Year of Eastwood #7

Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Starring: Eastwood, Meryl Streep
Directed by Eastwood

Clint smiles! Clint doesn’t throw a single punch and there isn’t a gun to be seen in the entire movie. Clint seems to be the natural choice to play the rugged, worldly photographer in Bridges of Madison County - but the role is quite a departure from the usual Clintesque performance. Bridges is a romance from beginning to end and the one thing Clint carries with him wherever he goes, he’s got a way with the ladies.

The film is based on a novel that was quite a phenomenon in the 1990’s … Oprah did shows about it and critics dismissed the book as cheesy fluff. I’ve never read the book, but Clint does a good job of capturing the distinct feeling of Iowa. The muggy summer days, the isolation of life on a farm, the bugs - yet somehow it‘s a beautiful place. Clint travels to Iowa on an assignment to photograph the covered bridges for National Geographic. After getting lost on the endless dirt roads in rural Iowa, Clint stops by Meryl’s farm to ask for directions - a brief, intense love affair soon follows.

Growing up in Iowa, there isn’t a whole lot that we’re known for. The Iowa caucuses, the pigs that outnumber the people, and the covered bridges of Madison County near Winterset, Iowa. The wooden bridges were built in the late 1800’s and have stood as a symbol of simpler times when hard work and dedication were admirable traits of our country. The Cedar Covered Bridge, which is featured in the film, is a 76 ft long wood bridge covered by a truss roof system to protect the flooring timbers from the deterioration of being exposed to the harsh seasons in Iowa. Unfortunately, wood burns and that’s exactly what happened to the Cedar Bridge after arsons destroyed the bridge shortly after this movie was made.

Clint directs, acts, and I’m sure had his hand in the music but the movie really belongs to Meryl. She definitely has to be considered the greatest living actress performing today. Her performance begins in the frustration of an immigrant from Italy seduced by the dream of living in America, now lost in the reality that is Iowa. When Clint shows up, Meryl discovers the passion for life that she lost in the years and years of caring for her family. Meryl’s career is full of roles that she so completely transforms herself that she is unrecognizable. I’ve discussed before (see White Hunter, Black Heart) that actors are often trapped by their persona in each role they portray. Meryl is the opposite of that. She has portrayed a wide range of characters (from an uber-control freak magazine editor to a concentration camp survivor and many, many different accents) with such conviction that she makes each performance unique.

Clint’s straightforward directing style is perfect for this effort in storytelling. Most of the scenes are between Clint and Meryl as their four day relationship transforms from awkward desire, to realized passion, and the inevitable heartbreak. The scene toward the end of the film where Meryl, back with her husband, pulls up at a stop light behind Clint’s truck and she is torn between running off with Clint or remaining in the life she has always known is truly moving cinema.

Hey, I made it thru the whole thing and didn’t even use the term chick flick.