In 1970s few people could have imagined a day when Clint Eastwood, the mythical Tough Guy of American cinema, would star as lead character in classic old-fashioned melodrama. That day came in 1995 when Eastwood not only starred in, but worked as a director of The Bridges of Madison County, film based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller.
The plot begins in present-day when Michael Johnson (played by Victor Slezak) and his sister Caroline (played by Annie Corley) meet in rural Iowa to deal with some baffling details of their mother's will. They discover a diary and are shocked to find out that their otherwise ideal mother Francesca (played by Meryl Streep) had an extramarital affair. In the diary Francesca described what happened to her in summer of 1965, after her husband Richard (played by Jim Haynie) and two children had left to attend Illinois State Fair. Her loneliness is interrupted when her farm gets visited by Robert Kincaid (played by Clint Eastwood), National Geographic photographer. Kincaid was given the task of shooting the famous covered bridges of Madison County and needs some local to show him around. Francesca reluctantly agrees and soon becomes enchanted by Kincaid and his stories about world outside Iowa. Their relationship soon evolves from friendship to romance, but the upcoming return of Francesca's husband means that she would need some difficult decisions to make.
The concept behind The Bridges of Madison County wasn't the most original (David Lean has ventured into similar territory in Brief Encounter fifty years before), but the execution was surprisingly good, at least for 1990s Hollywood. The best thing about is the casting. Eastwood and Streep seem like a very convincing middle-aged couple and chemistry between them is very palpable; good script by Richard La Gravenese made their characters' romance and its aftermath very realistic. Eastwood's old associate Jack N. Green has provided the film with good cinematography, while Lennie Niehaus wrote interesting, although not particularly memorable score. One of the problems of the film is pace – 135 minutes of its running time would require a lot of patience from the audience (and this is the reason why the film would work better for older viewers than teenagers). However, the worst Eastwood's mistake was decision to frame the plot with present-day prologue - this not only destroyed any suspense about plot, but also gave opportunity for some unnecessary overacting by Annie Corley and Victor Slezak. But, all in all, The Bridges of Madison County is more than solid piece of entertainment that proves that romance isn't dead after all.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 29th 2003)
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