The Bridges of Madison County (film)

The Bridges of Madison County is a 1995 American romantic drama film based on the 1992 best-selling novel of the same name by Robert James Waller.[5] It was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Malpaso Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The film was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with Kathleen Kennedy as co-producer. The screenplay was adapted by Richard LaGravenese. The film is about an Italian war bride, Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), who lives with her husband and two children on their Iowa farm. In 1965, she meets National Geographic photojournalist, Robert Kincaid (Eastwood) who arrives in Madison County to photograph its historic covered bridges. They have a four-day love affair that forever changes them. The film earned $182 million worldwide[4] and was well received by critics. Streep received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination in 1996 for her performance in the film.

This article is about the film. For the book, see The Bridges of Madison County. For the musical, see The Bridges of Madison County (musical). For the bridges, see List of Madison County Covered Bridges.

The Bridges of Madison County
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Directed byClint Eastwood
Produced by
Screenplay byRichard LaGravenese
Based onThe Bridges of Madison County
by Robert James Waller
Starring
Music byLennie Niehaus
CinematographyJack N. Green
Edited byJoel Cox
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • June 2, 1995 (1995-06-02)
Running time
134 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[2][3]
Box office$182 million[4]

Plot

In the present, adult siblings Michael and Carolyn Johnson arrive at their recently deceased mother's Iowa farmhouse to settle her estate. While sorting through Francesca's will and safe deposit box, they are shocked by their mother's specific request to be cremated and her ashes scattered from the nearby Roseman Bridge, superseding previous arrangements for burial next to her late husband, Richard. Michael initially refuses to comply until Carolyn discovers unseen photos of her mother taken at the Holliwell Bridge and letters to Francesca from a man named Robert Kincaid. Francesca's note, along with a key, lead her children to a locked hope chest containing three notebooks, a National Geographic magazine featuring Madison County's covered wood bridges,[6] old cameras, and other mementos. A photo of Kincaid is in the magazine.

In 1965, Francesca, a WWII Italian war bride, met Robert Kincaid, a National Geographic photojournalist who was on assignment to photograph the county's historic bridges. Robert, looking for the Roseman Bridge, stopped by the Johnson farm to ask for directions. Francesca then rode along to show him the way. Their subsequent affair occurred over the four days that Francesca's husband and children were away at the Illinois State Fair.

Francesca's three notebooks detail the affair and its lasting impact on both her and Robert, who fell deeply in love and nearly ran away together. After wrenching soul-searching, Francesca, trapped in a passionless marriage, was unable to abandon her teenage children and loyal husband, knowing the irreparable pain it would cause and the realization that what she and Robert shared was unlikely to survive, given their circumstances. Robert, forever affected by their brief encounter, found renewed meaning in his life and a true calling as an artist. Francesca's memories helped sustain her through her remaining years on the farm. Years later, Francesca attempted to contact Robert after her husband's death, but he had since left National Geographic and his whereabouts were unknown. Francesca learned that Robert died about three years after her husband and left her his belongings. His ashes were scattered from Roseman Bridge. Michael and Carolyn, both experiencing marital problems, are deeply moved by their mother's story and find new direction to their individual lives. The Johnson siblings respect their mother's wishes and scatter her ashes at the covered bridge.

Cast
  • Clint Eastwood as Robert Kincaid
  • Meryl Streep as Francesca Johnson
  • Annie Corley as Carolyn Johnson
    • Sarah Kathryn Schmitt as young Carolyn
  • Victor Slezak as Michael Johnson
    • Christopher Kroon as young Michael
  • Jim Haynie as Richard Johnson
  • Phyllis Lyons as Betty
  • Debra Monk as Madge
  • Richard Lage as Lawyer Peterson
  • Michelle Benes as Lucy Redfield

Production

Development
"I've been that guy a little bit, going off by myself years ago in a pickup truck into Nevada, scouting locations for High Plains Drifter. But I didn't stop off with any housewives while doing that."

— Clint Eastwood on Robert Kincaid[3]

Amblin Entertainment, a production company founded by Steven Spielberg, bought the film rights to Waller's novel for $25,000 in late 1991, before its publication—by the time of the film's release, the novel sold 9.5 million copies worldwide.[3] Spielberg first asked Sydney Pollack to direct, who got Kurt Luedtke to draft the first version of the adaptation but then bowed out; Ronald Bass was brought in by Kathleen Kennedy and Spielberg to work on the script, but they were unsatisfied with the results.[3] But a third draft by Richard LaGravenese was liked by Eastwood, who quite early had been cast for the male lead, and by Spielberg, who liked LaGravenese's version enough to consider making Bridges his next film after Schindler's List, which was in post-production at the time.[3] Both men liked that LaGravenese's script presented the story from Francesca's point of view; Spielberg then had LaGravenese introduce the framing device of having Francesca's adult children discover and read her diaries.[3] When Spielberg decided not to direct, he then brought in Bruce Beresford, who got Alfred Uhry to draft another version of the script; when Warner Bros., Spielberg, and Eastwood all preferred LaGravenese's draft, Beresford dropped out.[3]

Waller championed Isabella Rossellini to play Francesca; she was a "strong contender" in a list that also included Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange, Mary McDonnell, Cher, and Susan Sarandon. But despite Spielberg's initial reluctance, Eastwood had advocated Meryl Streep for the role from the beginning.[3]

Filming
Roseman Bridge in Winterset, Iowa.

Principal photography took 42 days, ending on November 1, 1994, ten days ahead of Eastwood's 52-day schedule; Eastwood filmed it chronologically from Francesca's point of view, "because it was important to work that way. We were two people getting to know each other, in real time, as actors and as the characters."[3] It was filmed on location in Madison County, Iowa, including the town of Winterset, and in the Dallas County town of Adel.[2]

Post-production

The MPAA ratings board initially gave the film an "R" rating, for the line "Or should we just fuck on the linoleum one last time?", a line of dialogue spoken sarcastically by Francesca; Eastwood appealed, and the rating was reduced to a PG-13.[3]

Release

Box office

The Bridges of Madison County opened theatrically on June 2, 1995 in 1,805 venues. It earned $10,519,257 in its opening weekend, ranking number two in the North American box office, behind Casper (which was in its second weekend and coincidentally features Eastwood in a cameo).[7] At the end of its run, the film grossed $71,516,617 domestically and $110,500,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $182,016,617.[4]

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes reports a score of 90% based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 7.39/10. The site's consensus states: "Sentimental, slow, schmaltzy, and very satisfying, The Bridges of Madison County finds Clint Eastwood adapting a bestseller with heft, wit, and grace."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a 66 out of 100 rating, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]

According to Janet Maslin, "Clint Eastwood, director and alchemist, has transformed The Bridges of Madison County into something bearable—no, something even better. Limited by the vapidity of this material while he trims its excesses with the requisite machete, Mr. Eastwood locates a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill. The movie has leanness and surprising decency, and Meryl Streep has her best role in years. Looking sturdy and voluptuous in her plain housedress (the year is 1965), Ms. Streep rises straight out of 'Christina's World' to embody all the loneliness and fierce yearning Andrew Wyeth captured on canvas. And yet, despite the Iowa setting and the emphasis on down-home Americana, Mr. Eastwood's Bridges of Madison County has a European flavor. Its pace is unhurried, which is not the same as slow. It respects long silences and pays attention to small details. It sustains an austere tone and staves off weepiness until the last reel. It voices musings that would definitely sound better in French."[10] Richard Corliss said Eastwood is the "most reticent of directors—where the book ogles, the film discreetly observes—and, here, the courtliest of stars....As scripted by Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King), the Madison County movie has a slightly riper theme than the book's. It is about the anticipation and consequences of passion—the slow dance of appraisal, of waiting to make a move that won't be rejected, of debating what to do when the erotic heat matures into love light. What is the effect of an affair on a woman who has been faithful to her husband, and on a rootless man who only now realizes he needs the one woman he can have but not hold?" Corliss concludes "Madison County is Eastwood's gift to women: to Francesca, to all the girls he's loved before—and to Streep, who alchemizes literary mawkishness into intelligent movie passion."[11]

Accolades

Others

The film tied with Goodbye South, Goodbye and Carlito's Way as the best film of the 1990s in a poll by Cahiers du cinéma.[12]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

References
  1. "THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (12)". British Board of Film Classification. August 3, 1995. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  2. Hughes, p.110
  3. Thompson, Anne (June 16, 1995). "Bridge on the River Cry". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  4. "The Bridges of Madison County (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  5. Variety film review; May 22, 1995.
  6. "The Bridges of Madison County". Madison County Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  7. "Weekend Box Office Results for June 2-4, 1995". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. June 5, 1995. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  8. "The Bridges of Madison County (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  9. "The Bridges of Madison County Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  10. Maslin, Janet (June 2, 1995). "Love Comes Driving Up the Road, and in Middle Age, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  11. Corliss, Richard (June 5, 1995). "When Erotic Heat Turns Into Love Light". Time. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  12. Johnson, Eric. "Cahiers du cinéma". Critics Lists (Mist Driven Enterprises). Caltech Alumni Association. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  13. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions" (PDF). afi.com. American Film Institute. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  14. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). afi.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  • Hughes, Howard (2009). Aim for the Heart: the Films of Clint Eastwood. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7.
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