It isn't often when two of the most respected critics of their generations are united in their dismissal of a movie that most others swear by, but that's what happened in 1987. Director Brian De Palma rounded up a star-studded cast for an epic gangster movie with Western overtones; the movie was a major box-office hit, grossing nearly $190 million worldwide against a reported budget of $25 million. It was also honored with four Oscar nominations, winning in the Best Supporting Actor category. Despite the high pedigree on display — the music was composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone and the script was written by David Mamet — the movie was given negative reviews by Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert.

There couldn't have been an actor more suited to the role of John Dutton on Yellowstone than Kevin Costner. And despite the ups and downs, the back and forth, the will-they-won't-they between him and the show's creator, Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone turned out to be just the sort of hit that Costner needed at this stage of his career. The show's success gave him the confidence to mount his own Western epic, Horizon: An American Saga, which remains stalled after the underperformance of the first installment. He spent a considerable amount of his Yellowstone earnings on self-financing the epic Western series, not to mention the fact that he effectively gave up the chance to return for more seasons of the show by focusing on his own project. But Costner and the Western genre go hand-in-hand; some of the best and most underrated movies of his career are Westerns.

When Kevin Costner announced his early departure from Yellowstone back in June 2024, it rocked the TV world. After all, not only did that mean an early exit for John Dutton in the middle of season 5, but it clearly indicated some behind-the-scenes drama. "I loved it, and I know you loved it," he announced in a video on Instagram. "I just wanted to let you know that I won't be returning." In the following months, reports of growing tensions between Costner and series creator Taylor Sheridan only continued, with both sides speaking out. "You’ve been reading one version [of this behind-the-scenes drama] for a year and a half," Costner claimed in an interview with Deadline. "I left my movie to be on time for them for 5B. I left exactly when they wanted, and it made it hard on me. It turns out they didn’t have the scripts for 5B."