| A River Runs Through It | | Cast : | Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt | | Director : | Robert Redford | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 09, 1992 | | DVD Released Date : | April 02, 2002 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), Portuguese (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 02, 2005 | | Summary | no clear line between religion and fly fishing | Content
 | Yes the movie is filmed in beautiful Montana - though I do not recall any winter scenes and those must be part of what formed young boys growing up there. Equally cold should be the religious view. This is somewhat reflected in the house. It can be especially seen in the contrast between the family of the future bride (why not see the wedding?) Methodists ("Baptists that can read") and that of the groom - Presbyterians. This might have played out somewhat like the contrast between families in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". But this does not seem to be the main point. The main contrast is between brothers. Suppose the one has religion and the other has fishing. One becomes a professor: the news sends mom into a most embarrassing explosion of joy. The other wants to be a professional fly fisherman - but there is no such profession. This frustration leads to the conflict in Paul who clearly is not full of joy with anything else he does. Booze and a wonderfully though too briefly developed character of an Indian woman - (if only she could have played a bigger role in more ways than one!) are all that keep Paul from the deep end - even Presidents don't consider fishing with enough seriousness. "What are you going to catch them with?" "The end of my line." Fishing might hold all the answers - especially if you listen to the voices under the rocks - but society demands something more and Paul can not manage this. For any parent that worries about losing one - or several - how do you know they are saved? - this is a mortal dilemma. Yes, we can love them completely even without understanding, but is this a flaw in Presbyterianism? Is that a sufficiently emotional religious connection with the divine in man? Baptists lose some of their own too - and to the same things. "Why do the ones who need help the most refuse to take the help they are offered?" (I am sure I did not get that quote correctly but it is close...) Good question.
On a lighter note, my wife and I argued over whether or not this is a "chick flick" or not. I thought yes, she thought no. "It's just about men fishing!"
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| Rating | | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | Come For the Movie, Stay For the Scenery | Content
| Redford, Pitt, Skerritt & co team up to present a golden hued postcard of the past. Up in sleepy early 20th century Montana where not much happens, the families are close, faiths are strong, brothers almost never fight, and the fishing is good. Hollywood and fancy colleges are thousands of miles away. The life of a family is charted through several fishing scenes. Each of the fishing scenes and much of the rest of the movie is gorgeously filmed. The placidity & innocence of the parents and most of the townspeople should be taken with a grain of salt. Its a movie, a piece of entertainment, not a documentary. Redford is trying to create a mood of nostalgia for simpler plainer times while trying to tell the story of a young man's self destruction and his family's helplessness in the face of it. All movies are emotionally manipulative & A River Runs Through It sins no more or less than any other movie. I think A River runs Through It is touching, clever, beautiful and entertaining. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 26, 2005 | | Summary | A beautiful film about youth, achievement, and corruption. | Content
| This is a beautiful film. It made a lasting impression on me in a way that few films ever manage to do. It is set in 1920s Montana, a land that still had some of the Old West left, and as the story says, "a land with dew still on it..." The real star of the story is Montana itself, and this film I think fully captures the flavor of that place in those times. The cinamatography of this film is very good, and gives the viewer an appreciation of the natural beauty of the state.
The basic theme of the story is the maturation of two brothers, and their relationship with their stern, Presbyterian minister father. One brother is level-headed, destined for a life of teaching and achievement. The other brother, equally precocious, is seduced by his love of gambling and drinking to the point where his life becomes corrupt. As his father says, sometimes those who need our help do not want it, and indeed do not wish to be helped. The common bond between the brothers and their father is fly fishing in the great trout rivers of Montana, and this makes for a wonderful backdrop to a very interesting storyline. The interaction between these protagonists is a fascinating interplay of personalities, and (although you may not know it from this review) the storyline of this film moves along briskly, and keeps the viewer's interest.
Although I usually don't like films that feature a narration, this one is an exception. Robert Redford (who has no other role in the film) does a fine job narrating the film from the standpoint of Norman Mclain, one of the two brothers.
The DVD is crisp and clear, and constitutes a good value. As far as I could tell, no scenes were cut. The discerning viewer will return to this one many times. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 24, 2005 | | Summary | 2 Brothers, a bygone era, and the Pacific Northwest | Content
| This is a great AMERICAN story. One that captures what our country used to be like. Hard times and Hard work led to Friday night dances and Sunday Picnics. Some people chose to stay home where the heart was, in beautiful mountain ranges that make our pacific northwest the greatest place on earth to be from, live in, and die in. It's refreshing to see a film with a great story that shows a bygone era, it's something all these kids from the nintendo generation should watch. It's about pride, harships, triumphs, love, and the beauty and art of fly fishing in mystical, nearly mythical places like our great Snake River. I'm putting an excerpt of the movie in below..moving, spritual, for some reason this story does put so many things, good or bad, into persepective...
...and a river runs through it.
"Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.
Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters."
Robert Redford's lyrical direction sets the tone for this evocative adaptation of author Norman MacLean's memoir of his idyllic Montana youth. The MacLean family is presided over by the strict but encouraging Rev. MacLean (Tom Skerritt) and his loving wife (Brenda Blethyn).
Craig Sheffer stars as the young Norman, the older son in his family, who takes his school work and writing a bit too seriously for Paul (Brad Pitt), the impetuous younger son, to take much stock in. Paul would rather have a good time, drink and play cards than get involved with academic study. Where Norman wants to be a college literature professor, Paul would prefer to stay in Montana all his life and wrangle some kind of job writing for a local newspaper. But, ironically, Paul is the better fly fisherman and in this way attains a sense of perfection.
The film also details the MacLean boys' involvement with a colorful group of town's people - including a young Indian woman Paul decides to date and the defiant Jessie (Emily Lloyd), whom Norman later marries. -
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| Rating | | | Date | March 17, 2005 | | Summary | "...and some of the words are theirs" | Content
| This movie is a favorite of mine. The story is a simple, yet moving one and the scenery is breathtaking--a natural side-effect of its gorgeous setting, the Bitteroot Mountains in Montana.
The characters are tender and their lives are real and delicate. The themes concern the nature of faith (both in God and in the people you love) and the helplessness of watching those you love self-destruct; they are conveyed with patience and generousity of spirit. The director respects the individality and privacy of his subjects.
I usually refrain from commenting on other reviews here, but I would like to state that this film is, in no way, "clueless..." or vapid. It acknowledges some sad truths about human beings and their frailties...frailties born of love. There is no perfect faith and no perfect human being and it is often hardest for us to help the ones closest to us. Sometimes no amount of pulling on the proverbial "boot straps" is going to change the outcome. Life would be nice if it were that simple...sometimes it isn't--It's even happened to conservatives on occasion.
The film is a visual joy; and a heart-string tugger. You'll be glad you invested in it. |
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