A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

80% Tomatometer 45 Reviews 83% Audience Score 50,000+ Ratings

The Maclean brothers, Paul (Brad Pitt) and Norman (Craig Sheffer), live a relatively idyllic life in rural Montana, spending much of their time fly fishing. The sons of a minister (Tom Skerritt), the boys eventually part company when Norman moves east to attend college, leaving his rebellious brother to find trouble back home. When Norman finally returns, the siblings resume their fishing outings, and assess both where they've been and where they're going. Read More Read Less

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A River Runs Through It

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Critics Consensus

Tasteful to a fault, this period drama combines a talented cast (including a young Brad Pitt) with some stately, beautifully filmed work from director Robert Redford.

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Critics Reviews

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A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle The film shimmers with grace and visual beauty. Rated: 4/4 Jan 11, 2023 Full Review A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Michael Rechtshaffen Hollywood Reporter Redford directs with a fluid grace... to capture the idyllic, light-drenched aura of Maclean's early childhood memories. Even the seemingly unexciting fly-fishing sequences take on a magical air worthy of Spielberg. Oct 10, 2018 Full Review A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Adam Mars-Jones Independent (UK) Redford remains a fine director of actors. With Brad Pitt, who gives a particularly good performance, he is dealing moreover with an actor whose handsomeness is reminiscent of his own at that age. Nov 15, 2017 Full Review A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Vanessa Letts The Spectator The film is blighted by an inability to break free from its source. Jul 24, 2018 Full Review A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant Redford's heartfelt yet unfulfilled film feels more watered-down than haunting. May 29, 2018 Full Review A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (6) James Plath Movie Metropolis Sherritt has been in a lot of movies, but the role of Rev. Maclean seems like one he was born to play. He owns it, the way that Pitt and Sheffer own theirs, and as a result it takes no time at all to believe this group as a family and become involved. Rated: 8/10 Jul 14, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Just L It's a good movie in which not all that much happens. Still it's never boring. Scenery is great and it's very recommendable. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/12/24 Full Review Brighton G I've got great memories watching this with my dad when I was younger. Watched it again recently and just loved the sets and locations it was shot at. Absolute classic Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/19/24 Full Review Audience Member I drank four beers while watching this and would have drank another but decided to go fishing instead Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/10/24 Full Review Max G Meh. Good scenery but very little of the wonderful fishing narrative that held the book together. And an odd selection of scenes that were narrated. For example, when he told his parents about how his brother was brutally killed, why was this narrated with the actors simply sitting there? It would have been much more powerful if the director had actors carry the emotion through dialog. Actors were too squeaky clean in appearance. It was backwoods Montana. Fishing. Hardscrabble. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/24 Full Review Sophie N The movie was horrible, not an ounce of action. The story was so boring that I had to speed the movie at 1.5. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Over 30 years old I remember watching parts of this in middle school for film studies and it all came crawling back This is beautifully filmed, heartwarming, and the actors have such refined chemistry Redford does wonders emulating the author Norman Mclean's life making a very skilled adaptation Plus the scenery and Brad Pitt are nice to look at due to Philippe Rousselot's gorgeous Oscar-winning cinematography Deftly drawn characters make this a befitting piece of family drama that's a simple breeze Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

A River Runs Through It

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Cast & Crew

Robert Redford Director Craig Sheffer Norman Maclean Brad Pitt Paul Maclean Tom Skerritt Rev. Maclean Brenda Blethyn Mrs. Maclean Emily Lloyd Jessie Burns
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A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - I'll Never Leave Montana A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - I'll Never Leave Montana 2:13 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - The Maclean Brothers Fight A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - The Maclean Brothers Fight 1:54 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - We Can Love Completely A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - We Can Love Completely 2:06 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Shooting the Chutes A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Shooting the Chutes 2:12 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Learning to Fish and Write A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Learning to Fish and Write 2:13 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Haunted by Waters A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Haunted by Waters 2:09 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Witnessing Perfection A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Witnessing Perfection 2:12 A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Fishing with Father A River Runs Through It: Official Clip - Fishing with Father 1:50 View more videos

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A River Runs Through It

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A River Runs Through It

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Synopsis The Maclean brothers, Paul (Brad Pitt) and Norman (Craig Sheffer), live a relatively idyllic life in rural Montana, spending much of their time fly fishing. The sons of a minister (Tom Skerritt), the boys eventually part company when Norman moves east to attend college, leaving his rebellious brother to find trouble back home. When Norman finally returns, the siblings resume their fishing outings, and assess both where they've been and where they're going.

Director
Robert Redford

Producer
Patrick Markey, Robert Redford

Screenwriter
Norman Maclean, Richard Friedenberg

Distributor
Columbia Pictures, Pioneer Entertainment, Columbia Tristar

Production Co
Allied Filmmakers

Rating
PG

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 9, 1992, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2011

Box Office (Gross USA)
$43.4M

Runtime
2h 3m

Sound Mix
Dolby, Surround, Stereo
Most Popular at Home Now
A River Runs Through It | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

What is the main point of a river runs through it? ›

It is a story about Maclean and his brother, Paul, who was beaten to death with a gun butt in 1938. It is about not understanding what you love, about not being able to help.

What is the river a metaphor for in a river runs through it? ›

In terms of Paul's life, in particular, rivers symbolize both life's discernible patterns and the inherent mysteriousness of these patterns. The meaning of these patterns is not always readily apparent, and indeed, may not be discernible at all by a human mind.

What is the main idea of a river runs through it? ›

The Big Idea of A River Runs Through It

Maclean's novella is about more than fly fishing. It's about family and about living with and loving those who elude us.

What is the first line of a river runs through it? ›

From its first magnificent sentence, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing", to the last, "I am haunted by waters", A River Runs through It is an American classic.

What is the moral of the river runs through it? ›

This film shows the importance of having a shared family pastime to sustain them through good times and bad. The love of nature is shown throughout the movie. The father of the two main characters is a preacher, and he sees God and spirituality in the forests and rivers the family loves so much.

Who is the old man at the end of A River Runs Through It? ›

Arnold Richardson was not the best-known Montanan to appear in a Hollywood movie, but his solitary bit part — as the elderly Norman Maclean in "A River Runs Through It" — remains one of the most iconic cinematic images of the state, partly responsible, for better or worse, for the explosion in the popularity of fly ...

What is the famous quote from A River Runs Through It? ›

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

What is the last line in A River Runs Through It? ›

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

What does fly fishing symbolize in A River Runs Through It? ›

In A River Runs Through It, fly fishing provides a model for the pastoral movement of retreat and return that informs Maclean's story. The artist reconciles dualisms evoked by the oppositions between country and city.

What is the main conflict in A River Runs Through It? ›

A River Runs Through it is a story about the relationship between two brothers. The younger brother Paul has problems. He is a gambler, a drinker, and is short on cash, but his main problem is that he will not allow his older brother, Norman, to help him.

What is the climax of A River Runs Through It? ›

Climax: Norman and his father watch Paul catch a huge fish on the Blackfoot River near Missoula, the last time they'll see him fish before Paul's death.

What is the true story behind A River Runs Through It? ›

A River Runs Through It is a true story taken from the book written by Norman MacLean about his youth in a small town in Montana in the 1920's where he lived with his father, mother and extraverted younger brother. His family lived a simple live.

Does a river run through it have a happy ending? ›

In the end, the eldest son stands along in the river where so much was learned and you can sense his anguish at what he has lost during the course of his life. The final lines of the film pretty much sum it up. "In the end, all things run together into one, and a river runs through it.

What happened to Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It? ›

In the film, Paul — played by a young Brad Pitt — is beaten to death in Montana. In reality, he was murdered in a Chicago alley, and, although conspiracy theories abound, the circumstances remain a mystery.

What happens at the end of the movie A River Runs Through It? ›

All that those who truly care for such a self-destructive person can do, Rev. Maclean concludes, is to give unconditional love, even without understanding why. The closing scene shows an elderly Norman Maclean fishing on the same river as director Robert Redford narrates the final lines from Maclean's original novella.

A River Runs Through It Symbols & Motifs ...SuperSummaryhttps://www.supersummary.com ›

Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of “A River Runs Through It” by Norman Maclean. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSumm...
A River Flows Through It” is a film about a river that passes through the film's main character. We may describe our worldview as the lens through which we ...
A River Runs Through It” by Norman Maclean is a beautifully crafted novella that weaves together themes of family, nature, fly fishing, and the complexities of ...

What is the storyline of A River Runs Through It? ›

What is the meaning of the river runs through it? ›

It refers to the physical river that flows through the Montana landscape where the story is set. However, it also symbolizes the flow of life, time, and experiences.

What is the main purpose of a river? ›

Benefits of Rivers. Rivers provide important benefits—called ecosystem services—that impact our day-to-day lives. They provide drinking water, irrigation, transportation, and more. They also provide habitat for important fish species.

What is the theme of A River Runs Through It book? ›

For Norman Maclean, peace is found in nature, and the natural world represents a haven from the threats posed by human frailty and evil. In the Maclean family, there is no strict separation between religion and nature. Nature is an expression of perfection and the oneness of all creation.

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