# The Postman (film)

The Postman is a 1997 American epic post-apocalyptic adventure film produced and directed by Kevin Costner, who plays the lead role. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland, based on David Brin's 1985 book of the same name. The film also features Will Patton, Larenz Tate, Olivia Williams, James Russo, and Tom Petty. Set in a post-apocalyptic neo-Western United States in the then near-future year of 2013, the film follows an unnamed nomad who, after finding a United States Postal Service uniform, unwittingly sparks a movement to restore the United States that challenges the rule of a tyrannical warlord.
Released on Christmas 1997 by Warner Bros., The Postman was panned by critics, who criticized the performances, screenplay, direction, and long runtime. Costner's decision to cast himself in the film was criticized. The film grossed $30 million worldwide against a budget of $80 million. It was nominated for three Saturn Awards and won all five of its Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture.

## Plot

In the late 20th century, unexplained apocalyptic disasters followed by plagues devastated the world and destroyed modern society; in the time intervening, most knowledge of the past, including high technology, has been lost, and the former United States has reverted to an unconnected pre-industrial society. In 2013, an unnamed nomad wanders Utah, trading performances of long-forgotten Shakespearean plays for food and water. At one town, the nomad is forcibly conscripted into the Holnists, a neo-feudalist militia with a cult-like obsession surrounding a misinterpreted self-help book that serves as the tyrannical authority in the region, led by General Bethlehem. The nomad, dubbed "Shakespeare" by Bethlehem, faces harassment by the bigoted Captain Idaho, who tells the nomad about Colonel Getty, Bethlehem's second-in-command, and how Getty once challenged him for the right to lead; Bethlehem won the fight and mutilated Getty by cutting out his tongue and castrating him. The nomad and another conscript are tasked with killing a lion, but Idaho arrives and forces the nomad and the conscript to fight to the death. Idaho kills the conscript, but before he can shoot the nomad he is killed by the lion, allowing the nomad to escape by jumping into a river. He takes refuge in an abandoned United States Postal Service Jeep DJ, burning letters and wearing the deceased postal carrier's coat to stay warm.
Fleeing the Holnists, the nomad dons the postal uniform and mail bag and arrives in the town of Pineview, where he is held at gunpoint by the town's leader, Sheriff Briscoe. Desperate to avoid execution but lacking any identification to secure his release, the nomad (falsely) claims to be a Postman from the newly-restored U.S. government, presenting a letter addressed to elderly villager Irene March as proof. The Postman inspires a teenager named Ford Lincoln Mercury, who he swears in as a postal carrier and helps reactivate the town's abandoned post office. The Postman also meets spouses Abby and Michael and fulfills their clinical request to impregnate her. When the Postman leaves for the town of Benning, he carries a pile of mail left at the post office by the townspeople.
During a raid on Pineview, General Bethlehem learns of the Postman's claim of a restored government in Minneapolis. Fearing his loss of power if word spreads, Bethlehem has the post office burned to the ground, kills Michael, abducts Abby, and raids Benning looking for the Postman, who he does not know is the nomad. The Postman surrenders, but Abby rescues him and they flee into the surrounding mountains, where they hibernate through the winter in an abandoned cabin. In the spring, they leave and encounter another postal carrier, who reveals Mercury has kept the Postal Service alive by recruiting other carriers and opening more post offices, connecting settlements across the former U.S. and inadvertently forming a quasi-society in the "Restored United States".
Bethlehem, threatened by the rise of the Restored U.S., continues to persecute and publicly execute postal carriers. Wracked by guilt for their deaths, the Postman, now effectively the Postmaster General, orders the Postal Service to disband and writes a letter to the militia revealing it was formed on a lie, but Bethlehem, dismayed upon learning the Restored U.S. has spread as far as California, redoubles his efforts to hunt down the Postman. The Postman, Abby, and a group of young postal carriers travel to Bridge City, where they escape Holnist scouts with help from the mayor and rally the population to resist Bethlehem. There, the Postman and Abby reciprocate their feelings and fall in love.
The Postman organizes a Restored U.S. Army to face the Holnists in a pitched battle. Unwilling to allow further bloodshed, the Postman reveals to Bethlehem that he is "Shakespeare" and challenges him to a one-on-one duel for power with their troops as witnesses, akin to what Bethlehem did with Getty; per Holnist traditions, Bethlehem accepts. The Postman wins the brutal hand-to-hand fight, but he spares Bethlehem's life to maintain morale. Bethlehem tries to shoot the Postman as he turns away, but is shot dead by Getty, who promptly disarms the Holnists.
Thirty years later in 2043, the Postman dies at the age of 70. His adult daughter Hope speaks at a ceremony unveiling a memorial honoring his efforts in the coastal city of St. Rose, Oregon, part of the Restored U.S., with the implication that modern society and technology have returned.

## Cast

* Kevin Costner as The Postman
* Will Patton as General Bethlehem
* Larenz Tate as Ford Lincoln Mercury
* Olivia Williams as Abby
* James Russo as Captain Idaho
* Tom Petty as Bridge City Mayor
* Daniel von Bargen as Pineview Sheriff Briscoe
* Scott Bairstow as Luke
* Giovanni Ribisi as Bandit 20
* Roberta Maxwell as Irene March
* Joe Santos as Colonel Getty
* Ron McLarty as Old George
* Brian Anthony Wilson as Woody
* Peggy Lipton as Ellen March
* Rex Linn as Mercer
* Shawn Hatosy as Billy
* Ryan Hurst as Eddie March
* Charles Esten as Michael
* Ty O'Neal as Drew
* Jude Herrera as Carrier
* Tom Bower as Larry
* Mary Stuart Masterson as Hope, Postman's Daughter (uncredited)
* John Coinman as Troubadour (uncredited)

## Production

On his personal website, author David Brin reveals that while studios were bidding for The Postman, his wife decided during a screening of Field of Dreams that Kevin Costner should portray the title character. Brin agreed that the emotions evoked by Field of Dreams matched the message he intended to deliver with his novel. A decade later, after learning Costner would be cast as the lead, Brin said he was "thrilled". Costner discarded the old screenplay (in which the moral message of the novel had been reversed) and hired screenwriter Brian Helgeland; Brin says the two of them "rescued the 'soul' of the central character" and reverted the story's message to one of hope. Costner supposedly passed on the lead role in Air Force One to work on The Postman.
In an interview with Metro before filming began, Brin expressed his hope that The Postman would have the "pro-community feel" of Field of Dreams instead of the Mad Max feel of Costner's other post-apocalyptic film Waterworld. Brin said that, unlike typical post-apocalyptic movies that satisfy "little-boy wish fantasies about running amok in a world without rules", the intended moral of The Postman is that "if we lost our civilization, we'd all come to realize how much we missed it, and would realize what a miracle it is simply to get your mail every day."
The Postman was filmed in Metaline Falls and Fidalgo Island in Washington; central Oregon; and southern Arizona around Amado and Nogales. Metaline Falls is the location for the community of Pineview in the film.
Despite the film performing disastrously at two test screenings, Costner refused Warner Bros.' appeals that he edit it from its three-hour running time.

## Reception
### Box office

The film was a notorious failure at the box office. The first four days after opening brought in only $5.3 million on 2,207 screens in the United States and Canada. Produced on an estimated $80 million budget, it grossed $17 million in the United States and Canada and $30 million worldwide.
The film was subsequently released on VHS and DVD on June 9, 1998 and on Blu-ray Disc on September 8, 2009.

### Critical response

The Postman was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A massive miscalculation in self-mythologizing by director and star Kevin Costner, The Postman would make for a goofy good time if it weren't so fatally self-serious." Metacritic gives the film a score of 29 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
In The New York Times, Stephen Holden criticized the movie for its "bogus sentimentality" and "mawkish jingoism". In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert described The Postman as a failed yet well-meant effort at a parable, being "goofy", "pretentious", and "way too long", yet "good-hearted". He criticized Costner's putting himself in the lead role, arguing that such roles should be cast against type and that Costner had played too many similar roles in past films. On Siskel & Ebert, Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs down", and Siskel sarcastically called it "Dances with Myself" (in reference to Costner's film Dances with Wolves) while referring to the bronze statue scene.
Costner defended the film:
   I always thought it was a really good movie! I always thought I probably started it wrong. I should have said something like "once upon a time". Because it was just like a modern-day fairy tale—it wraps itself up with a storybook ending with the statue. You know, I thought it was a pretty funny movie set against the idea of a Superman—somebody stepping up. But in this case, it's a very humble guy who's nothing but a liar [laughs]—delivers mail and burns half of it just to stay alive. So, I like the movie.
In 2023, Rolling Stone cited The Postman as one of the fifty worst decisions in film history.

### Accolades

| Award | Subject | Nominee | Result |
| Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Will Patton | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | Best Actor | Kevin Costner | Nominated |
| Razzie Award | Worst Actor | Kevin Costner | Won |
| Razzie Award | Worst Director | Kevin Costner | Won |
| Razzie Award | Worst Picture | Kevin Costner, Steve Tisch, and Jim Wilson | Won |
| Razzie Award | Worst Screenplay | Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland, based on the book by David Brin | Won |
| Razzie Award | Worst Original Song | The entire song selection | Won |
| Stinkers Award | Worst Picture | | Nominated |
| Stinkers Award | Worst Director | Kevin Costner | Nominated |