Legends of the Fall (1994)

IMDb plot summary: In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.

Directed by Edward Zwick. Starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, and Julia Ormond.

This is the kind of film that jumps ahead years at a time to give a sprawling sense of this family's overarching drama. Brad Pitt is more likable than he has any right to be, given how his character is written, but I found myself more intrigued by Aidan Quinn's character's struggle with doing the right thing when his brother can make horrific mistakes and yet, to quote Quinn, "everyone still loved you more." The movie loves him more too, pushing us heavily to sympathize with Pitt and scorn Quinn, but it never quite convinced me. I would have appreciated the film more if it had centered the brothers wholly and cut the love triangle that keeps fighting to be the movie's focus (Julia Ormond is sorely underused). There's no denying that the film does look lovely, with grandiose sweeping landscape shots that make it easy to understand why the family patriarch stays. But the film frequently feels overstuffed.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Legends of the Fall < The Dinner Guest

Legends of the Fall > It's Always Fair Weather

Legends of the Fall > A Dangerous Method

Legends of the Fall < House of Flying Daggers

Legends of the Fall > Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Legends of the Fall > Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Legends of the Fall < Lazer Team

Legends of the Fall < The Fourth Kind

Legends of the Fall > Streets of Fire

Legends of the Fall < Office Space

Legends of the Fall < The Illusionist

Legends of the Fall < Wordplay

Final spot: #1853 out of 3218, or 42%.