For his second film behind the camera, actor-turned-director Robert Redford turned to a novel by John Nichols about a dying town in the New Mexico desert that rises up against a local developer that bought up the water rights and is starving the town. The Milagro Beanfield War was the first book in his "New Mexico Trilogy" of stories that touched on issues of culture, race, power, and the displacement of citizens from their homes by money and progress.
Redford's film adapted by Nichols and Oscar-winning screenwriter David S. Ward (The Sting), is a likable ensemble piece that weaves humor, uplifting David and Goliath triumphs, and a streak of magic realism through the social commentary. Joe (Chick Vennera), an unemployed handyman and farmer, becomes the focal point of the story when the runoff from the broken irrigation pipe pours into his beanfield. The developer (Richard Bradford) whose upscale recreation center is displacing the locals sends a fixer (Christopher Walken) to drive Joe off his land without getting the courts or the press involved.
The battle draws in plenty of locals, notably Sonia Braga as a local business owner who tries to rally the locals around the cause and John Heard as a disillusioned former activist whose spark is rekindled by the tactics of the developer and the politicians in his pocket. Ruben Blades plays the local sheriff who sympathizes with the townsfolk and Carlos Riquelme wanders through the film as a kind of Greek chorus, debating ethics and philosophy with an (imaginary?) angel (Robert Carricart).
The sprawling screenplay leaves its characters underdeveloped in its effort to include everyone and some characters—notably a city kid sociology student (Daniel Stern) and the developer's girlfriend (Melanie Griffith)—are almost superfluous. The film has a folksy sweetness to it that softens the social conflict and cultural collision into something more like a fable filled with eccentrics, unlikely heroes, and a wily scene-stealing pig. The photography by Robbie Greenberg favors golden sunsets and painterly landscapes and Redford's direction brings a likability to almost every character.
It's an entertaining kind of populist filmmaking that draws from the well of Frank Capra's everyman-vs.-the system film and anticipates the socially-aware ensemble pieces from filmmaker John Sayles like City of Hope or Lone Star but without the complexity or the rich sense of social culture. It is, however, enjoyable and amiable, if a little diffuse and unfocused. Dave Grusin's easygoing acoustic score earned the film's sole Oscar nomination.
The Blu-ray debut features commentary by actor Chick Vennera, who plays the film's central character, and film historian and filmmaker Daniel Kremer. A strong optional purchase.