Legends of the Fall

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The latest offering from Edward Zwick, the director of "Glory," is the kind of movie that doesn't require much effort to surrender to and enjoy.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What makes Legends such an entertaining male weepie is the star shine. Though the admirable Quinn has the toughest role, Pitt carries the picture.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's pretty good, in fact, with full-blooded performances and heartfelt melodrama.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

There's a lot of beauty and excitement in Legends of the Fall - not least from the actors. [13 Jan 1995]

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Director Zwick orchestrates everything with welcome gusto, and though the result is not as meaningful as it would have you believe, it is undeniably pleasant to have this kind of production to kick around. [23 Dec 1994]

Variety Leonard Klady

While emotionally intense, it's neither hurried nor charged with false drama. It's also one of the most handsome of recent films, with sterling work by cameraman John Toll and production designer Lilly Kilvert.

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

The golden shadows of the waning Old West are thrown across the big screen with full reverential treatment in this solid, unsurprising rendition of Jim Harrison's widely praised novella.

Empire Ian Nathan

In all, Legends Of The Fall is a grand bore, more laughable than stirring. So big everything becomes blurry and distant, so beautiful it could be ad for male hair products.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The acting is the strongest thing about the film. Pitt nicely balances the dashing and wounded sides of Tristan's character. [13 Jan 1995]

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The camerawork, which relies heavily on shots of picture-perfect vistas and not enough on human beings and their place in this world. When we do see the characters, we primarily see their beauty.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

These are performances that lost too much in the editing room, smothered by music and overshadowed by a picture-postcard vision of the American West.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Legends of the Fall is so gorgeous that its failure to catch fire seems a piddling concern.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This puffed-up Western set in Big Sky country becomes a small-screen horse opera.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Legends of the Fall never makes you think too hard; its woes-of-a-proud-family formula takes a back seat to a self-conscious visual style that strains toward the level of myth.

USA Today Mike Clark

Long, lumbering, pretentious and for some a possible laff riot. [23 Dec 1994]

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

While the production is attractive in a calendar-photo sort of way, there's not a speck of genuine feeling in its glossy images.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Legends of the Fall is one of those movies that is so sloppy and so poorly written and so clumsily directed that every dramatic scene seems to either insult your intelligence or come off as being unintentionally hilarious. [13 Jan 1995]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

The narrative line itself rambles increasingly down a path toward tawdry melodrama, defeating the impact of the handsome visuals and finely etched performances. [13 Jan 1995]

Boston Globe Jay Carr

This one is hollow and caves in on itself, growing wearisome and posed, ending in a burst of salvational violence and a coda of sentimentality masquerading as transcendent toughness. [13 Jan 1995]

Time Richard Schickel

We're left with our stifled laughter and a very long movie.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Legends of the Fall is a magnificent bore: a western saga lolling in its own immensity - its big music, its big scenery and, yes, its big hair

Washington Post Desson Howe

It doesn't take long to realize that Legends is an unintentional howler.

Wall Street Journal Amy Gamerman

Nobody fares well in this movie about sibling rivalry, doomed love and fringed suede. [05 Jan 1995]