A River Runs Through It (1992)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Robert Redford

Writers (WGA):

Norman Maclean (story)
Richard Friedenberg (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 October 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two fly-fishing sons of a Presbyterian minister--one reserved, one rebellious--grow up in rural Montana.

Plot Keywords:

Fly Fishing | Fishing | Male Rear Nudity | Gambling | Coming Of Age

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Craig Sheffer	...	Norman Maclean
Brad Pitt	...	Paul Maclean
Tom Skerritt	...	Rev. Maclean
Brenda Blethyn	...	Mrs. Maclean
Emily Lloyd	...	Jessie Burns
Edie McClurg	...	Mrs. Burns
Stephen Shellen	...	Neal Burns
Vann Gravage	...	Young Paul
Nicole Burdette	...	Mabel
Susan Traylor	...	Rawhide
Michael Cudlitz	...	Chub
Rob Cox	...	Conroy
Buck Simmonds	...	Humph
Fred Oakland	...	Mr. Burns
David Creamer	...	Ken Burns

MPAA:

Rated PG for momentary nudity, and some language in a family drama.

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:K-10 | Germany:6 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG | Norway:10

Filming Locations:

Bozeman, Montana, USA

Company:

Allied Filmmakers

Trivia:

'William Hurt' wanted to play the role of Paul Maclean and once went fishing with Norman Maclean in Montana. When Hurt asked if he'd fished well enough to portray his brother, Maclean replied: "Well, Bill, you're a pretty good fisherman but not good enough to be my brother."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: While on the library steps, Norman speaks of meeting boxer John L. Sullivan while at Dartmouth. Norman's departure for college was 1919, yet Sullivan died in 1918.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Norman: [narrating] Long ago, when I was a young man, my father said to me, "Norman, you like to write stories." And I said "Yes, I do." Then he said, "Someday, when you're ready you might tell our family story. Only then will you understand what happened and why."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Grace Under Fire: A River Runs Through Him (#5.5)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Yes, We Have No Bananas

Picturesque and Literary: An Ode to the American Wilderness

I have seen all the films directed by Robert Redford and appreciated his love of the American people and the land. In A River Runs Through It, Redford displays the lyric romanticism and visual splendor of the high Rocky Mountains of Montana as if he were a 19th century landscape painter of the ilk of Thomas Moran or Albert Bierstadt. This film makes love to the visual and the word with text by author Norman Maclean, and stunning camera work by Phillippe Rousselot (Serpent's Kiss, Reigne Margot).

Redford's cast is perfect. Tom Skerritt is the Rev. MacLean, a man whose methods of education include fly fishing as well as the Bible, Brenda Blythen, the mother, and his sons, Craig Schaffer and Brad Pitt create a family whose interactions reflect the same problems all encounter with growing teenage sons, and later, complex young men. Both Schaffer and Pitt are totally believable as the brothers whose love of fly fishing and each other will tie them together forever. It is the relationships between men, father and sons, brothers, and their women to the outside world that grounds A River Runs Through It to a vein of storytelling that is missing in so many of Hollywood films produced in recent years.

What makes these relationships special however, is the attention Redford gives to the language as spoken in dialogue. This is a literate script, beautiful to hear and unforgettable when coupled with the stunning Montana rivers and mountains. The words and setting are equal to performances by a cast that rises to their material. While the idea of fly fishing may seem an odd device to center a story, it is not so implausible in Redford's directorial hands. Given the material, Redford's ode to a simpler time and life is worth revisiting again and again.