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Special Features
- Audio Commentary
- Deleted Footage
- Making Of "Cider House Rules"
Editorial Reviews
Honored with two Academy Awards(R) -- Best Supporting Actor, Michael Caine, and Best Adapted Screenplay, John Irving -- THE CIDER HOUSE RULES tells a compelling and heartwarming story about how far a young man must travel to find the place where he truly belongs! Homer Wells (Tobey Macguire -- PLEASANTVILLE, THE ICE STORM, WONDER BOYS) has lived nearly his entire life within the walls of St. Cloud's Orphanage in rural Maine. Though groomed by its proprietor, Dr. Larch (Caine), to be his successor, Homer nonetheless feels the need to strike out on his own and experience the world outside. Then, while working at an apple orchard, Homer falls for the beautiful Candy (Charlize Theron -- REINDEER GAMES, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE) and learns some powerfully indelible lessons about life, love, and home! Based on John Irving's best-selling American classic and featuring a sensational all-star cast including Delroy Lindo and newcomer Erykah Badu, this entertaining motion picture earned raves from critics and moviegoers everywhere!
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 94 people found the following review helpful
By "sprockets"
Format:DVD
Just when thoughtful adults despair that Hollywood will never again make movies for them to enjoy, Cider House Rules comes along and gives everybody reason to hope. From its wide, opening shot to its literary ending, this film delivers to its audience an old-fashioned, satisfying, movie-going experience while at the same time focusing on quite a surprising topic: abortion. Framed with Dickensian sympathy for all its characters, Cider House weaves its way in and out of the lives of half a dozen startlingly original people, many of them quite unusual for mainstream cinema. Michael Caine picked up the Oscar (he's a great actor but he's become a kind of beloved pet for middle-aged movie fans) as a drug-addicted humanitarian, yet Delroy Lindo gives the most haunting and complex performance as the black foreman of an apple-picking crew who loves his daughter too much. Tobey Maguire and Charlize Theron make this long film continuously watchable and even warmly sunny despite its repeated turns into dark material, and a gaggle of adorable moppet orphans keep tugging at the heart strings, but not so much you feel abused. A rare modern day classic.
37 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A sensitive and intelligent character-driven film, adapted from John Irving's novel by the author himself, which features truly breathtaking cinematography, a lush musical score, and uniformly excellent performances by a formidable cast which includes Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Kathy Baker, Jane Alexander, and supporting Oscar-winner Michael Caine. The main plot line centers around a young man (Maguire), raised in an orphanage headed by a charismatic doctor (Caine), who decides to venture out into the world and learns the hard way that life is not merely black and white, but many subtle variations of gray. While this is hardly a unique theme, the characters in "Cider House Rules" are so exquisitely drawn, and the movie so masterfully produced, that everything which might in lesser hands seem overly familiar appears fresh, new, and distinctive.
The DVD offers a perfect sound and video transfer, and includes a nice selection of "extras", including a documentary on the making of the film, the original Theatrical Trailer, and highlights of the television ad campaign. Overall, the DVD is an exemplary presentation of a bona fide modern classic, and one that's well worth multiple viewings.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Director Lasse Hallström joins his formidable talent with novelist/screenwriter John Irving and the results are so pleasantly literate and dramatically satisfying. I haven't read the novel so I can't compare the two but films vs. their novels' comparisions are almost impossible anyway since each media of expression is so unlike the other. For one, film is a collaborative medium whereas fiction writing is a solitary pursuit. Judged on its own, the film works perfectly. It revolves around a young man, Homer (Tobey Maguire), raised in an orphanage by its doctor (Michael Caine) who loves him like his own son. Homer eventually needs to go out into the larger world and experience what it has to offer. He has had problems with the doctor's inability to see the black and white of right and wrong. In his exposure to the outside world, by working in a Cider House in Maine, Homer too is forced to confront the gray areas inbetween right and wrong. Delroy Lindo, as the crew boss of the Cider House, does a formidable job playing the pivotal character from whom Homer will learn the inexact rules for living his life. Caine and Irving deservedly won Oscars for their work.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This Review refers to the Miramax Collector's Series DVD edition of "The Cider House Rules"
Sixty years before the release of "The Cider House Rules", we learned in a heartwarming story, from a girl named Dorothy, that if we are ever looking for our heart's content we shouldn't look past our own back yards. In 1999 in a more adult tale, one that is also heartwarming, but no fantasy, a young man named Homer, sets his cap to see the world and discovers also, that home is where he belongs. Naturally, this film is nothing like "The Wizard of Oz", and I am not, and would never presume to compare the two, only the idea of youth looking for something more out there. But "The Cider House Rules" is a fine film in it's own right.
All that Homer Wells knows of life is the orphanage in Maine where he has grown up.The orphanage is run by Dr. Larch who has been like a father to Homer and has passed on all his medical knowledge to him, in hopes that someday Homer will take his place.The orphanage by the way also doubles as place where unwed mothers come to have their babies...or not...as abortion is also one of the choices. The time is the early fourties, and not only was abortion as controversial as it still is today, but also, illegal.
Homer feels, it is his time now, and decides to strike out on his own. Not knowing where he will go or what he will do, doesn't really matter. What matters is that he experiences life.And so he does.Love, happiness, sadness and loss are all part of life's experiences that Homer gains on his journey.
Lasse Hallstrom("Chocolat"/"What's Eating Gilbert Grape")has masterfully directed this wonderful film that captivates from start to finish.The cast is a brillant mix of seasoned veterans and outstanding young performers.... Read more ›
Sixty years before the release of "The Cider House Rules", we learned in a heartwarming story, from a girl named Dorothy, that if we are ever looking for our heart's content we shouldn't look past our own back yards. In 1999 in a more adult tale, one that is also heartwarming, but no fantasy, a young man named Homer, sets his cap to see the world and discovers also, that home is where he belongs. Naturally, this film is nothing like "The Wizard of Oz", and I am not, and would never presume to compare the two, only the idea of youth looking for something more out there. But "The Cider House Rules" is a fine film in it's own right.
All that Homer Wells knows of life is the orphanage in Maine where he has grown up.The orphanage is run by Dr. Larch who has been like a father to Homer and has passed on all his medical knowledge to him, in hopes that someday Homer will take his place.The orphanage by the way also doubles as place where unwed mothers come to have their babies...or not...as abortion is also one of the choices. The time is the early fourties, and not only was abortion as controversial as it still is today, but also, illegal.
Homer feels, it is his time now, and decides to strike out on his own. Not knowing where he will go or what he will do, doesn't really matter. What matters is that he experiences life.And so he does.Love, happiness, sadness and loss are all part of life's experiences that Homer gains on his journey.
Lasse Hallstrom("Chocolat"/"What's Eating Gilbert Grape")has masterfully directed this wonderful film that captivates from start to finish.The cast is a brillant mix of seasoned veterans and outstanding young performers.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie
The movie was slightly different than the book but nonetheless it had a great storyline. I would highly recommend watching it.
Published 2 days ago by offbeatidy
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic
Some may not like the movie's stand of abortion, but I liked it as a historical piece and a good story. Acting was excellent.
Published 1 month ago by Peg C.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An eye opener
This movie will open your eyes on illegal abortions and orphanages in times past. As you watch the main characters live their lives, it will leave you sad as well as inspired.
Published 1 month ago by Susan Schwartz
4.0 out of 5 stars
a tough topic
this movie is beautifully acted by everyone but the topic of abortion is tough. Caines character makes good points about girls being butchered cuz they find themselves in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by RealRachelR
2.0 out of 5 stars
weak story, nicely sentimental
If you were forced to find meaning in this film, you'd say, "Break the rules. It's a good thing." But the values surrounding rule-breaking are weakly presented, and no one who... Read more
Published 1 month ago by librich
1.0 out of 5 stars
audio tracks are messed up
The copy I recieved had only the background audio. None of the dialogue could be heard.
Just posting because I haven't seen a similar complaint.
Just posting because I haven't seen a similar complaint.
Published 2 months ago by smccartney
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book to screen adaptation have ever seen
John Irving became my favorite author as soon as I read "The World According To Garp" I happened to run across
a top 100 books of all time article, I believe in the NY... Read more
a top 100 books of all time article, I believe in the NY... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mike "Tug" Tully
5.0 out of 5 stars
I live where part of it was filmed.
I live in Northampton, MA where part of this movie was filmed. The story line to this movie, scenery & old "main" really make this movie remarkable. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stormy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highlights an obscure chapter if history
This movie never got the acclaim it deserves. The consequences of illegal abortion are examined as well as some efforts to deal with the problem. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Judith B. Hastings
5.0 out of 5 stars
Happy Camper!
This purchase is everything I had expected. There is no need for me to spend time searching stores to find exactly what I want.
Published 3 months ago by gemstonerosaryman
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