..." – One Stab, Legends of the Fall
If you ever find yourself with 2 hours and 7 minutes to fill, and want a front seat on the sort of emotional rollercoaster that will leave you weepy and drained, then look no further than Legends of the Fall.
It has all of the elements that are needed ... Read review
A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial ... more
melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedl...
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A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial ... more
melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedl...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) built a ranch in the remote foothills of the ... more
Montana Rockies, raising his three sons away from the carnage of the Indian wars. Alfred (Aidan Quinn - The Assignment), the eldest, is dutiful and reserved, Samuel (...
Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins - 'Hannibal') built a ranch in the remote ... more
foothills of the Montana Rockies, raising his three sons away from the carnage of the Indian wars. Alfred (Aidan Quinn - 'The Assignment'), the eldest, is dutiful and res...
A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial ... more
melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedl...
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Colonel William Ludlow (Sir Anthony Hopkins) built a ranch in the remote foothills of the ... more
Montana Rockies where he brought up his three sons away from the carnage of the Indian wars. Alfred (Aidan Quinn) the eldest is dutiful and reserved Samuel (Hen...
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Colonel William Ludlow (Sir Anthony Hopkins) built a ranch in the remote foothills of the ... more
Montana Rockies where he brought up his three sons away from the carnage of the Indian wars. Alfred (Aidan Quinn) the eldest is dutiful and reserved Samuel (Hen...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial ... more
melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedl...
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Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
...rock shatters." – One Stab, Legends of the Fall
If you ever find yourself with 2 hours and 7 minutes to fill, and want a front seat on the sort of emotional rollercoaster that will leave you weepy and drained, then look no further than Legends of the Fall.
It has all of the elements that are needed for a real epic. Stunning scenery well thought out characters, a story that spans decades, war, death, passion, madness ... ...condition. If my description alone doesn’t do it for you, well it also won the 1995 Oscar for Cinematography, and was nominated for 8 other awards, so that gives you an idea of quality.
Plot outline
***************
From the 17th century onwards wars were fought between the indigenous people of America and the colonial Amercian powers. This continued until 1890 and the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last major armed conflict ... more
"She was like the water that freezes inside a rock and breaks it apart. It was no more her fault than it is the fault of the water when the rock shatters." – One Stab, Legends of the Fall
If you ever find yourself with 2 hours and 7 minutes to fill, and want a front seat on the sort of emotional rollercoaster that will leave you weepy and drained, then look no further than Legends of the Fall.
It has all of the elements that are needed for a real epic. Stunning scenery well thought out characters, a story that spans decades, war, death, passion, madness and most of all tonnes of insight into the human condition. If my description alone doesn’t do it for you, well it also won the 1995 Oscar for Cinematography, and was nominated for 8 other awards, so that gives you an idea of quality.
Plot outline *************** From the 17th century onwards wars were fought between the indigenous people of America and the colonial Amercian powers. This continued until 1890 and the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last major armed conflict between the Dakota Indians and the US Government Army.
Colonel William Ludlow (played by Anthony Hopkins), a veteran of these wars, and totally sickened by his own government's actions, decides to leave military life and retire to the remote lands of Montana. He takes with him his life long friend, a Native American named One Stab (played by Gordon Tootoosis) One Stab is the omnipotent narrator whose wise words we hear throughout the film.
The back story is given that Colonel Ludlows wife, Isobel, found the winters too harsh on the their new ranch home, and so after many years of raising their three sons together, she leaves to move back to west coast America, although the Ludlows remain married and correspond frequently over the years. This leaves Colonel Ludlow to look after his three sons with One Stab, a white man named Decker his Native American wife Pet, and their daughter Isobel Two.
At the start we learn that the middle son, Tristan, has always been wild and wayward, and more in tune with One Stab and the ways of the native Americans, than with his own peoples. This is conveyed through a scene where a young Tristan (maybe 12 or 13) steals out into the dangerous woodland around the ranch at night, and has a run in with an old bear. During this, the bear lashes out at him, wounding him badly, but Tristan manages to dig his knife into the bears paw, and in doing so cuts off one of its claws. He is later rescued by his father, Decker and One Stab, who concludes in his narrative, that the voice of the bear was always loud in Tristan from that point.
Fast forward many years and we watch a scene of a steam train drawing into a station, and the youngest Ludlow son, Samuel, coming back from college to present his fiancée Susannah Finncannon, to his father and brothers. Waiting on the platform, Colonel Ludlow and his eldest son, Alfred (played by Aidan Quinn) are both obviously delighted to see Samuel, and are subsequently stunned by the beauty of Susannah, and the sheer size of her pet Irish wolfhound. Samuel (played by Henry Thomas) seems much younger than Susannah, who is played wonderfully by Julia Ormond. His rabbit in the headlight demeanor shows the viewer that he is truly stunned to have found himself engaged to such a woman. We learn from the narrator that although Susannah appears worldly, her loss of family early in life has left her fragile underneath the façade. At this point the conversation turns to why Tristan hasn’t come to meet his brother's train, and Colonel Ludlow comments that he expects him there or he'll want to know why. With that we see a horse and rider appear in the distance, and coming closer see that it is Tristan, (played by Brad Pitt) Springing from his horse, long hair bouncing, Tristan hugs his brother, who he obviously adores, and then turns to Susannah. There is a tangible sense of chemistry between the two from first glance. The viewer knows at this point, as someone once sang, ' there may be trouble ahead' and that would quite frankly be an understatement. Oblivious to anything going on Samuel tells his elder brother that he stinks and asks, 'hung-over?' to which Tristan grins and replies 'still drunk'. The more chivalrous and serious Alfred tuts and the family heads off together.
There is a wonderful scene which follows that shows the happy family having a picnic, at which a photo is taken of all smiling and carefree.
Back at the ranch, Susannah quickly settles into the family, and we see scenes of her playing tennis dressed in the cumbersome long white dress of the time with Alfred and Samuel. We also see her shooting a gun, and learning to lasso cattle as she boisterously throws herself about on her horse, long dark curls bouncing wildly, as the colonel and sons look on impressed.
On one such occasion, Samuel confides in his brother Tristan that Susannah is some what passionate of nature. There is a humorous exchange between brothers as Samuel blushingly admits that he is still a virgin, and wonders whether he can wait for marriage before 'being with' his Fiancée as he puts it. At this his somewhat coarser brother laughingly asks whether Samuel plans to 'f@ck her' ' God lord Tristan' is the response in reply.
There is a sense during this stage of the film that this happy time won't be sustained, and sure enough it isn’t.
Without wanting to give away too many crucial details of the film, the First World War breaks out, and Samuel is desperate to sign up for duty. Much to his father's horror and disgust. Nothing can be done to persuade Samuel otherwise, and so he signs up.
The night before he is due to leave for the war, a distraught Susannah finds herself alone with Tristan, and breaks down in tears at the thought of her beloved going to fight, and possibly dying. She goes to Tristan, who holds her tenderly and tries to calm her down. But the tension between them is there, and with faces inches from each other the scene is interrupted by a shocked Alfred who sees what was about to happen and storms out leaving the pair mortified.
The following day all three brothers head off for duty, accompanied by One Stab, to bring back their horses at the Canadian border.
Susannah remains behind on the ranch with Colonel Ludlow.
I won't give anything else away as I truly love this film and want you to discover the details for yourself. Suffice to say I find it one of the most moving films of all times, and I defy any woman to watch a certain scene in the film and not cry at least a little.
My heart always goes out to the sensible, long suffering Alfred, who in my view has the best line in the whole film ' I followed all of the rules, man's and God's. And you, you followed none of them. And they all loved you more. Samuel, Father, and my... even my own wife'
Advantages: Strong characters backed up with strong performances Disadvantages: Weepy wife on my arm!!
Raking through our pretty extensive and varied film selection, my wife decided that it was a long time since we had watched ‘Legends Of The Fall’, and that last night was the night to put that right. Being truthful, I was dreading the thought, as I don’t think I managed to sit through it all first time round as it was just too much of a romantic girlie film for me, but eager to please, I vowed to stay put last night.
The film was first released ... ...on his climb up the Hollywood fame ladder. The film is based on a book by Jim Harrison, but then isn’t that so often the case nowadays, but sadly most of the time the films falls well short of the literary version. Edward Zwick is in the director’s chair, and I am sure that this is not his first film, however his is not a name that conjures up images of successful and enjoyable films. The film focuses on the lives and loves of an early 20th century ...
nicanddarrell 19.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Legends Of The Fall (DVD)
Advantages: Excellent story and acting, amazing scenery and music Disadvantages: none from me
Colonel William Ludlow has had enough of the Army and the Government causing unnecessary carnage so he is now retired and has moved out to the remote foothill of the Montana Rockies where he built a ranch for his wife and three boys. He spend his time working on the ranch and teaching his boys the way of the land. He has a Indian helper and he is quite happy with his life. The wife cannot take the remoteness of this life and so moves back to the ... ...The boys grow and soon they are young men and Samuel returns home after visiting their mother with his fiancé in tow, Susannah. Both other brothers find they have a keen interest in Susannah and have to hide their feelings but Tristan manages to get close to her which stirs something inside Susannah too. She soon settles into life on the ranch. News soon reaches the ranch of the Great war with England and Germany and Samuel is soon telling his family ...
sewbizzie 27.11.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Legends Of The Fall (DVD)
Advantages: See how films should be made Disadvantages: none
...10 and you will have Legends of the Fall.
Its classed as a Western, a modern Western if you like. You do get a good feel of their everyday life in the film, and in parts it is very warming. Certainly when Susannah arrives she is guided into their way of life and so you feel, watching this, that you are also being guided. There is an ever present strong feeling of the war between the Colonel and the government (let alone the First World War!), who ... ...A feeling which crops up even today. When the oldest son, Alfred, goes and joins the government then this causes a stir up between the family towards him and they consequentially have a few more encounters with the government. It's really amazing how many side plots there are in this film, and how every one usually causes uproar and misery and madness.
Another great masterpiece about the film is how each character is so engaging and how you so quickly ...
razor_2006 30.07.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Legends Of The Fall (DVD)
...love actually and none about legends of the fall I decided to write about this one.
Jim Harrison bases the film on a novel. I can’t comment on the book, as I haven’t read it yet.
The film tells the story of a family of a man and his three sons who live on a ranch in the foothills of the Montana Rockies in the 1900s. The film is told through the memories of an old Indian man who used to work for the family and through letters various members of ... ...cast and character description.
DECKER Played by Paul Desmond.
As I said before the story is told through his eyes. He had worked for the family for a very long time. He wouldn’t speak a word of English even thought he could understand it. He was married and had a daughter called Isabel two. She was called Isabel two because Mrs Ladow was also called Isabel.
COLONEL WILLIAM LADLOW played by Anthony Hopkins.
He originally was in the army and fought ...
nona1661 28.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Legends Of The Fall (DVD)
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Quick review of Legends Of The Fall (DVD)
In this film,have many things connection each other. For example,sam died in a lot of wire netting.When Cresting look at cattle died in wire netting,he and we think of sam,and so on. ...
killerwu 25.09.2007 (16.09.2007)
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Advantages: Makes you jump, good pace. Disadvantages: Some parts are predictable like most horrors.
did however like the scene at the well, so if you watch this movie look out for that bit.
There are some very good bits in the movie which will have you grabbing the person next to you, or closing your eyes or making dents in the arms of the sofa arms....
Keep those eyes on the movie it's well worth a watch!!!
The cast of the movie is very good and the acting is great. This is one of the reasons i was suprised it never had a good build up.
The cast:
IaIsaiah Washington (ROMEO MUST DIE),
Patrick Fugit (SAVED),
Henry Thomas (GANGS OF NEW YORK, LEGENDS OF THE FALL)
and Nicki Aycox (JEEPERS CREEPERS II).
They have the credentials and they pull this movie off well.
I am reviewing the movie only and not the DVD, but after watching this i have this movie on my wish list to buy.
Once i buy the DVD i will add to this ...
Advantages: Unique, great range of styles. Looks fantastic, great DVD features. Disadvantages: A little silly in places, won't appeal to everyone
Tim Burton's films have a reputation for featuring bizarre sets and creating a balance between truly good and evil characters. The director responsible for such films as Beetlejuice, the Nightmare Before Christmas and Batman always produces films which I find interesting to watch, even if the plot is not to my liking. With Sleepy Hollow however, the plot, characters and filming style all combine to produce a fantastic film which could be described, if films could be described as magical, as magical.
As actress Christina Ricci explains on the DVD's special features, Washington Irving's 'the Legend of Sleepy Hollow' is one of America's few fairy tales and concerns the plight of a village falling victim to a Headless Horseman. The Horseman in the film is played by Christopher Walken, veteran of a number of films including Burton ...
gunmenoftheapocalypse 11.12.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sleepy Hollow (DVD)
From the rugged prairie lands of 19th Century America to the trenches of World war I, this story follows the journey of three brothers into the secrets of love, betrayal and unbreakable bonds of love.
Running Time
2 hours 7 minutes
Video Category
Feature Film
Country Of Origin
United States of America
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
UCA; UNIVERSAL MUSIC OPERATIONS, SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT; CINRAM LOGISTICS
"...Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection....Gripping material and good actors..." (New York Times, p.C10, 23/12/1994)
"...Stunning cinematography and a star-making turn from [Ormond]..." (Premiere, p.116, 01/06/1995)
"...Gorgeous....[Pitt] proves himself a bona fide movie star, stealing every scene he's in..." (Rolling Stone, p.65-6, 26/01/1995)
DVD Description
From the rugged prairie lands of 19th Century America to the trenches of World War I, this story follows the journey of three brothers into the secrets of love, betrayal and unbreakable bonds of love.
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