A River Runs Through It

Filmmaker and longtime environmentalist Robert Redford combined his passions in this 1992 adaptation of the autobiographical novella by Norman Maclean. Set in Montana during the roaring days of the 1920s and ‘30s, A River Runs Through It tells the story of two brothers (played by Craig Sheffer and a young Brad Pitt) raised by a Presbyterian minister father (Tom Skerrit), who takes the lads to his own cathedral in nature, where he teaches them to fish and fly cast the Presbyterian way. Although the brothers grow up and apart, watching them return to the river to wordlessly cast their flies—happy merely to be together amidst the majesty of their childhood wilderness—is nothing less than sublime. Also something of a frontier tale, A River Runs Through It presents a winning portrait of life in the unspoiled beauty of the Montana wilderness during the first half of the 20th century. Garnering Academy Award nominations for Mark Isham's music and Richard Friedenberg's screenplay, the film took home an Oscar for Philippe Rousselot's lush cinematography, which looks astounding in the vivid high-definition master for this Blu-ray debut. Packaged in a 32-page digibook case (with notes, essays, and color photos), Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” documentary (which pays tribute to author Maclean, who died before the film was completed), a featurette on preserving and reclaiming the Blackfoot River, a brief fly fishing primer, and deleted/extended scenes. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)