Legends of the Fall

1994

Director: Edward Zwick

Distributor: Columbia TriStar

Key Elements: Characters – Concept

My Review:

Tristan Ludlow is probably my most favorite movie character of all time.
His older brother is cautious and jealous. His younger brother is zealous and naive. But Tristan knows exactly who he is – and he is his own. His fiercely independent personality is influenced by his father’s Native American friend giving him a rustic agency all his own. Tristan is untamable.

A love triangle (square?) masquerades as the focus of this story, but to me it is just a backdrop for the characters to play upon.

I have three favorite Tristan moments in this movie:

The first is when Tristan goes to get a drink with his father, his brother, and their Native American friend. When the bar keeper refuses to serve the Indian, Tristan doesn’t say word. He just jumps over the counter and beats the racist nearly senseless – then pours the drink himself. You don’t get away with anything with Tristan.

My second favorite part of the movie is when Tristan disappears from his family and travels the world. We see him as a sailor, a trader and a hunter. He simply heads out and conquers the world – though plagued by demons all the while.

But my most favorite moment is Tristan’s response to his younger brother’s death on the front lines of WWI. Tristan - by himself and on his own will - sneaks behind enemy lines and silently kills a dozen enemy soldiers. The next morning, a bloodied Tristan rides back into his camp tragically triumphant with multiple human scalps draped around his neck.

Tristan is wild, untamable and free. Brad Pitt makes this movie happen.

Clip:



Quotes:

• Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends.
• Indians! Indians were the issue in those days. I can assure you, gentlemen, there is nothing quite so grotesque as the meeting of a child with the a bullet; or an entire village slaughtered while they are sleeping. That was the Government's resolution of that particular issue and I have seen nothing in its behavior since then that would persuade me that it has gained either wisdom, common sense, or humanity.
• Samuel chose to be a soldier and soldiers die! Sent to their slaughter by men in governments! Parasites like you! Damn and blast you!
• Every hunter hopes that a good death finds him.

Stills:

The Last Samurai

2003

Director: Edward Zwick

Distributors: Warner Brothers

Key Elements: Message – Symbolism

My Review:

Nathan Algren lost his soul while working for the American Calvary. He was ordered to slaughter Native American’s, and did so. The guilt of it haunts him.

And so he lives with hate. Hate for the men who gave him the horrific orders. And hate for himself for accepting it.

But then he accepts a new assignment – to train the westernized Japanese troops so they can overthrow the loyal Samurai traditionalists. When he is captured by the rebel loyalists, he is exposed to a new place, a new people and a new way of thinking.

He is reborn. The out-of-control man, has found inner peace.

Trailer:



Quotes:

• For 500 bucks a month I'll kill whoever you want. But keep one thing in mind: I'd happily kill you for free.
• I am beset by the ironies of my life.
• What the hell am I doing here?
• What does it mean to be Samurai? To devote yourself utterly to a set of moral principles. To seek a stillness of your mind. And to master the way of the sword.
• They are an intriguing people. …I am surprised to learn that the word Samurai means, 'to serve'
• The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.
• You believe a man can change his destiny? - I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.
• I will miss our conversations.
• It was a good death.
• Tell me how he died.
  - I will tell you how he lived.

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