A River Runs Through It (1992)

I'm not totally sure where I heard of this movie first, but it was brought into the limelight by one of my friends who said he had heard A River Runs Throught It was quite good. I looked it up and found out that it was a drama about a pair of boys growing up in Montana, and how fly fishing became akin to religion for them. Not that it was their religion, but it was something they could go to and feel cleansed... or something like that. I was a little unsure about it, but it did mention that it starred Brad Pitt, so I figured I'd give it a shot tonight. I've also tagged this film as sport related, simply to try to give recognition to all the fishing, although it's not really done for sport in the movie. At any rate, hit the jump for more.


The story here is one that doesn't need much depth to explain. Basically a minister of a small town in Montana has two sons, Paul and Norman, and this story is about their lives as they grow up. The story is largely narrated by an older version of Norman as he looks back on his life, and thus the events are told completely from his perspective. It's a coming of age tale primarily set in the 20s, not much else to say.

Lots of fly fishing here

The problem with this movie is simply that not much happens. The boys are shown as kids where they learn a few things from their father (Tom Skerritt). They're shown as teens where they ride a boat down some rapids. They're shown grown up after having been to school and while young Paul (Brad Pitt) seems to have already started a career as a newspaper reporter, the elder son Norman (Craig Sheffer) is still unsure what he wants to do. While Norman meets a girl and begins to court her, we find out that Paul spends most of his time drinking, getting into fights, and gambling. All the while, they fish.

The film is also very slow paced. While I'd prefer to use the term "relaxed" for the pacing, most will probably just say it's boring. I say it's relaxed because the scenes of the brothers and father fly fishing are just peaceful and rather calming. I really seemed to feel what it was all about. So no, in truth I was never actually bored. All the same, I don't know if I could quite say I was ever entertained either.

Gorgeous scenery at every turn.

One thing the movie really had going for it though, was the scenery. The rivers, rapids, woods and mountains in the distance were all great looking. Very serene and soothing, and made me just want to be there sitting on a porch sipping some lemonade. Surprisingly, some of the best looking scenes were the ones of the fly fishing. The fishing line that they whip around always seems to be caught in just the right light, and in a few instances it's truly a beautiful sight to behold. Never before have I actually liked watching someone fish. You'd never catch me dead watching one of those fishing TV shows, but the fishing in A River Runs Through It was quite good.

While I'll admit it had a few interesting scenes, I didn't really get anything out of the movie. I can only assume it had some grand lesson about life and fishing and God in there (cause it pretty much says there is), I just never got it. While it may be pretty shallow and possibly say something about me, all I saw were the lives of two boys who grew up with a minister for a father, and loved to fish. I never found anything more than that, and I doubt I'd recommend it to anyone either.