Summary

• Westerns experienced a decline in popularity until Clint Eastwood's Dollars trilogy revived the genre, and Kevin Costner helped revive them further.
• Kevin Costner's recent Western, Horizon: An American Saga, has divided audiences and critics but is proof that the Western genre is alive and well.
• Costner has a mixed track record with Western films, with Dances With Wolves being a classic but Wyatt Earp falling short.

Kevin Costner has been responsible for some true Clint Eastwood's Dollars trilogy and the Spaghetti Westerns they inspired gave the genre a shot in the arm. The abject failure of 1980's expensive epic Heaven's Gate was likely the nail in the coffin when it came to studios seeing the genre as financially viable.

Kevin Costner, whose new Western Horizon: An American Saga has audiences and critics divided, has appeared in a wide variety of movies and roles, from romantic comedies to thrillers and biopics. That said, he's arguably one of the last actors to find success with Westerns on the big screen, with 1985's Silverado being one of his breakthrough roles. In the years that followed, he starred in and directed several high-profile Western movies and series like Hatfields & McCoys and Yellowstone. With Horizon's debut now ed, it's worth revisiting Costner's other Westerns to see how it measures up.

6 Wyatt Earp (1994)

Costner's sprawling biopic was a box office disappointment

Wyatt Earp was one of two competing movies dealing with the iconic lawman, with the other being 1993's Tombstone, fronted by Kurt Russell as Earp. Tombstone was a bigger success both with critics and at the box office, and is packed with memorable one-liners from Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday, Russell's Earp, and Powers Booth's villainous Curly Bill. It's a well-paced, action-packed classic Western in every sense of the word.

Wyatt Earp, on the other hand, is a dour, overly-earnest epic that is surprisingly sluggish considering the cast and crew behind it. Costner is a highlight in the title role, but the movie has been largely forgotten for a reason. With a three-hour-plus runtime and plenty of boring stretches, Wyatt Earp's focus on the lawman's entire life (at Costner's insistence) as opposed to the key events through which he lived turned out to be a mistake.

5 Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

The first chapter in Costner's planned four-part epic

It took Horizon: An American Saga a reality, and the sheer scale and scope of what he intends to achieve is a testament to how long it's been gestating. The first of what is planned to be a four-part epic series spanning multiple decades and the entirety of America's expansion westward features a positively loaded cast, led of course by Kevin Costner as the rugged horse trader Hayes Ellison. Like most of Costner's Westerns, there is plenty of gorgeous cinematography and adherence to traditional Western tropes, and there are some intriguing plot threads introduced.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 releases on Friday, August 16th, 2024, just six weeks after Chapter 1 first hit theaters.

Unfortunately, the movie is more or less a montage of introduction. Dozens of characters (some of whom feel largely interchangeable) and several locations are introduced, only to have their stories pivoted away from so that other characters can be introduced. The intent is clear: this is only the first part of a multipart series. However, that doesn't make for a pleasant movie-going experience, especially when the movie's runtime clocks in at just over three hours. Horizon may have been better-suited as a TV show, but either way Chapter 2 will pick up the threads right where Chapter 1 left off.

4 Let Him Go (2020)

The neo-Western thriller stars Costner as a retired sheriff

Kevin Costner stars alongside Diane Lane in the Thomas Bezucha Western thriller set in the 1960s. The pair star as a retired sheriff and his wife, who work to keep their grandson out of the hands of a diabolical and dangerous family that he has fallen victim to. It's a harrowing adventure with just the right mix of traditional Western revenge elements to make it an entertaining genre film, even if it never elevates into true greatness.

Let Him Go flew under the radar as far as the box office was concerned, although given its modest budget, it's clear that a huge return was never the intent or expectation. The movie was particularly well-received by critics and audiences alike, with much of the praise going to the stellar performances of Costner and Lane. The taut, well-paced story plays out in under two hours, which is unusual for a Costner Western, but certainly works in the film's favor.

3 Silverado (1985)

The classic Western with a star-studded cast

Silverado was directed by Wyatt Earp's Lawrence Kasdan (who also penned Solo: A Star Wars Story), but where the biopic was oddly lethargic and downright dull at points, this 1985 Western classic is a rip-roaring adventure. It's stacked with charismatic performers like Kevin Kline, Danny Glover and Brian Dennehy, who all get a chance to shine. It's also bolstered by crackling dialogue and classic Western set pieces, which elevate the movie's fun.

Costner was a relative unknown at the time it was released, so he isn't in a leading man role in Silverado. He's part of the larger ensemble, and his character Jake is actually the wild card of the group. Costner plays him that way, as in place of the Academy Award winner's typically reserved delivery and presence is a gleeful, borderline silly gunslinger. It's an extremely fun departure from the norm that would later be established by Costner's more serious Westerns.

2 Dances With Wolves (1990)

Costner's Academy Award-winning classic

Probably the most famous Kevin Costner Western, Dances With Wolves marked the actor's directorial debut. The press predicted it would be a huge disaster (even dubbing it "Kevin's Gate") but not only was it an enormous success, it also swept the Oscars, including (controversially) winning the Best Director and Best Picture at the Academy Awards over Goodfellas. Dances With Wolves is filled with sweeping scenery, great acting (especially from Graham Greene) and spectacular sequences.

In hindsight, it also suffers from a bloated runtime and can be somewhat dull for long stretches too. Kevin Costner does typically attempt to involve the perspective of the Indigenous People in his Westerns, but the "white savior" aspect of Dances With Wolves simply hasn't aged that well. Still, it's a well-crafted, powerful drama that stands as one of Kevin Costner's top Westerns.

1 Open Range (2003)

The powerful Revisionist Western starring Costner and Robert Duvall

Costner both starred in and directed what is one of his highest-rated Westerns. The movie is a two-hander between him and the legendary Robert Duvall as two cattlemen targeted by a land baron. Open Range is a slow-burning story that builds to an expertly crafted gunfight in true classic Western fashion. It's the quiet character moments that sell the story, with an understated Costner giving the stage to Duvall for the bulk of the movie. Michael Gambon also shines as a Western villain in what might feel like an out-of-place role based on his other filmography.

It isn't anywhere near as well-known as some of Costner's most famous Westerns, but Open Range might be the strongest overall movie of the bunch.

Costner and Duvall brought enough star power to make the movie a success at the box office as well; it tripled its $22M budget when all was said and done. It isn't the highest-rated Costner Western, but with a Certified Fresh 79% Tomatometer score matched by an 84% audience score, it's clear that critics and audiences alike found plenty to like. It isn't anywhere near as well-known as some of Costner's most famous Westerns, but Open Range might be the strongest overall movie of the bunch.