Legends of the Fall is a story told through hair. Montana rancher Col. William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) is a decent enough fellow, as are his sons Alfred (Aidan Quinn) and Samuel (Henry Thomas), all of whom have perfectly well-coiffed manes. It’s eldest brother Tristan (Brad Pitt),who is the troublemaker, a man whose restless romanticism is apparent from his long, golden tresses. All three brothers enlist in World War I, and after Samuel dies (despite his older brothers’ attempts to protect him), Tristan is inconsolable, and he spends years wandering the earth in search of solace, his hair getting shaggier and shaggier.
Samuel’s fiancĂ©e, Susannah (Julia Ormond), loves Tristan and promises to wait for him, but her patience proves finite, and she marries responsible, dull Alfred. As the years pass, Dad has a stroke and loses his grip, as evidenced by his long, unkempt hair. Susannah, too, becomes suicidally depressed, which is apparent when she chops off her own curly locks. Tristan returns to the Montana homestead, too late to save his family from further tragedies, though he reconciles with his father and brother through a redemptive act of violence. He grows old, grows Grizzly Adams-type hair, and dies wrestling a bear.”It was a good death,” says the movie’s wise Indian narrator, though by “good,” it’s not clear whether he means “dramatically satisfying” or simply “fulfilling the destiny predicted by his own hair.”
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