Legends of the Fall

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Legends of the Fall
Image:Legendsofthefall.jpg DVD cover for Legends of the Fall
Directed by	Edward Zwick
Produced by	Marshall Herskovitz William D. Wittliff Edward Zwick
Written by	Jim Harrison (novella) Susan Shilliday William D. Wittliff
Starring	Brad Pitt Anthony Hopkins Aidan Quinn Julia Ormond Henry Thomas
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	John Toll
Editing by	Steven Rosenblum
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar
Release date(s)	December 16, 1994
Running time	133 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Legends of the Fall is a 1994 film based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison. Directed by Edward Zwick and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas, the film won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, but the film did not do as well as expected at the box office. It has since become available on DVD, with enormous success in that medium. [1]

The movie's timeframe spans from just before World War I through the Prohibition Era and into the 1920s, and it ends briefly in 1963. The film centers on the Ludlow family of Montana, including veteran of the Indian Wars Colonel Ludlow (Hopkins), his three sons Alfred (Quinn), Tristan (Pitt), and Samuel (Thomas), and the brothers' love interest Susannah (Ormond). [2]

The plot

Colonel Ludlow, sick of the betrayals the United States government has perpetrated on the Native Americans, retires with his most trusted friend, a Native American serving in the cavalry, named One Stab. He moves his family to a remote part of Montana where he builds a large home and begins ranching. His wife, born and raised in the city, does not adapt well to the harsh winters of the cold country and leaves for the east coast. She does not return for many years but she and the Colonel remain married and close friends and communicate through letters. He raises his sons with the help of One Stab who teaches them all the language of his American Indian people. It is One Stab's voice that narrates the film, all in retrospect, and as an old man.

Colonel Ludlow has three sons, all as different as night from day. The oldest son, Alfred, is mature even at a young age, always responsible, and cautious. The youngest son, Samuel, is naive but educated, and constantly being watched over by his brothers. Tristan, the middle son, is wild, handsome, unapologetic, spirited, confident, and one who has studied the ancient American Indian traditions.

After introducing the characters the film opens with a scene in which Tristan, at a young age, leaves home to hunt a wild bear. He and a large bear confront one another, the bear attacks him, and in the fight that follows Tristan is injured. He cuts a claw off of the bear's paw and the bear flees. It is evident from the start that despite Tristan's wild nature he is his father's favorite. Tristan is the strongest of the sons.

Just before World War I begins, Samuel, who has been away at college, comes home to Montana, bringing with him his fianceé, Susannah. Susannah is beautiful, well-bred, and intelligent. All of the men in the house are "intoxicated by her presence." She finds Tristan's wild and experienced personality captivating, and she is clearly conflicted over this because of her love for Samuel. The three brothers enjoy one another's company, and this segment is the happiest time for the Ludlows.

Samuel and Susannah intend on marrying, but before this can take place, the war in Europe begins. Samuel feels very passionate about his stance against Germany, and speaks out against them as if he understands fully what he is talking about. Colonel Ludlow disagrees with him, telling him he talks about war but has never seen a war. Samuel tells his father that already two of the Ludlow family's European cousins have been killed in action, at which point Colonel Ludlow points out that it is two cousins whom they have never even met. In October 1914, after Samuel reads a disturbing news article about war, abruptly tells his family he is leaving for Canada to join the Canadian army, and fight for the British Empire, since the United States had not yet entered the war.

Colonel Ludlow has very strong feelings about war and carries great contempt for the U.S. Government after witnessing first-hand the atrocities suffered by the Indians during Westward expansion. Nevertheless, the colonel has always respected his sons' opinions, but strongly disagrees with them entering into a conflict that he deems none of America's business. Nonetheless, Samuel is intent on joining the army, and both Alfred and Tristan go with him. Tristan could not care less about the war, but is intent on protecting Samuel, and is asked to do so by his father as they leave. The night before they leave, Susannah comes to Tristan to talk to him about Samuel. She becomes distraught over his going to war, and in tears reaches out to embrace Tristan for comfort. He soothes her, and yet the embrace lingers a moment too long, due to their mutual attraction to each other. At that moment Alfred walks in and they quickly part. Alfred says nothing, but later Samuel comments that an inexplicable distance seems to have arisen between them. Colonel Ludlow sends Stab to Canada with his sons, to bring back his three best horses, telling Stab that he would not have his sons ride off to war on "old nags."

The three brothers find themselves in an infantry unit. Alfred, who is commissioned as an officer, leads a charge across open ground in a large battle scene, (possibly an offensive during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, see below) Tristan abandons his own unit to be by Samuel's side. The attack is repulsed with heavy casualties, and Alfred is wounded in the leg. When Samuel is creased by a bullet on his cheek, Tristan immediately drags Samuel into a shellhole, and holds him there until the battle is over, when they can make their way back to their own lines.

Days later, Tristan visits Alfred in the field hospital, and when he learns that Samuel has volunteered for a dangerous reconnaissance mission, steals a horse to go off and find his younger brother. The scene shifts to one of Samuel and an officer pinned down by enemy fire. When the officer is killed, Samuel continues the mission until a gas shell explodes nearby, leaving him blinded.

Tristan rides into the ongoing battle, and is confronted by several German soldiers. He kills them, taking a gas mask off of one of the dead soldiers, then moves to find Samuel. When he spots Samuel, his younger brother is walking blindly through a wooded area, and calls out for Tristan. Before they can actually get to one another, Samuel finds himself entangled in barbed wire. Before Tristan can reach him two German soldiers riddle Samuel with fire from a machine gun. Tristan kills both soldiers, then goes to Samuel. He holds Samuel until he dies, then cuts his heart out (we assume that this is part of an Indian tradition that Tristan has learned from Stab) to be sent home to his father. The event shakes Tristan to the core, and he curses God for the loss of his brother.

Soon after, and without prompting from those in command, Tristan sneaks behind enemy lines. We watch as he kills two German soldiers using only a knife. He doesn't return until the next morning with the scalps of many German soldiers hanging around his neck. The other soldiers stare at him in silence as he rides back into camp. Shortly after this, he is removed from his service in the army, but he doesn't return home immediately, instead sending Samuel's heart home with Alfred.

Alfred returns home to bury Samuel in October 1917. Susannah is set to leave the following day, however, fierce snowstorms prevent her departure, and Colonel Ludlow insists she stay on with them until the spring. That spring, Alfred takes Susannah to Samuel's grave and confesses his love, and proposes marriage to her. Susannah declines.

Tristan eventually returns home and Susannah finds him weeping at Samuel's grave, and comforts him. Alfred, jealous because he is aware of their attraction, and having seen them return together from a ride, makes a sharp comment to Tristan at dinner that night which sends him storming out into the night. Susannah follows him, and he turns and kisses her. The two become lovers. The next morning an angry and jealous Alfred confronts Tristan, insisting that Tristan cannot make her happy. When Tristan replies that he'll try, Alfred tells him "you will fail." Alfred leaves that same day for Helena.

Susannah is very much in love with Tristan and dreams of a happy life together, but Tristan is still scarred by the memories of war, and his guilt and pain over failing to protect Samuel eats away at him. Though he initially found solace in Susannah's arms, now he feels on some level that his being with the woman his dead brother loved is wrong, and he feels responsible for driving Alfred away as well. He decides that he needs to go away for a while, a few months, presumably to get his head together. Susannah begs him to stay with her, but he refuses. She asks him if they had children together would he still leave to which he replies simply, "Yes." Finally she tells him she'll wait for him as long as it takes, she will wait forever.

Tristan does not return home for many years. His demons chase him all over the globe. He becomes a hunter in the South Pacific and Africa. Back at the ranch, Susannah waits for him with no word at all, her heart growing more weary with sorrow as each year passes. Finally, she receives a letter from him. It says only this: "Everything we had is dead, as I am dead. Marry another." It breaks her heart, and she never fully recovers. Alfred finds her weeping and tries to comfort her but Colonel Ludlow walks in on them and chastises him. Alfred gets angry and tells his father than Tristan has abandoned her, as well as him. He tells him that Tristan had betrayed Samuel with her before they went off to war and that he was responsible for Samuel's death. Colonel Ludlow, already upset over Alfred's intent to run for Congress, explodes, telling Alfred "Samuel chose to be a soldier! And soldiers die, sent to their slaughter by parasites like you." Colonel Ludlow has a stroke that very night, and doesn't speak for years other than by writing what he wants to say on a chalkboard, and for years the ranch goes with little care.

Eventually Susannah marries Alfred, now a congressman, after he had left the family home due to the rift between he and his father. They move to Helena, Montana, where Alfred's politics cause him to become embroiled with the unsavory O'Bannion brothers, Irish-American bootleggers, businessmen, and gangsters. Colonel Ludlow has no contact with Alfred during this time, and remains completely loyal to his favorite son, Tristan.

Tristan finally returns home, bringing with him a herd of horses and quickly breathing life back into the ranch and his father. Tristan accepts Susannah's marriage to Alfred, saying it is how it should be, and he marries the daughter of a close family friend and employee who works on the ranch named Isabel Two. Together they have a son, named Samuel, and a daughter, Isabel Three. The happiest phase of Tristan's life has begun. He settles into working the ranch, raising his children, and is completely happy, with the demons of his past finally coming to rest.

However, due to prohibition, he and his father become involved in Bootleg liquor and finds themselves at odds with the O'Bannion brothers, who are rivals in the trade. Tristan's wife is accidentally killed by a corrupt police officer working for the O'Bannions. Susannah comes to the jail, where Tristan is held for 30 days after beating the police officer, and tells him she feels guilty because she wished for Isabelle-II's death, as well as Samuel's, and that she still sometimes dreams that she is the mother of his children. Tristan tells her their deaths are not her fault, but she still bears that guilt. In a moment that reveals Tristan's great character, he refuses Susannah's advances and tells her to "go home to Alfred," her rightful husband.

The police officer who killed Isabel Two receives a reprimand, but no punishment. After his release from jail, Tristan and his father-in-law kill those responsible for Isabel Two's death, the police officer and one of the O'Bannion brothers. During that same timeframe Susannah, in despair because she has never been able to get over her love for Tristan, and unable to cope with his rejection, commits suicide by shooting herself. The Ludlows bury Susannah in the family cemetery, and Alfred comments that throughout his life, he did everything right, following all the rules, while Tristan followed none of them, yet everyone in their family always loved Tristan more, even his own wife.

When the remaining O'Bannion brother comes for Tristan, with the local corrupt sheriff and another police officer, they tell Tristan that he must know they did not come to arrest him, meaning they will kill him. Tristan tells them to take him away from there, so his son won't watch him die. However, in a twist of fate, a shootout breaks out during which Alfred and Colonel Ludlow kill them, with Tristan never firing a shot. Alfred is finally forgiven by and reunited with his father. They bury the three bodies and dump the vehicle in a deep pond, and Tristan, knowing that it will be he that is blamed for their disappearance, leaves for the mountain country. He leaves Alfred in charge of raising his children until he can return.

The film then skips many decades ahead, with Stab narrating. It shows the gravestones of all those in Tristan's life who died before him, and tells that Tristan's children grew to adulthood and produced their own families. Stab goes on to say that all those who loved Tristan most died before him and that "he was a rock they broke themselves against." It ends showing a mystic scene of Tristan as an old man in 1963, in the mountains, finding bear tracks and then being suddenly attacked by a bear. Stab ends his narration with "It was a good death." [3]

Trivia

• The movie was filmed primarily in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of Calgary, Alberta, with Helena, Montana street scenes filmed in Vancouver.

• The World War I scenes were filmed west of Calgary at Morley and involved hundreds of locally recruited extras. The Canadian Forces provided a few dozen servicemen, from both the regular and reserve forces, to act as a cadre for the extras, under local historian Simon Sherwood. The war scenes were filmed over a two week period on a large outdoor set with faithfully reconstructed trenches and a tented encampment/field hospital.

• The unit depicted in the film is the Tenth Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, as evidenced by the "C-over-10" badges worn by Henry Thomas. Kilted soldiers in the film represent a company of the Sixteenth Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (today perpetuated by The Canadian Scottish Regiment), as evidenced by the Cameron of Erracht tartan kilts (one company of the 16th was recruited from the 79th Cameron Highlanders from Winnipeg.) The Tenth Battalion is perpetuated by The Calgary Highlanders, who provided several servicemen for the training cadre, and whose kit shop provided the C-over-10 badges used on many of the uniforms.

• The famous and horrific World War One, battle scene was most likely a portrayal of a counter-attack, nighttime charge during the 2nd Battle of Ypres. That first night, the 10th and 16th Canadian Infantry Battalions were ordered to recapture Kitchener’s Wood, a large copse of trees in which the Germans had set up new defences. The Canadians attack was a typical example of the tactics of the day. The men formed up in a nearby field under cover of darkness to avoid the German shelling. When the time came to attack, the 1500 troops stood up to take the onslaught of German machine guns. The 2nd Battle of Ypres was also where the German army used Chlorine gas, also depicted in the movie.

• Johnny Depp was offered the role of Tristan Ludlow, but turned it down.

• More likely, Tristan meets his "good death" in the form of a bear because of his connection to the bear spirit (nahual), and not necessarily from the same bear he wounded all those years ago. If you look carefully, the young Tristan cuts a claw from the bear's right paw. At the end of the movie, the bear attacking him clearly has 5 claws on his right paw.

• The film draws parallels to the legend of Tristan and Isolde through the romance of Tristan and Susannah.

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