A Thousand Acres (1997)
-
23% of critics liked it
(48 reviews) -
40% of users liked it
(4,030 ratings)
A feminist farm belt version of William Shakespeare's King Lear, this film is based on Jane Smiley's novel about an aging farmer and his three daughters. The Lear-like farmer, Larry Cook (Jason Robards), decides to divide up his thousand-acre farm among his three daughters, but he… More A feminist farm belt version of William Shakespeare's King Lear, this film is based on Jane Smiley's novel about an aging farmer and his three daughters. The Lear-like farmer, Larry Cook (Jason Robards), decides to divide up his thousand-acre farm among his three daughters, but he disinherits his youngest, Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), an attorney, when she expresses hesitancy. The other sisters, Ginny (Jessica Lange) and Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer), take up the offer, even though they were sexually abused by their father as children. They also take up romantically with the hippie son of a neighboring farmer, Jess Clark (Colin Firth), after their own drunken, demented father moves out to live with Clark's father Harold (Pat Hingle). When Rose's husband Peter (Kevin Anderson) learns of her betrayal, he gets drunk, crashes his truck, and dies. Ginny's husband Ty (Keith Carradine) enlists Caroline's help and sues Ginny and Rose on behalf of their father, whom he feels has been treated badly by the daughters. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jocelyn Moorhouse
- Written By
- Laura Jones
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Sep 19, 1997 Wide
Critic Reviews
-
David Edelstein, Slate
From the first frame, a silhouetted barn and windmill at dawn, the images feel prefab, and the all-purpose wistful tinkly piano and sighing strings pin them even more boringly down.
-
Paul Tatara, CNN.com
Cry, cry, cry. Hug, hug, hug. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
-
Godfrey Cheshire, Variety
Owing more to the spirit of Oprah than to the Bard, pic serves up an earnest but unconvincing stew of received notions about family dysfunction, awkwardly put across by a script wheezing with melodramatic contrivances.
-
Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
The story is just an empty, manipulative compilation of tragedies and misunderstandings.
-
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
In many ways, it has less in common with Shakespeare's tragedy than with Stephen King's Iowa-set horror story, Children of the Corn.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
Featured Audience Ratings
Currently unavailable on Flixster
Also available on
Other Retailers
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Subscription Services
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Cast
-
Michelle Pfeiffer
as Rose Cook Lewis
-
Jessica Lange
as Ginny Cook Smith
-
Jason Robards
as Larry Cook
-
Jennifer Jason Leigh
as Caroline Cook
-
Colin Firth
as Jess Clark
-
Keith Carradine
as Ty Smith
-
Kevin Anderson
as Peter Lewis
-
Pat Hingle
as Harold Clark
-
John Carroll Lynch
as Ken LaSalle
-
Anne Pitoniak
as Mary Livingstone
-
Vyto Ruginis
as Charles Carter
-
Michelle Williams
as Pammy
-
Elisabeth Moss
as Linda
-
Ray Toler
as Marv Carson
- Kyle Anderson
