Kevin Costner’s western film credits start with Dances with Wolves (90), a solid entry on anybody’s list of all-time great western films, including mine. Costner starred and directed. The film netted 12 Academy Award nominations, winning seven total with Costner personally picking up Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. It is one of those films you can watch time and again and be enthralled by the elegant simplicity of the story and blown away by the cinematography.

Costner’s next trip west came as Wyatt Earp (94). As I said in our profile of Kurt Russell, Costner’s portrayal of Wyatt had an authenticity to place it squarely in the conversation for Best Wyatt Ever. It comes on the heels of his performance in Dances with Wolves to level his body of work in the discussion with Russell’s Miracle on Ice. As I said a few weeks ago, Best Wyatt Ever for me, too close to call, though based on reader comments to the Russell post, we may have to give him the nod.

Open Range pairs Costner and Robert Duvall in a fine western picture perfectly suited to the theme of keeping the western genre alive in a well-made film. Costner cast Duvall in the title role. He reportedly said that if Duvall had not accepted the part, he probably wouldn’t have made the movie. Fortunately for western film fans, Duvall never hesitated.

Costner’s western outings on the small screen begin with the legendary Hatfield & McCoy feud (2012). Ok so West Virginia and Kentucky are east of the Mississippi. Tune into the action and the show rides and shoots like a western. Forget the zip codes. Enjoy the feud. More recently, his contemporary western, Yellowstone (2018), reflects the fact westerns today are more than stories set in the nineteenth century. Kevin Costner understands the genre. He understands what is happening in western literature and takes advantage of the rich diversity in film.

Next Week: Gene Hackman
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Ride easy,
Paul