Big Sky Country Before The Fall- Brad Pitt’s “ A River Runs Through It” (1992)-A Film Review

DVD Review

By Sandy Salmon

A River Runs Through It, starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerrit, directed by Robert Redford, based on the memoir of writer Norman Maclean, 1992

There has been a substantial amount of talk around town of late about running the clock back to the so-called golden age of America when working stiffs had a chance to get ahead in the 1950s. Of course not all boats rose at that time, especially among blacks and white Appalachian hillbillies like my family who never even got close to the boat, but we will let that ride for now. If one really wanted to look at something like latter day Eden in the American experience then perhaps one needed to go West, go out to Big Sky country where they took their religion, their work ethic and their, uh, fly-fishing seriously in the early part of the twentieth century if the plot-line of this film under review Robert Redford’s adaptation (and narration) of Norman Maclean’s memoir A River Runs Through It.          

What this film looks at is a kinder, gentler time out among the big rocks and the fast running western rivers as seen through the eyes of Norman Maclean, played by Craig Sheffer, looking at his coming of age and growing up adventures along with his wilder younger brother Paul, played by younger wilder Brad Pitt, up against the stern Jehovah out of the wilderness father figure minister father, played by Tom Skerritt who took both his religion and his fly-fishing seriously. The early part of the film aside from serious breathe-taking looks at the Montana wilds involves the usual boys coming of age stuff including defying the cloying family home life  befit a minister’s sons. Later after some time away from college in the East Norman came back for a time before setting out for a career as a professor. In Cain and Abel fashion (without the murderous impulse) Paul stayed home, stayed in bedrock Podunk Montana working as a newspaperman after college but more to the point living the high life as a gambler, fist-fighter, heavy drinker and woman chaser, including having a Native American girlfriend (and just to prove that those times were perhaps a little less edenic for Native Americans she faces as much Anglo hostility as blacks faced in the that golden age 1950s).       

A lot of the latter part of the film dealt with the romance (and eventual marriage) of Norman and local belle, Jessie, played by Emily Lloyd, whose stand-off-ishness drove Norman crazy before he got his chance at a professor’s job at the University of Chicago and she agreed to marry the guy. It also dealt with the demise of Paul who seemed to have been stricken with the mark of Cain and was eventually murdered and left to die in some back ally for what could have been any number of reasons from serious gambling indebtedness to drinking to hanging around with Native American women. So maybe in the end the only thing idyllic back then were those beautiful rivers and the joy some took in fly-fishing against the hard realities of human existence. Excellent film though with a good ensemble cast and great cinematography. Robert Redford did good, did very good on this one.