Like a lot of moviegoers, the first time I really noticed Kevin Costner was when he played Jake, the hotshot young gun in "Silverado" in 1985. I'd actually seen him a couple of years before that, in "The Big Chill", but that was just a few shots and you couldn't tell it was him and he was playing a corpse. Costner's career began way before that, with something called "Sizzle Beach, U.S.A." (1974), filmed when Kevin was just 19. (It went unreleased for years.)
Early on, he drew comparisons to Gary Cooper, something he never seemed quite comfortable with and a designation that no young actor could realistically live up to, anyway. He's always kind of gone his own way, starring in big-budget adventures, taking a supporting role occasionally, and creating what amounts to a personal subgenre, the Kevin Costner sports movie. The pictures haven't always been award-worthy, but the choices are interesting. Here are a few of them:
"Fandango" (1985/Kevin Reynolds)
"American Graffiti" for grownups. An ensemble piece about some college friends on a road trip, celebrating the end of school and weighing what comes next.
"The Untouchables" (1987/Brian De Palma)
Costner plays Eliot Ness. Robert De Niro plays Al Capone.
"Bull Durham" (1988/Ron Shelton)
Costner plays an aging minor-league catcher who romances Susan Sarandon while mentoring Tim Robbins.
"Field of Dreams" (1989/Phil Alden Robinson)
If you build it, he will come.
"Dances With Wolves" (1990/Kevin Costner)
Kevin survives the Civil War and goes to live with the Indians. The movie won seven Academy Awards.
"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"
(1991/Kevin Reynolds)
Costner's miscast as Robin Hood, but the movie's a lot of fun.
"JFK" (1991/Oliver Stone)
Costner plays Jim Garrison, the New Orleans district attorney obsessed with finding out who killed Kennedy.
"The Postman" (1997/Kevin Costner)
Kevin's a post-apocalyptic wanderer who sees an opportunity and recreates the Pony Express.
"For Love of the Game" (1997/Sam Raimi)
Baseball again. Kevin's a journeyman pitcher who finds himself, in his last big-league start, working on a perfect game.
"Mr. Brooks" (2007/Bruce A. Evans)
What if the Chamber of Commerce man of the year was a serial killer? Costner's darkest movie and his most unusual role.
"The Highwaymen" (2019/John Lee Hancock)
Kevin and Woody Harrelson play veteran lawmen who go after Bonnie and Clyde.
Costner's in his 60s now, and sometimes if you look real close, you can still catch a glimpse of Jake's free-wheeling spirit, the wild-assed kid next door. More often, there's a guarded, watchful edge to what he does. Cops or cowboys, ballplayers or bureaucrats, he tends to play men who have seen enough of life to know that it can trip them up, and it makes them wary. At the same time, they take risks, sometimes crazy ones, and they can be a little too stubborn for their own good. (See "Tin Cup".) No matter how wayward they are, they're fundamentally honest. There's a sense that you know where they stand, even when (sometimes) they don't, and an underlying decency that comes across when they're on the screen.
Cooper had that quality. And Henry Fonda. And Jimmy Stewart. And (these days) Tom Hanks. And, in a long career that shows no sign of ending any time soon, Kevin Costner.
