I doubt very much that, in 2003 when this film was released, I would have enjoyed it as much as I did watching it yesterday. Thanks to a friend who after reading my post on Silverado insisted that I see this to see how a Western can be made with very little, but effective gunfights but with a lot of dialogues.
Throw in Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner, I was hooked and readily agreed to and saw it at home. I am glad that I did.
Both Duvall and Costner produce absolutely stunning performances with able if somewhat subdued support from Annette Bening. Despite it running for 140 minutes, I would say that it is an attention grabbing and compactly made film.
Effective photography, subtle humour, great dialogue deliveries and superb direction pushes me into giving it a five out of five rating.
If you have not seen it, please do. A very unusual Western but Western nevertheless.