Greenes
Please don't spend money on this.
Console
best movie i've ever seen.
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Calum Hutton
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
smits59
Try to see this movie before you spent any money on it, as I did.Sure, there is a lot of beautiful scenery. And some of the acting is great; Jo van Fleet is brilliant! But Elia Kazan's directing is too heavy handed for Clift and Remmick. Clift does his line and then performs the face he is told to show. But there is no connection between the line and the face. Remmick does the same, but since it her début I can't hold that against her. This effect makes this movie difficult to watch.The story is full off holes too: the relation between Clift and Remmick starts totally unbelievable. Wouldn't a mother think of her kids? Her house is her future but check out the map in the beginning of the movie and form your own opinion. (since I'm trying to avoid spoilers I can't go into details)
grumpy736-1
I agree with most of the praises that precede this post -- I'm glad I tuned into it on TCM and on my recently added wide screen TV -- it is the made for wide screen version and it is magnificent. The reason I stepped in here was: there was a sharecropper (?)who resembled James Earl Jones so I looked into the credits. Someone was ahead of me and said that it was James Earl Jones' father, who also had a deep resonant voice.Jo Van Fleet deserved a Best Supporting Actress definitely. Albert Salmi had a role he could play easily -- with menace that worries an audience. A nine because I didn't buy into the romance with Lee Remick and those scenes were too long for me.
PimpinAinttEasy
Dear Arundhati Roy,I know you hate dams. And love the idea of people living off the land. I was thinking about you while I was watching this film. It is an elegy for the old ways of life. I am sure you would appreciate the beautiful scenery filled with leafless branches of trees, thickets, grounds covered by leaves and the rivers. You would certainly admire the spirit of the old lady (Jo Van Fleet) who staunchly refuses to move an inch for the forces of progress. You might even appreciate the very believable Government man (Montgomery Clift) who is conflicted about his role in removing the old lady from the land. Lee Remick's earthy beauty would be hard for anyone to ignore. The plight of the helpless serfs who can only look on when their old master is forced out only for new masters to take over would certainly interest you. The one dimensional and silly portrayal of the paranoid Southern American white folk might appeal to you because it is just like your often one dimensional portrayal of people and things that you do not like.Though I am not sure whether you would appreciate the lack of sarcasm in the movie's final scene. I did feel like there was a hint of ambiguity when Clift and Remick looked away from the old lady's land (now almost completely drowned out by the water from the dam) and admired the dam. Elia Kazan while celebrating rugged American individualism was also saying that ultimately progress was the only way forward.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)
llmann-1
I had to say this movie was so stunning for me. The beginning black and white newsreel of a man who lost his three children in a flood is actually a real clip and it is my grandfather, so I was so amazed to see this. He passed away in 1972. My father lost his brothers and sisters in the flood which was in the 1930s Trumansburg, NY. I believe is was the flood of 1935. How amazing to see an actual news reel of my grandfather!!! I had a hard time finding the movie until I come across it on ebay. My father once had it, but he ended up losing it as the movie was not marked it was a blank VHS and it was unfortunately thrown away. I am holding onto the movie that I got until his birthday. It will make a unforgivable gift.
