer a few questions afterward. He was wearing cowboy boots.
Costner candidly discussed his career choices, including some that never made it into fruition. Here's some trivia for ya: before Princess Diana died, she and Costner were planning on making Body Guard II. Whether or not that would have continued the stinker trend is anyone's guess, but Costner did openly addressed his feelings about his reception by reviewers and box office burnouts.
"It's good to be popular, but it's better to be in touch," he says, adding that every movie he has made, he has gone forward with because he personally believed in the message behind it.
"I sit where you sit," he says. " I pay to see movies. I know what it's like to sit there and boo."
It does not seem that a few of these tanked films have gotten to the Academy Award winning director. He has his own production company, Tig productions, and continues to read scripts whenever he has the opportunity
"I like a good story, I don't really care what genre it exists in," he says. "But make no mistake, I do like our history and our American West is something that has continued to draw me in."
After Dances With Wolves, Wyatt Earp and Silverado, Open Range will be Costner's fourth western flick.
"It's a very difficult genre to film," he says. "You can't just do the whole floppy hat and the tow guys sittin' there goin' 'yep and nope' back and forth."
With American audiences continuing to grow more and more fickle about the originality of their cinema, it would seem that making a Western might be trying a little on the moviegoers patience. There isn't a heck of a lot more that can be said about shootin' and whisky drinkin'. However, Costner says he has tried to examine the Western from a new angle.
"The unconventional part is the aftermath," he says. "Often times in Westerns after a gunfight, people will be having drinks in a bar. But in reality, horses got hurt and little kids stood by and saw the whole thing."
Indeed, one of Open Range's standout features is the portrayal of the reality of the residue that the violence of a shootout would leave in a small town. The action is shown in real time, not in slow motion, and not in close-ups so you really do get a picture of what the townspeople might have seen.
Whether or not this new approach to an old style is going to be Costner's golden ticket out of the cinema doghouse remains to be unseen. But in the mean time, Costner is as optimistic as many of his long time fans.
"I still believe in the magic of movies," he says. "Five hundred people sit in the dark and dream the same dream for two hours. That's magic to me."
You keep believing Kevin Costner, and we promise to keep believing in you.
Reach the reporter at joy.hepp@asu.edu.
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