Heartland

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

The Western was seeing its last breaths for a while as an active film genre.  John Wayne was gone, Clint Eastwood had not visited the West in a while and Michael Cimino’s underrated Heaven’s Gate (1980) made one of the great statements about The West, Westerns and the U.S. as the excessive production imploded.  As elements of the genre entered other types of filmmaking (Science Fiction and Action films in particular), other films were also reconsidering this territory.

 

Richard Pearce’s Heartland (1979) takes place in 1910, as widowed Elinore Randall (the amazing Conchata Ferrell), tries to make a new life for herself and her only child thanks to a new Homestead Act opportunity.  This brings her to working for Clyde Stewart (Rip Torn), a very experienced, old school styled rancher for whom she accepts a job as a housekeeper.  Soon, he discovers he other idea, but then, they get involved.

 

The twist in this tale, already from the description for the time it occurs, is that she is an able-bodied woman like so many we never heard about.  Written by Beth Ferris, it is a Feminist tale, the kind misogyny in society wants to censor in it stake on history.  However, many women like her existed and they are among millions of unsung heroes then and now, that made this country possible.  Elinore is a brave woman, however vulnerable, and Ferrell boldly plays her with all the depth, uncertainty, vulnerability, and boldness many actresses could not have pulled off.  This is exceptional work, and Torn manages to hold his end.

 

The film and its script never shy away from events.  We see some very graphic things, including the birth of a calf, and the still shocking shooting of a pig for food.  The debate was that this was the way it happened.  Not to be politically correct, but Farrell, to her credit, protested this.  It was not necessary and as compared to the rest of the film, seems desperate.  Nothing this realistic (or graphic) happens to the humans, and that hurts the film’s credibility.  Ferris and executive producer Annick Smith explain on the commentary that it was they who were for this.  Add the male director doing a feminist story and the film runs into problems.  The film had a PG in its original release, but this would have to be an R at-least today.

 

If this was all not enough, the obviously male directing limits the broader scope of Farrell’s character.  You can still feel this is a male film, with a male director and is more of Stewart’s world.  That could also be argued as “realistic”, but even if that were so, there’s more to that in this film.  It simply does not show enough of her space and thoughts, which is a different mater, even though we see so much of her life.  The filmmakers said they were trying to deconstruct the glamour of The Western.  They succeeded, especially in annihilating the school marm/hooker dichotomy without offering either.  However, the film shows its age in other ways because of these very points.

 

The full screen 1.33 X 1 image is an older analog transfer, with colors that are dulled.  Fred Murphy shot good footage, but it had to look better than this.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono fares better, but not by much.  It was still common to have films in monophonic sound, as Dolby A-type analog was just catching on.  Hollywood had abandoned stereo on so many productions at this point that it was rare by the 1970s.  Dialogue is made out well enough.  Extras include the commentary already noted with Smith & Ferris, a Montana Public Radio audio piece, and the original theatrical trailer.

 

With The Western resurfacing all the time, every film that attempts it has to reinvent the genre, so those who are interested in it or the issue aforementioned, Heartland is something to see.  If nothing else, the acting is inarguably good.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo