There are some movies that stick with us, no matter how much time has passed since we’ve last seen them. Movies we first saw at particular periods of our lives, or with specific people, that make them resonate with us more strongly than other films. A River Runs Through It is such a film for me.
It was a movie I saw in the theater with the family when I was young and we used to head to the multiplex every weekend and randomly pick a film based on its start time and how good of a poster it had. I’m sure Robert Redford directing and narrating appealed to my mom, and Brad Pitt appealed to me and my sisters. And I wasn’t one to pass up a chance to stare at Craig Sheffer for a couple of hours at the time, as I was still trying to determine if I found him “hot” or not (jury is still out on that one to be honest).
I don’t much remember that theater experience, because that wasn’t what cemented A River Runs Through It in my brain. No, that came a bit later, when it was released on VHS tape and my mom bought it as soon as she found it for sale. I come from a family of movie viewers, and we had a tendency to watch movies we liked over and over again. And this was such a film. For a while it seemed like it was on at least every other weekend, though I’m sure it just felt that way to me because it was a movie I had ISSUES with.
You see, I am a crier. I have been ever since I was very small and started to actually pay attention to what was really going on in movies. To this day I have only seen one or two Disney animated movies that haven’t made me cry (and now I play a fun game before watching a new one where I try to guess how many cries I’ll succumb to – animated Mulan remains a three cry experience). My crying is definitely not limited to animated features either. I will cry at just about everything. I cry because it’s happy. I cry because it’s sad. I cry because the viewing experience was so wonderful.
I cry during A River Runs Through It. I’m sure the first time I saw it I just cried at the end, but that changed later on. I started crying halfway through IN ANTICIPATION of the end. I cried because my mom was putting the tape in the VCR again and I knew what was coming. I cried because it was three hours later and I was remembering watching the movie again.
I have never managed to watch A River Runs Through It without tearing up at least once. These days I am not so much at the mercy of what my mom wants to watch for movie night (or movie weekend, we were 24/7 movie people), and I can decide if I’m emotionally able to handle one of the really heartbreaking films. It is a mental process for me even now, 30 years after that first theater experience.
The plot of A River Runs Through It basically breaks down like this: It’s 1920’s Montana and a preacher is raising his two boys to love God, love fly fishing, and love each other. One of the boys is reserved, the other wild, and they grow up to be exactly the men the audience expects them to be. This leads to happiness, but also tragedy, and a distraught Tom Skerritt face that has been burned into my mind for three decades.
The screenplay was based on a semi-autobiographical novella by Norman Maclean, and Robert Redford was so eager to adapt it for the screen that he spent literal YEARS endearing himself to the author. He knew before filming ever began that A River Runs Through It would be a special film. And it was. It had a fantastic cast – Tom Skerritt, Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Joseph-Gordon Levitt in his first big screen role – and a heartbreaking story, and it was set in some of the most gorgeous country Montana and the United States have to offer (it was filmed in Livingston and Bozeman, Montana, as well as Granite Falls, Wyoming) . It’s a truly beautiful looking movie, full of lush forests and sweeping rivers and the soothing sight of fly fishermen working their craft.
It is also beautifully adapted from Maclean’s original work. He was a gifted writer who could evoke a full range of emotions with just a few words. Redford definitely felt that way, and his narration through most of the movie is lifted straight from the novella. I am not always fond of voiceover narration in movies, as the film should be able to explain itself without extra work. But it feels right here, in Robert Redford’s soothing voice with that slight hint of an accent, and with Maclean’s original words flowing through the visual representation of his story.
A River Runs Through It is not necessarily a “fun” film. There are awkward moments and harsh exchanges and terrible reveals. Yet, it feels more real to me than many other movies do. Norman’s cringe-worthy attempts to flirt with his love interest, the brothers testing each other when they’re young but never going quite far enough to find out who is toughest, and that stricken look on Tom Skerritt’s face at the end. These moments feel true to life, which makes them hard to watch, but also hard to forget.
This film will always hold a special place in my heart, no matter how many years go between viewings now. I’ll see it listed on a streaming service and immediately hear Redford’s voice in my head, and picture Paul’s (Brad Pitt) glowing face after his greatest fishing moment, and I’ll remember watching with the family and hiding my face behind a pillow so no one would see me cry. There are many films that fade away as soon as you are done watching them. A River Runs Through It stays with you throughout the test of time.
“All good things – trout as well as eternal salvation – came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.” – Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It
Released: 1992
Rated PG
Directed by: Robert Redford
Written by: Norman Maclean, Richard Friedenberg
Starring: Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerrit, Brad Pitt, Emily Lloyd, Brenda Blethyn, Joseph-Gordon Levitt
Winner: Best Cinematography-Oscar, Best Foreign Language Film-Kinema Junpo Awards, USC Scripter Award for Norman Maclean and Richard Friedenberk, Best Actor Under 10 in a Motion Picture for Joseph-Gordon Levitt-Young Artist Awards
Mia’s Cry-ometer Rating: One good, strong cry, with a sob thrown in depending on your mental state
See A River Runs Through It on FOX 11 & 41, Sunday January 30th, 2022 at 11am!
