River Runs Through It, A

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Robert Redford's sensitive, unhurried movie of A River Runs Through It is so faithful to the book that it becomes that rare thing - a beautiful celebration of the power of literature. [09 Oct 1992]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A tasteful, richly textured, exquisitely nostalgic drama that carries with it an enormous emotional punch. [09 Oct 1992]

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

A skilled, careful adaptation of a much-admired story, A River Runs Through It is a convincing trip back in time to a virtually vanished American West, as well as a nicely observed family study.

The New York Times Caryn James

A River Runs Through It, Mr. Redford's beautiful and deeply felt new movie, puts him in an entirely new category as a film maker.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Redford and his writer, Richard Friedenberg, understand that most of the events in any life are accidential or arbitrary, especially the crucial ones, and we can exercise little conscious control over our destinies.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is a beautifully-shot film, and director Robert Redford (who also provides the voice-over narration) has paid painstaking attention to detail.

Austin Chronicle Hollis Chacona

A pure cinematic distillation of Maclean's words, it is by turns austere and vibrant, disconsolate and joyful.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The story is told handsomely and affectingly with images, facial expressions and body language. [16 Oct 1992]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It's perfectly admirable, absolutely controlled, and fully understandable. [09 Oct 1992]

Portland Oregonian Ted Mahar

It's difficult to imagine a better film adaptation of Maclean's work. [16 Oct 1992]

Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon

Whatever the movie's failings, it had enough poignancy and beauty to make me want to find out what was missing. [08 Oct 1992]

Washington Post Hal Hinson

It is a serious and, at times, moving film, and it deserves serious analysis.

Washington Post Desson Howe

The words - taken directly from the book - are beautifully cast, but they encapsulate the emotions too conveniently.

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Even set against the Sierra Club beauty of Redford's Montana, it's hard to get excited by fisherman casting their lines into the water.

USA Today Mike Clark

Though Maclean's bedrock prose is perfection in print, the film may be another case (like actor Redford's "The Great Gatsby") in which text defies translation. [09 Oct 1992]

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

An admirable if frequently soporific 1992 adaptation of Norman Maclean's account of life in Missoula, Montana.

Empire Staff (Not Credited)

From Phillippe Rousselot’s exquisite cinematography, with the stunning scenery of Montana as a backdrop, to Redford’s assured direction, this is utterly alluring, and manages to make fly-fishing seem not just romantic, but thrilling.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Loving and well-intentioned though this film is, it never convinces you that its subject matter merits this kind of idealized, worshipful attention. [09 Oct 1992]

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

A River Runs Through It emerges as hopelessly middle-brow-the kind of diluted, prettified art traditionally associated with PBS and the Academy Awards. [09 Oct 1992]

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

In relying on narration, Redford's movie is too little show and too much tell.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It works better as a nature and historical study than as a drama, though.