Legends of the Fall (1994)
Directed by Edward Zwick
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
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5 films that influenced Legends of the Fall
What critics say influenced Legends of the Fall
The movie is a showcase for acting, and in addition to Ormond and Hopkins, it also shows how strong Aidan Quinn and Brad Pitt are, in roles that have inescapable parallels to the Rock Hudson and James Dean characters in "Giant."
In fact, what "Legends" will remind veteran moviegoers of most is the 1956 George Stevens-directed version of Ferber's "Giant," with Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn and Julia Ormond standing in nicely for James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.
Because Brad Pitt is routinely compared to American cinema's great tragic romantic rebel youth, James Dean-whom he resembles in appearance, style and, most important, talent and charisma-it probably explains why so many critics have compared "Legends of the Fall" to Dean's last movie, "Giant."
Nominated in four Globe categories, including best picture (drama division), director (Edward Zwick) and actor (Brad Pitt), "Legends of the Fall" plays like a Really Bad Cinema version of "Bonanza," with quite a bit of the plot from "East of Eden" thrown in for bad measure.
At first, the picture plays like “East of Eden” with a bonus brother; it gets sillier as it goes.
But, in a way, "Legends" is closer in mood to another Dean movie, "East of Eden"-or to what "East of Eden" might have been if director Elia Kazan had filmed John Steinbeck's whole epic novel, instead of merely its last section.
"Days of Heaven" as his model, but he lacks Malick's sense of geometry, and his aspiration to mythic quality feels more pretentious than heartfelt.
And the landscapes, photographed by John Toll (who did terrific, unheralded work on Carroll Ballard's tempestuous "Wind"), majestically backdrop all the personal and cultural furies.
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(Century 16, Century 12) Director Edward Zwick and composer James Horner, the team that so successfully set off the emotional fireworks in "Glory," deliver sweeping images and an overblown musical score that fail to elevate this western to anything other than an epic horse opera.
Such people, one imagines, include director Edward Zwick, he of television's "thirtysomething" and the movie "Glory."
Director Zwick of Glory and thirtysomething fame somehow âfalls on the legendâ this time around.
"Legends of the Fall" is big, bombastic and in the hands of director Edward Zwick ("Glory"), a bit much.
The latest offering from Edward Zwick, the director of Glory , is the kind of movie that doesn't require much effort to surrender to and enjoy.