The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 41
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 4
Sentimental, slow, schmaltzy, and very satisfying, The Bridges of Madison County finds Clint Eastwood adapting a bestseller with heft, wit, and grace.
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 0
Sentimental, slow, schmaltzy, and very satisfying, The Bridges of Madison County finds Clint Eastwood adapting a bestseller with heft, wit, and grace.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 46,638
My Rating
Movie Info
The brief, illicit love affair between an Iowa housewife and a post-middle-age free-lance photographer is chronicled in this powerful romance based on the best-selling novella by Robert James Waller. The story begins as globetrotting National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid journeys to Madison County in 1965 to film its lovely covered bridges. Upon his arrival, he stops by an old farmhouse to ask directions. There he encounters housewife, Francesca Johnson, whose spouse and two children
Jun 2, 1995 Wide
Sep 25, 1997
Warner Bros.
Cast
-
Clint Eastwood
Robert Kincaid -
Meryl Streep
Francesca Johnson -
Annie Corley
Caroline -
Victor Slezak
Michael Johnson -
Jim Haynie
Richard Johnson -
Kyle Eastwood
James River Band #6 -
Phyllis Lyons
Betty -
Debra Monk
Madge -
-
George Orrison
Cafe Patron
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (4) | DVD (5)
Madison County is Eastwood's gift to women: to Francesca, to all the girls he's loved before -- and to Streep, who alchemizes literary mawkishness into intelligent movie passion.
Top CriticGiven the intelligent restraint of the treatment, this is about as fine an adaptation of this material as one could hope for...
Immaculately performed, and assembled with wit and sensitivity, this is one of the most satisfying weepies in years.
Limited by the vapidity of this material while he trims its excesses with the requisite machete, Mr. Eastwood locates a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill.
What the movie does that the book couldn't do is tap into the poignancy that comes of seeing two stars who used to be young and beautiful suddenly looking very mortal.
Screenwriter LaGravenese ought to get the Croix de Guerre for doing battle with Waller's fatuous prose and paring Bridges down to its most appealing fantasy romance essence.
The film is good enough; Streep is the X-factor that makes it excellent.
Little happens here apart from a long, slow buildup to sentimentalized coitus, but there's no denying the sheer screen presence of these two 500-lb. gorillas of pop culture.
An unlikely choice as director and producer, it's thanks to Eastwood's relatively thin sentimental streak that the film doesn't fall headlong into a lagoon of schmaltz.
Perhaps the only time in history a movie was far better than its source material
Whether Meryl Streep deserved an Oscar nomination may be debatable, but what's beyond dispute is that scripter Richard LaGravenese and director Clint Eastwood have actually made a better, more enjoyable film than the schmaltzy literary source.
...thoughtful and touching by turns...there is nothing treacly, sugary, or sentimental about the storytelling. (Deluxe Edition)
...an old-fashioned love story for adults.
In Eastwood's hands, it seems, even divorce can be more romantic than orgasms under the right circumstances.
This didn't pain me anywhere near as much as I thought it would. A money-grab, surely, and Clint's weird bush story is very awkward, but generally charming enough for a date with a boring person.
Atmospheric love story with Eastwood and Streep in great form.
Eastwood can do no wrong in my eyes ... but he came dangerously close with this one.
Better than the book.
Audience Reviews for The Bridges of Madison County
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Robert Kincaid: I don't want to need you.
- Francesca Johnson: Why?
- Francesca Johnson: 'Cause I can't have you!
-
- Francesca Johnson: I was wrong, Robert. I was wrong, but I can't go. Let me tell you again why I can't go. Tell me again why I should go.
-
- Robert Kincaid: Hey Francesca! You're anything but simple.
-
- Francesca Johnson: We are the choices that we have made, Robert.
-
- Robert Kincaid: This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Bridges of Madison County yet.
Latest News on The Bridges of Madison County
October 17, 2005:
Eastwood to Tackle TWO Separate Iwo Jima FilmsYou're probably already a bit familiar with master filmmaker Clint Eastwood's upcoming project,...
March 29, 2005:
Paramount Hires "Mean" Director to Remake "Mitty"The long-standing on-again, off-again remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" finally...
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Trailer for new Coen Bros movie
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 12
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 3
- In Pictures: The Cars of Fast & Furious 0
- Digital Multiplex: Warm Bodies and Aftershock 8
- Discover the Best-Reviewed Films in Summer Movie Scorecard 2013 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Last Stand and Side Effects 17
Top Headlines
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
-
10 Things You (Probably) Don't Know About the Hangover Movies
1
-
Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer Talk Man of Steel
0
-
New Transporter Trilogy in the Works
0
-
Richard Linklater Plans "Spiritual Sequel" to Dazed and Confused
0
-
King of Kong Filmmaker Seeks Funding for Lost Limb Documentary
0
-
Which Film Franchise Has Been the Best for Female Characters?
6
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- Die Brücken am Fluß (DE)
- Sur la route de Madison (FR)
