A River Runs through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition by Norman Maclean  (116)  $9.60

The Horse Whisperer DVD ~ Kathy Baldwin Keenan  (188)  $11.49

Seven Years in Tibet DVD ~ Brad Pitt  (95)  $9.99

Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition) DVD ~ Fredric March  (435)  $8.99

Dances with Wolves - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) DVD ~ Kirk Baltz  (240)  $16.49

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Amazon.com
A lyrical and nostalgic film from director Robert Redford (Quiz Show, Ordinary People), based on the popular autobiographical novel by Norman MacLean, A River Runs Through It shows the best that modern filmmaking has to offer. The film chronicles two brothers coming of age in early-20th-century Missoula, Montana, under the stern tutelage of their minister father, played by Tom Skerritt (Top Gun). Their father instills in them a love of fly fishing, which for one brother (Brad Pitt) becomes a lifelong passion even as he sets out to become a newspaperman and struggles with his addiction to gambling. The other brother, Norman (Craig Sheffer), dreams of exploring the world outside of Missoula as he falls in love with a local girl (Emily Lloyd) who also dreams of broader horizons. Soon one brother must discover the true meaning of family loyalty when the other finds himself in deeper trouble than ever before. Redford, who also narrates the film, does a masterful job in re-creating the period and in drawing out affecting performances from his young cast. An Oscar winner for Philippe Rousselot's luminescent cinematography, this is a poignant and special film. --Robert Lane

From The New Yorker
Robert Redford's movie of Norman Maclean's lyrical novella about fly-fishing and family loyalty in Montana is serene, lulling, tranquil-no, it's dead dull. Maclean's story traces the history of its narrator's relationship with his self-destructive kid brother, Paul, through detailed descriptions of their fishing trips; the narrative is driven by the tension between what it's telling us and what it's leaving out. Disastrously, Redford and screenwriter Richard Friedenberg open up the story. They show us too much of what's happening offstage-that is, away from the river-and thus allow the real source of the story's emotions to dissipate. With a delicately balanced narrative like this one, more is inevitably less. (And the extra scenes cooked up by the filmmakers are banal by any standard.) The movie is ravishingly shot (by Philippe Rousselot), but it's lifeless, because it lacks the vital spirit of Maclean's writing: the precision and grace that he seems to have learned, in part, from fly-fishing. Redford and Friedenberg try to catch the story's elusive meanings by lobbing grenades into the river and blowing everything in it out into the light of day. With Craig Sheffer as the narrator, Norman, and Brad Pitt (who looks like a young Redford and gives a lightweight performance) as Paul. The supporting cast includes Emily Lloyd, Tom Sherritt, Stephen Shellen, Nicole Burdette, Brenda Blethyn, and Susan Traylor. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

A River Runs through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition by Norman Maclean  (116)  $9.60

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Steel Magnolias (Special Edition) DVD ~ Sally Field  (145)  $9.99

Sleepless in Seattle (10th Anniversary Edition) DVD ~ Tom Hanks  (165)  $9.99

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