Edward Zwick’s sprawling romantic epic turns 30 this year, so naturally, it’s time to take a grown up look at this film. I remember parts of this, from a part in time when my mom would make me close my eyes during certain sequences. Not that 11 year old me was really excited about Legends of The Fall, but it does feel like we should revisit it. After all, it is an Oscar nominee, and has an impressive little ensemble of Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond, Aidan Quinn, and Henry Thomas.
Hopkins plays the patriarch of this family living in Montana in the earl 1900’s, who has a fairly good relationship with the indigenous people of his area. He has three sons, played by Pitt, Quinn, and Thomas. Things get complicated by several life changes, and time. Ormond is initially planning to marry Thomas’s character, but World War I (which Pitt and Thomas partake in) changes that. Later, she becomes infatuated with Pitt, who needs to go find himself, so she’s left with Quinn. It’s really complex.
Meanwhile, Quinn is a budding politician, and he lets the wrong people back him, which eventually leads to a bloody end for these Legends… of the Fall? The movie is well acted enough, though all actors have been better. Hopkins is probably the best positioned for praise, as his character does suffer a stroke, and he has to speak his dialog through the third act like he can barely open his mouth. Ultimately, I think this movie is silly, overblown, and was probably just pretty to look at thirty years ago. It’s fine, but not Oscar caliber, and the director certainly made a more memorable film with Glory.
I hated Quinn’s character, and some of his interactions don’t make sense. Ormond is expected to haven chemistry with everyone, which is a tall order, and her character exits the film in the most random way possible. Pitt is fine, but he’s gotten better. Thomas isn’t really in the film beyond the first act. So, I’m not sure Legends Of The fall is anything I really missed thirty years ago.
What I look For In Audio Description: It’s a period drama that spans decades, so if we could explore that, it would help the films passage of time feel more realistic. How do these characters age? It’s not a dialog heavy film, so there’s a lot of room to describe everything from costumes to use the beautiful landscape outside their home. There’s some violence here, sporadically throughout the film, and war specifically can’t be shied away from. There’s also an indigenous presence that has very little dialogue, and a pivotal shootout that needs to be defined as what happens when. It is a hard watch without audio description.
What it Actually Does: Luckily, I watched this with someone else, because this lacks audio description on Paramount Plus. It was a really tough watch, and because the other person chose it, they ended up feeling obligated to try and do homegrown audio description, and tell me what was happening. but, they are not a trained audio description specialist, and the thing these companies always seem to miss with their lack of audio description is that we don’t watch films alone. If we have friends and family that want to watch a film or a show, likely they know we can’t see the screen, and they’ll tell us what’s going on. When you release a movie theatrically with no audio description, you are inviting people to talk during your film. I always thought it would be really funny to push that to the next level and have someone with an ear splitting voice like Gilbert Gottfried did sit through a film that doesn’t have audio description in a theater with other people, just to see if anyone would dare to challenge me. We should have accessibility. Not just on a handful of titles. Every. Title. Stop trying to parse the list down and essentially censor into a list of preselected titles. So, Paramount Plus needs to expand their catalog.
Final Thoughts: I can’t really use the fleeting memories I have of this from years ago, as it wasn’t the whole thing, and I still don’t have the whole thing. I’m fairly certain this isn’t a great film, but I would like a more accurate representation before I grade it.
Final Grade: Unwatchable
