Directed by:
Mark RydellCinematography:
Vilmos ZsigmondComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Shane Bailey, Becky Jo Lynch, Scott Glenn, Billy Green Bush, James Tolkan, Barry Primus, Jack Starrett, Charles Robinson, Jim Antonio (more)Plots(1)
Struggling East Tennessee farmer Tom Garvey (Mel Gibson) is forced to break a picket line to earn extra money as a scab labourer. Reviled by the striking workers, Tom has to rekindle a sense of community spirit when all their livelihoods are subjected to a twin threat: the speculations of an unscrupulous property developer (Scott Glenn) and a river that is about to burst its banks. Sissy Spacek co-stars. (Final Cut Entertainment)
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Reviews (1)
Stubborn farmer Mel and the Agro Baron Scott Glenn size up the corn, and it's a bit of a mystery for the viewer why it's so significant, considering it mesmerizes the crops, livestock, and even the John Deere tractor's transmission. Then there’s the struggle between human solidarity and tenacity against exploitative capitalists, who are worse than natural forces. However, since Mark Rydell lacks a more believable psychological depth beyond the main conflict, neither aspect works very well, and the parallel between the doe surrounded by strikebreakers and the strikebreakers surrounded by strikers feels like a futile attempt at something greater. Gibson, playing the obstinate character with all the rigidity of a sawn-off shotgun stock, later regretted that his casting was a “miscast” because he was too young and handsome at the time. Sure, and with that longer ear of grain... that’s what it was all about!
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