Whether Kevin Costner is in front of the camera or behind it, he always brings stellar performances to the big and small screens. Despite his recent exit from Yellowstone, Costner hasn’t slowed down when it comes to making feature film Westerns. His appearances in Westerns have been steady although the success of those movies varies significantly. His 2024 Horizon: An American Saga was far from a success at the box office, but his iconic Dances with Wolves took home seven Academy Awards.

There’s one Western that’s not as recognized as many of Costner’s other frontier flicks. Open Range, released in 2003, starring Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Benning tells the story of a former gunman forced to stand up to a corrupt lawman to protect himself, his cattle, and his cattle crew. The plot of Open Range is a fairly common one when it comes to Westerns, but the end of the movie stands out as one of the most engaging ever featured in the genre. The nearly 20-minute-long shootout is full of realism, adventure, heartbreak, and everything else one could want.

How Kevin Costner managed to pack so much action and heart into one scene in Open Range is a wonder. The actor and director has talked about his process and his overall goal for Open Range, allowing for a closer look at the epic scene.

Kevin Costner Called The Open Range Shootout Scene A ‘Running Battle’

It’s the final scene in Open Range, and it may be the one people remember best. The shootout pits Boss Pearman (Robert Duvall), Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), and Percy (Michael Jeter) against Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon) and his men. Entering the scene, it becomes clear that both Pearman and Waite are aware that they may be about to die.

The shootout scene is as realistic as it is long. Costner described the shootout in Open Range to the Ventura County Star in 2008 as a “running battle,” one that was shot “over 12 days.” As the director of Open Range, Costner explained, “I had to keep going back to other scenes in the film.” The scene required horses that could withstand gunfire; only one part was shot in slow motion. Costner believed using slow motion would detract from the realism of the scene.

Costner also added to the scene for the sake of continuity. Because the shootout was filmed over so many days, clouds were added digitally to ensure consistency.

The Shootout in Open Range Lasts 17 minutes

In 2014, Open Range director Kevin Costner was well aware of how audiences and critics responded to the lengthy shootout in Open Range, noting “That final shootout, a lot of people say that they really enjoy that.” As a director and an actor, it was important to Costner to create a sense of realism as well as make the scene as engaging as possible.

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This proved successful for reviewers like Roger Ebert who said in his review in 2003, “All of the elements involving Boss and his men and the showdown with Baxter are achieved with the skill of a classic Western.” In an interview with Ebert from that same year, Costner explained how he uses guns in his Westerns and why they added to the efficacy of the shootout scene. According to the actor and director, “I think guns should be loud in a movie, and scare you… It’s not just people who are hurt. Animals are hurt, and buildings are torn up, and people are scarred for life.”

In the DVD commentary for Open Range, Costner did acknowledge a mistake in the shootout scene, one he admitted was part of his larger desire to feature one of the elements of Westerns he enjoys the most. Costner has always found reloading in movies to be interesting, but in Open Range, Charley admittedly shot more than six times in a row while using a six-shooter. Costner also included Charley “fanning” his weapon, something he did because “The fanning is such a mythical part of the western, and I hadn’t seen it in such a long time, that I had no way of justifying other than hell’s bells I wanted to do it.”

Kevin Costner Keeps Making Westerns

In 2014, Kevin Costner offered insight into how he became so interested in Westerns as a genre. Costner explained to Role Recall, “My dad really loved John Wayne. And he said to me, ‘You can do that.’… And of course, I can’t be John Wayne. But I have personally taken an interest in the American Western.”

Costner has proven over and over again that he can, in fact, do Westerns. Talent, machismo, and passion all allow Costner to bring cowboys and other manly men to the screen over and over again. As the patriarch John Dutton in Yellowstone, Costner embodied the modern cowboy, but he’s just as comfortable in cowboy hats and boots in historical settings.

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Open Range was directed by Costner just like Dances with Wolves, the 1990 Oscar Award winner that also allowed Costner to take home a statue as Best Director. Costner was in Wyatt Earp in 1994, which he didn’t direct, but returned to the director’s chair with Open Range. Other Westerns like Silverado and Let Him Go helped lay the foundation for Costner’s 2024 Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.

He assured Role Recall that there would be more Westerns in his future, a promise he delivered on for the small and big screens alike. Costner will release the entireHorizon: An American Saga in four parts in the upcoming years.