The Untouchables 1987
Brian De Palma sees 'Silverado' and casts him as Eliot Ness. First time carrying a movie on his own shoulders, opposite Sean Connery and De Niro. Sean's automatic green; Amanda needed convincing.
The Big Picture · Hall of Fame · Discussion
The Kevin Costner Hall of Fame
June 25, 2024/ 117 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Ahead of 'Horizon,' Sean and Amanda walk Kevin Costner's whole filmography to build a Hall of Fame. They induct ten films, all from a 1987-1996 run, and argue about the rest, including a heated last stand for 'Molly's Game.'
56 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Kevin Costner Hall of Famethe greens: ten films, every one from 1987-1996
No Way Out 1987
A remake of 'The Big Clock,' and Amanda's personal must-green: real chemistry with Sean Young, plus Gene Hackman and a wild Will Patton. The naughty-thriller mode Sean wishes he'd done more of.
Bull Durham 1988
'The greenest of the green.' Ron Shelton's jock-poetry works only because Costner sells it. The soulful sexy-jock myth is born here, and he mostly never does it again.
Field of Dreams 1989
His 'It's a Wonderful Life': a magical-realist boomer plea, sincere true-believer with a dad wound. Costner himself called it right when the Vanity Fair profiler called it dead on arrival.
Dances with Wolves 1990
The $425M bet-on-himself that won Best Picture and Director over 'Goodfellas.' Both hosts find it dull and self-congratulatory, and agree it has to go in anyway.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 1991
Miscast, bad accent, start of the troubling hair. Sean couldn't finish a rewatch. In purely because it was a $390M phenomenon that a generation loved (and the Bryan Adams song).
JFK 1991
Loquacious, paranoid, obsessed, the furthest thing from his usual register. Sean's pick for his best performance outside 'Bull Durham'; Oliver Stone turns Costner's all-American image against him.
The Bodyguard 1992
Not good, and no real chemistry between the leads, but a smash anyway: best-selling soundtrack of all time. Kasdan wrote it for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross. The one they nearly swap out at the end.
A Perfect World 1993
Near Sean's top five. Clint Eastwood directs; Costner is a fugitive who bonds with the kid he's abducted. 'If he made a million movies like this he would be our greatest actor.'
Tin Cup 1996
The most watchable movie on the list, a warm bath. Reunion with Ron Shelton, credible as a golfer, one of the best golf movies ever after 'Caddyshack.' The latest film in the Hall.
The yellowsweighed hard, left out
The Big Chill 1983
He's not in it. Cast as the friend whose funeral it is, then cut; only his wrist survives, carrying the casket. Kasdan made good with 'Silverado.' The animating myth of his career, so it gets a nostalgic yellow it can't really claim.
Fandango 1985
First team-up with writer-director Kevin Reynolds, Amblin-produced. A charming-rogue quartet movie; young-McConaughey energy. He's the best thing in it.
Silverado 1985
Kasdan's ode to Ford and Mann. Sean finds it a photocopy, but Costner as the hot, dumb, charismatic one steals it, and it leads to everything.
Waterworld 1995
The 'Kevin's Gate' fiasco, 'Mad Max' on water. He pushed the director off and took it over. Yellowed for how much power he had.
Open Range 2003
Sean's pick for his best film as a director, beloved by a certain class of person; Robert Duvall is great. Amanda keeps it a yellow to move things along.
Molly's Game 2017
Two scenes as Molly's dad, and he walks away with them, dadding out on a park bench. Amanda's heated last stand for a green; Sean grants a grudging yellow.
Walked and cutthe rest of the filmography, from the early bit parts to 'Horizon'
Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. 1981
One of the early bit parts, an exploitation credit as John Logan.
Chasing Dreams 1982
Neither host tracked it down.
Night Shift 1982
Ron Howard comedy; Costner is a frat boy partying at the morgue-brothel with no lines.
Stacy's Knights 1983
AKA 'The Touch.' Low-budget gambling movie, but directed by future producing partner Jim Wilson and written by 'Dances with Wolves' author Michael Blake, his eventual script fixer.
Table for Five 1983
A newlywed husband, no lines.
Testament 1983
Small part as a young father in maybe the saddest movie ever made; a nuclear-war drama seen through one town.
Shadows Run Black 1984
A slasher Sean couldn't find. Red.
American Flyers 1985
John Badham cycling drama; his first sports movie, on the edge of sport and soap.
Revenge 1990
Jesse Kornbluth's favorite Costner movie. Nasty, gorgeous Tony Scott crime picture; 'the script is terrible but the story is so good.'
The Gunrunner 1989
Neither host has seen it; not on Blu-ray.
Wyatt Earp 1994
A three-and-a-half-hour Kasdan Western that 'Tombstone' ate a year earlier. Audiences rejected it.
The War 1994
Solid, with a good young Elijah Wood; Costner as a Vietnam vet with PTSD.
The Postman 1997
Another three-hour post-apocalyptic bet on the idea of America; a fake mailman doing Shakespeare. A noble failure.
Message in a Bottle 1999
Nicholas Sparks weepie with Robin Wright and Paul Newman; a $118M hit that doesn't need to go in.
For Love of the Game 1999
Sam Raimi; a credible aging pitcher, but the baseball and the romance don't hold up.
Play It to the Bone 1999
A tiny cameo.
Thirteen Days 2000
A compelling Cuban Missile Crisis docudrama, but his Boston-Kennedy accent doesn't work.
3000 Miles to Graceland 2001
Elvis-impersonator heist with Kurt Russell; possibly the worst movie he's ever made. Opens on a CGI scorpion, closes on Uncle Kracker.
Dragonfly 2002
Tom Shadyac movie neither host really remembers; scrubbed from society.
The Upside of Anger 2005
Mike Binder movie built around Joan Allen; Costner as an ex-ballplayer radio host and drinking buddy. One of the great twists.
Rumor Has It 2005
Rob Reiner's 'sequel' to 'The Graduate' with Jennifer Aniston. Soderbergh fired the writer ten days in. Amanda's white whale, 'the reddest red,' which she still begs everyone to study.
The Guardian 2006
Coast Guard rescue-swimmer movie; the diving sequences rip, everything Ashton Kutcher sinks it.
Mr. Brooks 2007
Costner as a serial killer; unavailable to stream, which Sean jokes is on purpose.
Swing Vote 2008
A drunk becomes the literal deciding vote in a presidential election. Sean found it reprehensible. Red.
The New Daughter 2009
A horror movie so obscure four critic friends had never heard of it. Red by default.
The Company Men 2010
'What about executives?' A very small brother-in-law part; he's the drywall of the movie.
Man of Steel 2013
Jonathan Kent, good casting in a movie Sean despises.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2014
Branagh spy movie; Costner is the stoic CIA recruiter. A watchable two-and-a-half-star film.
3 Days to Kill 2014
McG / Luc Besson assassin-with-cancer shoot-em-up. Not good.
Draft Day 2014
Entertainingly bad; not how any of this works. Features friends Griffin Newman and Tim Simons.
Black or White 2014
Binder again; a white grandfather raising his Black grandkids. Wouldn't get made today. Red.
McFarland, USA 2015
Earnest Disney cross-country coach movie; fine, bland, red.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016
Jonathan Kent again.
Criminal 2016
Another crime-movie fiasco.
Hidden Figures 2016
The paternal NASA figure; not bad, not in.
The Highwaymen 2019
John Lee Hancock's Bonnie-and-Clyde manhunt. Not in.
The Art of Racing in the Rain 2019
He voices Enzo, the dog.
Let Him Go 2020
A pandemic watch; he's actually trying, with a good Lesley Manville. Solid.
Zack Snyder's Justice League 2021
Jonathan Kent, joked in as an 'auto green.'
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 2024
The $38M self-financed Western that occasioned the whole episode; a Friday review with Chris Ryan to come.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Turned down or exited The Hunt for Red OctoberDjango Unchained
The Western revival around him TombstoneUnforgivenHeaven's Gate
In passing The Big ClockThe GraduateOcean's ElevenCaddyshackThe Legend of Bagger VanceBody HeatSaturday Night FeverBreaking AwaySleepless in SeattleGlengarry Glen RossWorking GirlMarried to the MobMiami BluesThe ContenderBeing the RicardosThe Trial of the Chicago 7OppenheimerUnfrostedTenetThe Fugitive
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