The Milagro Beanfield War
Robert Redford
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Plot Summary
Robert Redford directs this absolutely delightful comedy of everyday people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. When a Chicano handyman from the Milagro Valley decides to irrigate his small beanfield by "borrowing" some water from a large and potentially destructive site, he unknowingly sets off a chain reaction that erupts into a humorous culture clash. The developers then try to stamp out the modest plantings, forcing the handyman's friends to team up with the spirited "rebel" to protect and preserve their way of life.
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Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
59%- Reviews Counted: 27
- Fresh: 16
- Rotten: 11
- Average Rating: 5.9/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: The film is very big on sunsets and sunrises. It also has a touristy appreciation for all manner of things folkloric. What it doesn't have is dramatic coherence or backbone.
Fresh: Redford and company have put a quirky twist on the material, investing it with a quasi-mystical aspect as well as some raw comedy.
Fresh: Corny, you bet. But that's to be admired in an old war horse on the last frontier.
Rotten: If Redford had left out a few of the waffling, undecided characters and drawn his dramatic lines more strongly, the film might have been a lot more powerful.
Customer Reviews
Fanciful adaptation of a brain candy novel
This film is a marvelous piece of storytelling. Redford has a gift for translating lyric stories of small town western life into gorgeous film, letting the landscape play a role as much as the actors do (also see A River Runs Through It). Let's hope he does a few more films like this one!
not everyone will "get" this movie, but...
... but for those that grew up in NM/Southern Colorado - the movie is simply wonderful. I am a native New Mexican, Hispanic, and boy do I get this movie..... Land grants, water rights, Catholic devotion with a twist of that which can not be explained. I don't know where to start to describe the scenery. Most of the film was shot in Truchas, NM where my mom was raised. I find it to be a treasure to have this amazing northern NM town preserved on film to show my kids one day. The Melanie Griffith/out-of-state developer storyline (and acting) is pretty weak... I admit it. Just fast forward through those parts, ha ha. Sonia Braga is amazing and the appearance of Freddie Fender as the major is a gem. Love the old guy.. his name escapes me right now but he steals the movie!
Redford's 2nd directorial debut
A good, mindful and beautiful film, though not his 1980 tour d'force 'Ordinary People.'
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