Summary

• Open Range earns an impressive eight of 10 for its historical accuracy from an Old West historian.
• The Kevin Costner film is praised for its depiction of cowboy life and corrupt lawmen.
• Open Range was a success at the time of its release in the early 2000s and it still stands out as a modern highlight of the Western genre.

An Old West historian takes a look at select scenes from Kevin Costner's Open Range, praising their historical accuracy. Released in 2003, Open Range stars Costner as Charley Waite, a former gunslinger who must return to his old, violent ways when his cattle crew is threatened by a corrupt lawman. The film, which was well-regarded by critics at the time, also stars Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, and the late Michael Gambon.

In a recent video for Insider, real-life cowboy and historian Michael Grauer judges Open Range for its historical accuracy, finding that Costner's film gets a lot right.

Grauer praises the film specifically for its depiction of what life was like as a cowboy and his cattle, but the film's depiction of corrupt lawmen is also true to life. Check out select comments from Grauer below as well as his score for the film out of 10:

“Open Range is a great movie. It’s one of the few that actually depicts cowboys with some accuracy, in particular because it takes on the whole idea of free grazing, which was the range tradition up until about 1880. And what meant was you could graze cattle on those grasslands as long as you wanted without really any title or claim. […]

“Unfortunately as communities were established, elections could be corrupted and eventually hand-picked candidates would come to the fore and so that whole idea of a lawman not enforcing the law, except selectively against certain peoples, that really was fairly common in the West.

“This film, this is an eight [out of 10]. Few quibbles about the gunfight, but it’s one of the best cowboy movies in my opinion. And I don’t mean Western, I mean cowboy movies.”

How Was Open Range Received?

Kevin Costner's Western Struck A Chord With Audiences

Open Range gets a lot right when it comes to historical authenticity, but it's also an entertaining film that fared well with both audiences and critics. The positive critical response is summed up by the film's respectable 79% Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, is a Revisionist Western, but the movie also wears its classical influences on its sleeve. The film was widely praised for its strong storytelling and the compelling chemistry between Costner and Duvall.

Before starring in Open Range, Costner also starred in Westerns like Wyatt Earp, Dances With Wolves, and Silverado, among others, making him a veteran of the genre.

Open Range was a box office success at the time, and it's also frequently cited as a highlight of the genre today. Made on an estimated budget of $22 million, Costner's film ended up grossing $63.8 million at the worldwide box office. This total comprises $58.3 million domestic and only just under $10 million internationally, but such a stark split isn't unusual for Westerns. As can be seen with multiple Westerns in the 2000s, the genre is just not as appealing to audiences overseas.

Costner, of course, recently took another crack at the Western genre with his first Horizon: An American Saga movie, which he also directs and stars in. This movie, however, has been met with more mixed reviews and has been a major box office disappointment, failing to get anywhere close to Open Range's worldwide total. While his latest Western venture may not be a success, Costner's work on Open Range has evidently cemented the film as a crucial entry in the genre.

Source: Insider