![]() It was the one attachment a man could have without worry. The image of the soft-spoken cowboy whose dog means as much to him as any man, is shown not once, but twice: once with the death of Charley's dog at the hands of those trying to drive them off the range, and another when Charley saves another cowboy's dog from drowning. Boss is a seasoned and tough cowboy who has always suspected the gun on Charley's hip had many stories to tell, but respected the man wearing it enough to know if he had wanted him to know, he would have told him. It shows how the west really was, with good men being able to size each other up and not ask questions about their past. There is something mythic about this omission. It is a side he has not even revealed to his traveling companion of ten years, Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall). Just as in the legendary "Shane," Costner's character, Charley Waite, has a deadly past he would just as soon forget. It will always force a confrontation between good and evil, as it does here. The story of two saddle pals grazing their cattle on free range until the evil rancher holding court over a town and all the land surrounding it attempts to stop them is a staple of the west. In many respects, the film Costner made, is a silent western. ![]() He succeeded on a grand scale, but in doing so may have gone even further than what he intended. He wanted to return to the simple and bare-bones idea of the west and what it was, both in reality and in our minds. This time it was Costner's turn, and what he did was absolutely astonishing. But it is too long for me to give it 5 starsĮvery decade or so, either Clint Eastwood or Kevin Costner makes an artistic and entertaining western in an attempt to revive the genre. This makes the film worth sitting through some of the longeurs.but Costner then, instead of a quick sensible finish, gives us another 15 mins for everyone to sort out their lives. However, it builds to one of the best, most realistic shootouts I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot - in the cinema of course). The film tends be a bit of a director's ego trip (My opinion only) with long discussions, beautifully framed scenes, and a plot done many times at a shorter length - the film runs 2hrs and 13 mins and for my money would have benefitted from 30 mins skillfully edited out. As I said, as dinosaur I missed the greats - Leo Gordon/Neville Brand/Van Cleef/Myron Healey. Some great acting from everyone, expecially the ever reliable Duvall. Beautifully filmed on wide open locations, with a frontier town that looked lived in. The film? It could have been a masterpiece, and to many it is. Plenty of extras for those who enjoy them. Good subtitles, needed because Costner does, on occasion tend to mumble. The DVD first.Good picture (bars top and bott5om), good colour, but the sound level on my copy was ridiculously low and I had to ramp it up to nearly c100. Then I saw this on Amazon and Robert Duvall and Michael Gambon(?) sold it for me. I have been a western lover for over 60 years, and find that (almost any western made after 1975 to be a bit of a failure (some exceptions of course0. I know why I haven't seen this 2011 DVD release before last night.
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