open range

Just finished watching Open Range, and what a wonderful film it was. Why did this film not get a look in at the Oscars? Why have more people not gone to see it? Apparently it was a critical success in the USA but took hardly any money. In the UK it went straight to DVD. No sloppy acting at all, and once again Kevin has made America look beautiful. There is the most amazing gunfight, which lasts at least 30 minutes, and you really do get some idea of the panicky chaos that must have been around at these moments. People running around everywhere, shouting, and dying. When people get shot, blood spurts, and they are thrown into the air by the force of the bullets. It all seemed quite real to me.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the whole film was how affecting the slight romance that runs through it is. With only a few words and a look, Kevin and Annette utterly convinced me.

This is a great film, and you should all see it immediately. Now, don't argue with me. Just go and hire it straight away [or buy it, which would be better, because I am sure you will want to watch it again]. I would give this film 9½ out of 10, and it easily rates alongside the similarly themed film, Unforgiven. However, not all the women in this film are prostitutes, as Mrs McMuffin has pointed out. In fact, this film was a prostitute free zone.

[UPDATE The prairie scenes were not made in America. They used Alberta in Canada as a substite for Montana. I have also discovered that the film cost $26,000,000 to make and grossed, in the USA alone, $58,000,000. Maybe I am wrong, but that doesn't seem like too much of a flop.]