Open Range

Open Range is a 2003 American Revisionist Western film directed and co-produced by Kevin Costner, written by Craig Storper, based on the novel The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine, starring Robert Duvall and Costner, with Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, and Michael Jeter appearing in supporting roles. The film was the final on-screen appearance of Jeter, who died before it was released, and the film was dedicated to Jeter's memory, as well as to Costner's parents, Bill and Sharon. The film was a box office success and was critically praised. Plot In Montana in 1882, "Boss" Spearman is a seasoned open range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley Waite, Mose, and Button, is driving a herd cross-country. Charley is a former Union soldier who served in a "special squad" during the Civil War and feels immense guilt over his past as a killer of both enemy soldiers and civilians. Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by ruthless Irish immigrant and rancher Denton Baxter, who hates open-rangers for using his land to feed their herds. Mose is badly beaten and jailed by the town's corrupt marshal, Poole, after defending himself in a fight with some of Baxter's men. The only Harmonville inhabitant willing to openly defy Baxter is Percy, the livery stable owner.