Continental Divide (1981)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Michael Apted

Writer:

Lawrence Kasdan (written by)

Release Date:

18 September 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

When they met they heard bells. And that was just round one.

Plot:

A hard-nosed Chicago journalist has an unlikely love affair with an eagle researcher.

Plot Keywords:

Eagle | Love | Reporter | Love Affair | Newspaper Columnist

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

John Belushi	...	Ernie Souchak
Blair Brown	...	Nell Porter
Allen Garfield	...	Howard McDermott (as Allen Goorwitz)
Carlin Glynn	...	Sylvia
Tony Ganios	...	Max Bernbaum
Val Avery	...	Yablonowitz
Liam Russell	...	Deke Lewis
Everett Smith	...	Fiddle
Bill Henderson	...	Train Conductor
Bruce Jarchow	...	Hellinger
Eddie Schwartz	...	Jimmy
Harold Holmes	...	Mr. Feeney
Elizabeth Young	...	Mrs. Feeney
Ron Dean	...	Plesko
Frankie Hill	...	Agatha

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:12 | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1986) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Cedar Falls, Washington, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The Amtrack train had to be brought to Victor, Idaho on abandon tracks where the scene was shot. The small town had no train service either commercial or freight for years.

Goofs:

Continuity: Nell is chopping wood as Ernie approaches. As they begin to talk Nell piles wood in her cradled left arm. The next shot is closer and at a different angle. As this shot begins Nell has no wood and begins to pile it once again in her cradled left arm.

Quotes:

Ernie Souchak: It's so quiet up here, you could hear a mouse get a hard on.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Theme from Continental Divide (Never Say Goodbye)

"Belushi shows he was more than a one note comedy actor"

The first time I viewed Continental Divide in the theater, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew it was a romantic comedy, but with John Belushi as the star, you had to wonder how outrageous it would be. I just couldn't picture him as a romantic comedy lead. I needn't have worried. In Continental Divide, he shows that he could do more than just play it over the top, and he does it more than adequately, showing great promise of just how versatile his film career could have been.

*****Plot Points Ahead*****

As columnist Ernie Souchak, Belushi has us actually believing he could have been a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. While investigating a corrupt alderman, he is beaten up and ends up in the hospital. His editor and the editor's wife (both well played by Allen Garfield and Carlin Glynn) talk Ernie into leaving town and going up into the Rockies to try to get an interview with Nell Porter (Blair Brown), a famous eagle watcher (eagle freak as Ernie calls her) who wants nothing to do with big city reporters. Right away we get the fish out of story water with Ernie, strictly a big city kind of guy, struggling up the Rockies to meet Nell. There are some funny scenes in this trek up the mountains, scenes that would have been played outrageously in Belushi's earlier films, but here are played not only for laughs but believability which makes them that much more humorous!

Once he meets Nell, we know they are going to be complete opposites, and we know that because of her dislike for reporters, she's particularly not going to like Ernie. Since this is a romantic comedy, we also know that they will overcome all that and fall in love, and this movie does it in a nice slow gradual way, as it takes Ernie a while to understand and appreciate a person like Nell. When they do finally fall in love, we believe it, thanks to a great script by Lawrence Kasdan, and the believability of the actors involved.

The last part of the movie deals with Ernie's return to Chicago, dealing with being separated from Nell, and picking up the story of the corrupt politician that the movie had started out with. In these scenes, Belushi particularly shines, showing the possibility that he might have even been able to play a dramatic role.

Later, when Nell comes to Chicago, the movie gives us quite a dilemma. Ernie loves her, but is happiest working in Chicago. Likewise, she loves him but can't give up her work in the Rockies. This would seem an almost impossible obstacle to overcome, but I think Kasdan's screenplay does it the only way possible, and still give us a satisfying ending.

In my mind, Continental Divide, is one of the best of the romantic comedies, that is seldom mentioned when speaking of that genre, and is sometimes not even mentioned when talking about Belushi's work. Here, he shows us there were more possibilities than we thought, but we can only dream about what might have been.

Special note:

This movie has just now been released in a wide screen DVD edition. It is the first time I'll be viewing it in it's original format since seeing it in a theater on it's release. It'll be great to view it that way once again.