| Legends of the Fall | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Edward Zwick |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Legends of the Fall byJim Harrison |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Toll |
| Edited by | Steven Rosenblum |
| Music by | James Horner |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 133 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[1] |
| Box office | $160.6 million[2] |
Legends of the Fall is a 1994 Americanepic historicalWesterndrama film directed byEdward Zwick, and starringBrad Pitt,Anthony Hopkins,Aidan Quinn,Julia Ormond andHenry Thomas. Based on the 1979novella of the same title byJim Harrison, the film is about three brothers and their father living in the wilderness and plains ofMontana in the early 20th century and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love. The film's timeframe spans nearly 50 years from the early 20th century;World War I, through theProhibition era, and ending with a brief scene set in 1963. The film was nominated for threeAcademy Awards and won for Best Cinematography (John Toll).[3] Both the film and book contain occasionalCornish language terms, the Ludlows being aCornish immigrant family.[4]
The film is narrated by One Stab, aCree friend of the Ludlows, as he tells the family story to a newspaper reporter.
Sick of betrayals theUS government perpetrated onNative Americans, Colonel William Ludlow leaves theArmy, moving to a remote part ofMontana. Along with One Stab, he builds a ranch and raises his family. Accompanying them are hired hand and former outlaw Decker with his Cree wife Pet, and daughter Isabel Two. William has three sons: Alfred, the eldest; Tristan, the middle son; and Samuel, the youngest.
William's wife Isabel does not adapt to the harsh Montana winters and moves to the East Coast; Tristan vows never to speak of her. At age 12, Tristan touches a sleeping grizzly bear, which awakens and injures him, but he cuts off a claw.
Years later in 1914, Samuel returns fromHarvard University with his fiancée, Susannah. Before they can marry, he announces his intention to join theCanadian Expeditionary Force and aidBritain in the fight againstGermany inWorld War I. Much to William's displeasure, Alfred also joins. Tristan reluctantly joins after swearing to Susannah to protect Samuel.
The brothers find themselves in the10th Battalion, CEF. Alfred, commissioned as an officer, leads a charge intono man's land. The attack results in heavy casualties and he is wounded. While visiting Alfred in the field hospital, Tristan learns that Samuel volunteered for a dangerous reconnaissance mission. He rushes off to protect his brother but arrives too late. Tristan holds Samuel until he dies, then cuts out his brother's heart and sends it home to be buried at the ranch.
Maddened with grief, Tristan single-handedly raids the German lines and returns to camp with the scalps of German soldiers hanging around his neck, horrifying his fellow soldiers. He is discharged but does not go home. Alfred returns to Montana and proposes to Susannah, but she declines.
Tristan returns home, where Susannah finds him weeping over Samuel's grave. She comforts him and they become lovers. A jealous Alfred confronts Tristan before leaving to make his name inHelena. Tristan is plagued with guilt over Samuel's death and feels responsible for driving Alfred away; he leaves Montana and travels the world for several years.
Susannah vows to wait for Tristan but eventually receives a letter from him telling her to marry someone else. Alfred comforts her, and when William finds them together, it leads to a falling out between father and son. William later suffers a stroke, does not speak for years and the ranch deteriorates. Susannah marries Alfred, now a congressman. Alfred's business and politics cause him to get involved with the O'Banion brothers, Irish bootleggers and gangsters.
Tristan returns in the 1920s duringProhibition, bringing life back to the ranch and to his father. He falls in love with Isabel Two and they marry and have two children. Tristan becomes involved in small-scalerum-running, finding himself at odds with the O'Banions. Isabel Two is accidentally killed by a corrupt police officer working for the gangsters. Furious, Tristan beats the officer nearly to death and is jailed.
Susannah visits Tristan, still having feelings for him, but he refuses her advances. After his release, he and Decker kill those responsible for Isabel's death, including one of the O'Banion brothers.
Unable to live without Tristan, Susannah commits suicide. The remaining O'Banion brother, along with the corrupt sheriff and another officer, come after Tristan in revenge. At the ranch, William shoots and kills the O'Banion brother and the police officer, and Alfred kills the sheriff as Tristan shields William. Alfred reconciles with his father and brother.
The family realizes that Tristan will be blamed for the deaths and hunted relentlessly by the O'Banion's allies, prompting him to ask Alfred to take care of his children. They then bury the bodies and dump the car in the Missouri River. Tristan outlives everyone else in the family, and watches his children and grandchildren grow.
In 1963, Tristan, now an old man living in the North Country, investigates an animal carcass and is confronted by a grizzly bear. He draws his knife, fights it and dies in the struggle.
One Stab concludes his narration with, "It was a good death".
Legends of the Fall was primarily filmed on location in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Principal photography began in mid-July 1993.[5] TheWorld War I battlefield scenes took two weeks to film and were shot nearMorley, Alberta, with hundreds of locals and a fewCanadian Forces soldiers recruited as extras.[6] TheGhost River Wilderness Area in Alberta served as the filming location for the Ludlow ranch; additional outdoor scenes, as well as the funeral and cemetery scenes, were shot at theBow River nearBanff National Park. A historic harbour area inVancouver calledGastown was augmented with period building facades for the Helena, Montana, street scenes. Hotel scenes were shot at theHotel Europe at 43 Powell Street in Vancouver. Additional scenes were shot at Maple Tree Square in Gastown, Vancouver, and Ocho Rios inSaint Ann, Jamaica. Filming wrapped up around January 1994.[7]
In 2024, Edward Zwick released his memoir,Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood, in which he talked about his difficult experiences working with Brad Pitt, whom he described as volatile. Zwick claimed that they clashed over their visions for the film, and that Pitt was upset about the final cut.[8][9][10][11]
The film opened in limited release on December 23, 1994, and expanded to a wide release on January 13, 1995. During its first weekend in wide release, a four-day weekend due toMartin Luther King, Jr. Day, the film reached number one at the domestic box office after grossing $14 million.[12] After its initial run, the film brought in a final box office total of $160,638,883.[2] Against its $30 million budget, the film was a financial success.
Review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reports that 61% of 61 film critics have given the film a positive review, with arating average of 6/10. The site's consensus states: "Featuring a swoon-worthy star turn by Brad Pitt,Legends of the Fall's painterly photography and epic sweep often compensate for its lack of narrative momentum and glut of melodramatic twists."[13]Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 45 based on 23 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[14] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times described the film as "pretty good ... with full-blooded performances and heartfeltmelodrama".[16]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone particularly praised Pitt's performance saying: "Though the admirable Quinn has the toughest role, Pitt carries the picture. The blue-eyed boy who seemed a bit lost inInterview with the Vampire proves himself a bona fide movie star, stealing every scene he's in."[17] Comparatively, Chris Hicks ofDeseret News noted: "Pitt is the hunk of the moment, andLegends of the Fall will only further cement his big-screen, romantic leading-man status. And he is satisfying as the internalized, rebellious Tristan (look for that name to be given to more than a few babies over the next few years). Even if the character seems only a slight twist on the similar role he played inA River Runs Through It. (He even becomes a bootlegger!)"[3] Multiple critics compared the plot of the Ludlow brothers to films likeEast of Eden andGiant.[18][19][17][16]
On the other hand, Rita Kempley ofThe Washington Post stated that the film's "yarn doesn't so much sweep as sprawl across the screen in all its panoramic idiocy".[20] While some critics praised the film's performances and cinematography, they also felt the plot takes on much more than it can handle and might be better suited for aminiseries.[21][22] John Hartl ofThe Seattle Times wrote: "The actors fit their roles exceptionally well, but Zwick rarely allows them the kinds of crucial, intimate moments that establish how the characters feel about each other. Occasionally the story grips, suggesting what might have been if the actors had been playing people instead of archetypes."[23] The film's script and its propensity for melodrama was also critiqued, with some saying the story reachessoap opera-like heights and leaves its characters underdeveloped.[24][18][25][26]Variety wrote: "As densely plotted asLegends of the Fall is, it's to the credit of the performers and craftsmen that the film escapes the abyss of melodrama and sentimentality. Zwick imbues the story with an easy, poetic quality that mostly sidesteps the precious. The actors, working as an ensemble, are near perfect in the service of the material."[27] In contrast,Terrence Rafferty ofThe New Yorker described the film as a "father-and-sons saga" that "gets sillier as it goes".[28]
Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times commented: "Before it turns exhaustingly hollow, this film shows the potential for bringing Mr. Harrison's tough, brooding tale to life. And the actors may have captured the spirit of the story, but that's impossible to know."[29] She concluded, "These are performances that lost too much in the editing room, smothered by music and overshadowed by a picture-postcard vision of the American West."[29] InThe Baltimore Sun,Stephen Hunter wrote: "WhatLegends of the Fall lacks is any spirit of rigor. It buys into -- indeed, is selling -- the oldest of guff: the idea that the violence of banal men is beautiful and righteous. It honors male anger...[it] worships the red shift of men gone nuts on vengeance. It romanticizes gunplay. It's a big movie that's so small on the inside it's not there."[30]
| Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | John Toll | Won | [3][33] |
| Best Art Direction | Lilly Kilvert,Dorree Cooper | Nominated | ||
| Best Sound | Paul Massey,David E. Campbell, Christopher David andDouglas Ganton | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | [34] | |
| Best Director | Edward Zwick | Nominated | ||
| Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | Brad Pitt | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | James Horner | Nominated |
Legends of the Fall was released onVHS on May 31, 1995,[35] followed by its firstDVD release on April 29, 1997. A special edition DVD was released on October 17, 2000, with bonus content including two audio commentaries, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes.[36] On November 29, 2005, a deluxe edition DVD was released.[37] On February 8, 2011, the film was released onBlu-ray.[38]
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