After the monumental summer of 1984 (fueled by the sui generis blockbusters Ghostbusters and Gremlins and the highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Hollywood had high hopes for the '85 season. Among the sure things ("Rambo: The First blood part II" and the James Bond film "A View to Murder"), and then unknown quantities ("Back to the Future" and "Gremlins"), the industry promoted the return of a western with the duo of Clint Eastwood's Blade Rider and Kasdan's Silverado.

While "Blade Rider" was a hit for its modest price tag, "Silverado," which appeared as a big Hoxian feature with the main quartet of Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover and Costner, grossed a disappointing $32 million in the U.S. on a budget of 25 millions of dollars. The Western, it turns out, was where it had been since the 1970s: profitable as long as Clint was on the bill.

Although moviegoers didn't turn out in droves for Silverado, critics were generally kind and especially complimentary of the performances. And in a group of mostly familiar faces, Costner's moody loose cannon character Jake stood out.

In a 2019 interview with Entertainment WeeklyCostner fondly recalled the time when he was filming Silverado. "It was a really big, huge moment for me, to be in the Silverado," he said. But Jake's role didn't immediately seem perfect. As he told EW:

“I always felt that I would end up playing a laconic type of Western character. And here came this young guy full of juice... It was the perfect role for me. I always knew that was a huge block in my foundation."

Forty years later, Silverado still enjoys a reputation as a satisfying, old-school Western with a touch of that cinematic magic. It's a Western made by Boomer who always wanted to make a Western. Costner, apparently, ended up being one of those Boomers with Dances With Wolves, Open Range, his Yellowstone series and, most recently, his in-progress epic Horizon: An American Saga. Jake may have been an unexpected role, but the genre always suited him. “I was really comfortable being on it barefoot and doing unsavory things,” he told EW. "You can't help but want to be the horse guy in a western."