Legends of the Fall

Rating: 6/10 (16 September 2008)

From Golden Globe nominated director Edward Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond), this is quite a good epic drama about the life of a family. Set in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, there a ranch house, where discharged Colonel William Ludlow (Sir Anthony Hopkins) raises his three sons, Tristan (Golden Globe nominated Brad Pitt), Alfred (Aidan Quinn) and Samuel (E.T.'s Henry Thomas) who seem to have an unbreakable bond. Samuel brings home fiancé Susannah (Julia Ormond), who Alfred finds himself falling in love with, and so does Tritan. Despite Ludlow's objection, the brothers decide to fight in the First World War, and it is there that Samuel dies, and after Tristan goes off to try and live for himself, and comes back to find his father recovering from a stroke, and the bond between him and remaining brother Alfred still seems to be rocky. Also starring Karina Lombard as Isabel Two Decker Ludlow, Gordon Tootoosis as One Stab, Paul Desmond as Decker, Christina Pickles as Isabel Ludlow, Robert Wisden as John T. O'Banion, John Novak as James O'Banion and Kenneth Welsh as Sheriff Tynert. The mountains and valleys are stunning to look at, Pitt and Hopkins both do good performances, I might not paid full attention, but what I did was worth watching. It won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Sound, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Original Score for James Horner. Very good!