Kevin Costner has cemented himself as a distinguished figurehead of Western cinema. His Oscar-winning epic Dances with Wolves is widely regarded as Open Range, a gritty adaptation of the 1990 Lauran Paine novel The Open Range Men that not only marked the actor's directorial return: it also reconfirmed his deep, almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Western genre.

Released in 2003, Open Range covers the violent wars between freegrazing cattlemen in the Old West and stars Costner alongside Hollywood legends like Robert Duvall, Annette Benning, and even a young Diego Luna pre-Andor fame. Whereas Dances with Wolves presents a grandiose, almost Homeric tale of a Union soldier's bond with the Lakota people, Open Range delivers a far more grounded and authentic narrative (according to historical experts) that, in addition to being far more representative of its genre, is also a testament and love letter to the cowboy as a symbol of tough American individualism.

Why 2003's Open Range Is Kevin Costner's Best Western Movie

The Film Explores A Different Side Of The Traditional Cowboy

Set in 1882 Montana, Open Range follows former gunslinger Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), who works alongside his fellow ranch hands Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and Button (Diego Luna) for open range cattleman "Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall). Charley and Boss encounter trouble after a corrupt local rancher, Denton Baxter (Sir Michael Gambon), attacks and kills one of their crew , forcing the pair to team up and get revenge against Baxton while defending their land in an ultimate showdown against the landowner.

Though the film celebrates Charley's bravery through heroic framing and a swelling orchestral score, it doesn't shy away from depicting the brutality of war.

What separates Open Range from the rest of Kevin Costner's Westerns is its grit and stripped-down violence, whose messiness is accentuated through a modern lens with quick cuts, handheld camera, and brilliant sound editing. Though the film celebrates Charley's bravery through heroic framing and a swelling orchestral score, it doesn't shy away from depicting the brutality of war.

Furthermore, the film also hints at the ranch hand's underlying post-traumatic stress from the Civil War. In short, Open Range takes the bold, heroic cowboy of past Westerns and reframes him in a way that both preserves his mythos while exploring his raw, untamed vulnerability—creating by far the most thought-provoking protagonist in Costner's filmography.

The Western Genre Brings Out The Best In Kevin Costner

Costner Holds A Deep ion For Westerns And Filmmaking

There's a very simple reason why Kevin Costner continues to excel in creating Westerns like Yellowstone and the Horizon saga—beyond just the filmmaker's love for the genre. Put simply, Costner has an understanding of the Western story's hallmarks, tropes, clichés, and archetypes that allow him to create a breathtaking tale like Open Range that's rooted in the genre's canon and history.

What's more, the Western is simply the type of film where Kevin Costner feels most at home. The actor once claimed, "I'm just not comfortable in cities," which helps explain why he prefers Westerns - whether it's a modern-day Western or a period piece set in the Wild West - over a standard action film or drama. Costner explained, "But when I find myself out in the West, I wake up every morning and that's my office. That's what I'm looking at."

Being comfortable in that sort of atmosphere seems to have brought out the best in Kevin Costner, which goes to show why he's been repeatedly cast in Westerns, more so than any other genre, for the last three decades. As evidenced by his role in Open Range, Costner has mastered all the elements needed for a good Western protagonist, making him the closest thing this era has to John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.