Touchstone and Beyond: "A Thousand Acres"
Feature Presentation: A Thousand Acres
Cast of Characters
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Rose
- Jessica Lange as Ginny
- Jason Robards as Larry
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Caroline
- Colin Firth as Jess
- Keith Carradine as Ty
- Kevin Anderson as Peter
Elevator Pitch
Larry Cook is an aging farmer coming to terms with his twilight years and doesn’t want his daughters to pay taxes on the massive family farm after he dies. Larry decides to form a corporation with his daughters Rose, Ginny, and Caroline, but when Caroline opts to stay out, Ginny and Rose are left inheriting control of the farm, with their father living next door.
As the days and weeks pass, Larry regrets his decision, and battles with his daughters for control of the farm. Rose and Ginny come to terms with the past they have with their father and accept that just because everyone in the county thinks Larry is the smartest man, doesn’t mean that he is a nice person, nor was he a good father.
The Orson Welles Award of Brilliance
Jason Robards is always electric when he is on screen. From the big parts of his past to the character actor parts he played in the 1990’s, Robards was an actor who had a spark in every moment of any film. His brief work at the end of Crimson Tide is just one of many examples of how he can take a small moment on screen and make it memorable. He plays the aging Lear like character of Larry so well. It’s easy to see how everyone in the county would bow down to him, while at the same point he was an abusive monster of a father.
The Alan Smithee Award of Anonymity
It’s obvious that there is a much different cut to this film. The pacing is all over the place, the details of the characters are sparse and then explosive. The theming of the story is a chaotic mess. It starts off as a family coming of age story of renewal, then rebirth, violence, abuse, cancer, adultery, and divorce, as well as everyone involved is left in ruin.
Pfeiffer and Lange have great chemistry on screen, but the depth of the characters is minimal, and they are very unlikeable.
I wish Jocelyn Moorehouse was able to get the Alan Smithee accreditation. A Thousand Acres tried to do too much with so little development of the characters, which leads the audience to wonder why we should care.
Production Team
- Directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse
- Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Propaganda Films / Beacon Communications
- Written by Jane Smiley / Laura Jones
- Release Date: September 19, 1997
- Budget: $28 million
- Domestic Box Office Gross: $7,936,780
I Know Their Name
Bob Gunton has only one scene as the judge that settles Larry’s lawsuit against Rose and Ginny. Anyone who sees this scene will easily say out loud, ‘I know that guy’.
Deep Dive Behind the Scenes
- The film earned almost three million for its opening weekend box office.
- Jessica Lange was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work in the film.
- The Verona Film Festival gave Lange, Pfeiffer, and Leigh an award for their work in the movie.
- The movie is supposed to be set in Iowa but on the church kitchen window, there is a State of Illinois certification sticker.
- Elizabeth Moss and Michelle Williams play Pfeiffer’s children in the movie.
- According to a Premiere magazine of September of 1997, extras were made to sign contracts that forbid them from approaching Pfeiffer and Lange on set.
- Pfeiffer was heavily involved in the production of the film. Reportedly, she battled with other producers in the editing stage of the movie, which did not go Pfeiffer’s way.
- In 2001, Pfeiffer admitted she was unhappy with how the film turned out and her performance in the movie.
- Pfeiffer had wanted Paul Newman to play the patriarch role of Larry Cook, but he turned it down. Nice move Paul, you did not want to be in this movie.
- When Jennifer Jason Leigh took her stage name, she chose to incorporate the Jason in homage to Jason Robards who is a family friend. This was the only movie that the actors co-starred in.
- Director Jocelyn Moorehouse tried to take her name off the movie after the film bombed with test audiences.
- Apparently, Moorehouse got close to removing her name and replacing it with the Alan Smithee tag, that when Pfeiffer found out, she told Disney executives that if this happened, she would take her name off the picture too and then would ensure that Moorehouse never worked in Hollywood again.
- Pfeiffer won, but Moorehouse used every media opportunity afterwards to criticize the film.
- The film is based on the 1991 Jane Smiley book of the same name, and the story is a modern version of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Bill’s Spicy Take
A poor interpretation of a Shakespeare classic is still a poor movie no matter who the stars are.
Oscar Thoughts
(These rankings are awarded based on my love for Hitchcock films):
{Frenzy Award-Skip this Film, Torn Curtain Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, For the Birds-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Rear Window Award- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen because this film is cinema.}
A Thousand Acres gets my Frenzy Award. This is a film to skip. Knowing that there was so much turmoil behind the scenes after the movie was shot, it explains a lot about the inconsistencies of the movie. Furthermore, studios can’t mass produce award winning films without having a great story, and that maxim applies no matter the decade, whether it is 1997 or 2025.
Story matters and no matter who is starring in the film if the story isn’t there, then the film isn’t either.
Coming Attractions
Next week, a look back at the Shelley Long and Bette Midler comedy, Outrageous Fortune.