Interesting facts about "the movie"...

[afishinado]

A River Runs through it >

https://flylordsmag.com/a-river-runs-through-it/?fbclid=IwAR363i4VnNYo_vIwSF--0YPfhEGWf4ocsLBK3_FyupHeuazmfEWb_9DVR8g

 

[rrt]

Another thing that most do not know. The book, being semi-autobiographical, had Paul die in Montana. I once read that he actually died in Chicago.

Anyhow, the movie was all right, but the novella was great. I re-read it every year or two and find new things each time. I think it and Harry Middleton's "The Earth is Enough" are the two best fly-fishing related books.

 

[PennKev]

rrt wrote:
Another thing that most do not know. The book, being semi-autobiographical, had Paul die in Montana. I once read that he actually died in Chicago.

Paul Maclean

 

[tomgamber]

Nice link. Never read that before. I read the book and saw the movie because I flyfish not the other way around. I think the movie gets a bad rap because of the influx of new flyfishers after the movie came out. Those who would and still contribute to the sport because of the movie hung around. Those who did it for the novelty are long gone.

I was amazed by how much information he was able to cram into 128 pages. (I know: again, half as long) The movie actually combined and left out a few parts of the book. While other movies I've seen that were less than two hours and the books were two and three times as thick as A River Runs Through It.

 

[PennKev]

It's sort of weird that the reality was that Paul did, in fact, go to work in Chicago and was killed there due to his vices rather than refuse to leave Montana. I suppose the idea of Paul staying in Missoula and dying there makes for a better story, but finding out Paul actually went to Chicago is like finding out Santa isn't real.

 

[tomgamber]

I think his death was a big part of the movie and the story. Creating a second location in the film would have affected much of the continuity of the film and I think they just chose to exercise creative license to maintain that. Honestly, I don't remember if the exact location of Paul's death was revealed in the book. Or just that it happened and how. I haven't read it in probably 20 years.

 

[rrt]

He was killed in MT in the book.

Also of interest to me -- and I have mentioned it on here before -- is that Norman and Paul were men in the book; in the movie they were boys just becoming men.

PK -- Thanks for the pic of Paul. I had never seen one of him before.

 

[tomgamber]

rrt wrote:
He was killed in MT in the book.

Also of interest to me -- and I have mentioned it on here before -- is that Norman and Paul were men in the book; in the movie they were boys just becoming men.

PK -- Thanks for the pic of Paul. I had never seen one of him before.

Thanks rrt,

Couldn't remember. There are two other short stories in the copy of the book I have. One about the summers spent logging. The other I don't remember either. But I remember thinking that some of the narrative in the movie reflected the events on those stories to fill in blanks of them growing up. There were parts in the book where they were still kids. The oatmeal standoff and the home schooling come to mind.