Robert Redford in 2012.
It seems that I’ve been doing a lot of R.I.P.s in recent years. Now, the great Robert Redford has departed this plane at the age of 89. He starred in many excellent movies too numerous to count, though I’ll mention a few favorites of mine: Three Days of the Condor, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, The Natural, and his Oscar-nominated performance in The Sting. But my absolute favorite movie of his is one in which he did not appear on screen at all, serving instead as its director and co-producer. That gem was The Milagro Beanfield War.
A PONDEROUS BOOK, A GREAT FILM
I won’t spend much time on the storyline. You can read about that in a previous post, “A Quixotic Struggle.” The Milagro Beanfield War started out as a novel, the first in a trilogy by the late John Nichols. To be honest, I tried to read it on two occasions, but each time I simply gave up.
Why? Well, when I worked as an editor and instructor for aspiring writers, I used to harp on going overboard on exposition. One of my comments was, “Why say it in 25 words when you can use 250?” My students usually got the message. But with Milagro, my evaluation might have been, “Why say it in 25 words when you can use 2500?” I’m not exaggerating.
But Robert Redford saw the gem of a story contained within all of this exposition, and what remained when he was through with it turned out to be a fantastic tale of the little guy standing up to corporate greed. The setting, in the stunning highlands of New Mexico, served to make a great film even better. My late bride and I watched The Milagro Beanfield War every year, and I continue to do so.
Rest in peace, Robert Redford. You will be sorely missed.