A River Runs Through To It

Fly-fishing stands for life in “A River Runs Through It,” released in 1992. Roger Ebert said in his review, “If you can learn to do it correctly, to read the river and the fish and yourself, and to do what needs to be done without one wasted motion, you will have attained some of the grace and economy needed to live a good life. If you can do it and understand that the river, the fish and the whole world are God's gifts to use wisely, you will have gone the rest of the way.”

This childhood memory was first told in a book published 20 years prior to the film’s release by Norman Maclean, after he retired as a professor of English at the University of Chicago. It was a story his father told him he should some day try to write. The book was published to little display by the university press, and immediately found an audience. Ebert said, “Many printings later it is one of the sacred books in the libraries of many people - one of the books that actually taught them something, like Walden or Huckleberry Finn.”

Robert Redford’s film version makes the important choice to keep Maclean’s voice in the film. His own style is read as a narration, by Redford, so that we do not simply see events as they happen, we are reminded that they are memories from years prior, and that the author has spent time and trouble to draw the lessons from them.

The movie stars Craig Sheffer as Norman, the older son, more serious, learning to write by taking his papers in to his father’s (Tom Skerritt) study, always to be told, “Good. Now make it half as long.” Brad Pitt is the younger brother, Paul, an impulsive, golden-haired free spirit who drinks too much and gets in card games, and wants nothing more than to stay in Montana forever, working for a newspaper. Norman has realistic dreams. He wants to teach literature. But it is Paul who is the better fly fisherman, and who, at least one day, is perfect at what he did.

Ebert noted, “The movie was shot on locations that suggest the bounty of the Western states in those days. The towns uneasily straddle the divide between the modern and the frontier.” As the boys grow up, they meet young ladies, and date, and think about their futures, and Redford elaborates on the book in ways which flesh out the characters of Paul and his mother (Brenda Blethyn), and some of the people in their lives, including a young Native American woman Paul dates (Nicole Burdette) in insolence of town opinion, and the high-spirited Jessie (Emily Lloyd), who eventually becomes Norman’s wife.

This must have been a very difficult movie to write. It is not really about the events that happen in it. Ebert said, “They are only illustrations for underlying principles. Leave out the principles, and all you have left are some interesting people who are born, grow up, and take various directions in life.”

Redford and his writer, Richard Friedenberg, understand that most of the events in any life are accidental or random, especially the important ones, and we can see little sentient control over our destinies. Instead, they understand that the Reverend Maclean’s lessons were about how to behave no matter what life brings. About how to wade into the unpredictable stream and deal with whatever happens with grace, courage and honesty. It is the film’s best accomplishment that it communicates that message with such feeling.

I had saw this movie when I was senior in high school for an Advanced Composition class that I was taking. I didn’t really remember what happened in the film. Then, I saw that this film was available on Netflix, so I decided to watch it while exercising recently. I have to say, this is a really good movie. You should see it because it is an inspiration for those who want to break into the lecturing or writing. I recommend this to everyone because I think you will like it, especially if you like to go fishing. See it and enjoy.

Look out next week when I look at a very serious thriller in “Brad Pitt Month.”