Legends of the Fall (1994): Drama / Romance / War

In the early 1900s, in Montana’s vast wilderness, the retired colonel Ludlow and his three sons stand united in war but are torn apart by their passions.

There are people out there, academics or otherwise, who think too little of Hollywood or nothing at all. Personally, I don’t like labeling cinema or seeing it as black and white, i.e., world cinema, good – Hollywood, bad. Having reviewed numerous Hollywood films, I can tell you with certainty that powerful storytelling knows neither indie or studio level nor language or cultural differences.

Legends of the Fall is the undeniably captivating Hollywood style of storytelling that pins you to your seats and sucks you into its world. John Toll’s gripping, Oscar-winning photography stands out from the opening sequence, foreboding the magnitude of what lies ahead. Brad Pitt, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, Henry Thomas, and the late Gordon Tootosis give Oscar-worthy, memorable performances with Hopkins’ been shockingly emotional.

Producer/Director Edward Zwick took seventeen years to get this project off the ground and the wait was definitely worth it. Based on the novel by Jim Harrison and written for the big screen by Susan Shilliday and William D. Wittliff, the chronicle of the Ludlow’s family sees the father suffering while his boys fall apart from what’s meant to be sticking them together but offers the closure the story needs, without necessarily being the one that the vast majority would want. James Horner’s music enhances those vigorous emotions and Steven Rosenblum’s masterful editing puts the non-chronological footage together, maintaining the continuity illusion but also creating montage sequences that travel us through time.

Definitely one of my favourite dramas growing up! Legends of the Fall is a dramatic Odyssey of love, a tale of revenge, a family’s legendary journey of courage, loss and sorrow…

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