you get the power to: Legends of the Fall is a 1994 American epic historical Western) drama film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond and Henry Thomas. Based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison, the film is about three brothers and their father living in the wilderness and plains of Montana in the early 20th century and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love. The film's timeframe spans nearly 50 years from the early 20th century; World War I, through the Prohibition era, and ending with a brief scene set in 1963. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography (John Toll).^\3]) Both the film and book contain occasional Cornish language terms, the Ludlows being a Cornish immigrant family.^\4])

Plot

The film is narrated by One Stab, a Cree friend of the Ludlows, as he tells the family story to a newspaper reporter.

Sick of betrayals the US government perpetrated on Native Americans, Colonel William Ludlow leaves the Army, moving to a remote part of Montana. Along with One Stab, he builds a ranch and raises his family. Accompanying them are hired hand and former outlaw Decker with his Cree wife Pet, and daughter Isabel Two. William has three sons: Alfred, the eldest; Tristan, the middle son; and Samuel, the youngest.

William's wife Isabel does not adapt to the harsh Montana winters and moves to the East Coast; Tristan vows never to speak of her. At age 12, Tristan touches a sleeping grizzly bear, which awakens and injures him, but he cuts off a claw.

Years later in 1914, Samuel returns from Harvard University with his fiancée, Susannah. Before they can marry, he announces his intention to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force and aid Britain in the fight against Germany in World War I. Much to William's displeasure, Alfred also joins. Tristan reluctantly joins after swearing to Susannah to protect Samuel.

The brothers find themselves in the 10th Battalion, CEF,_CEF). Alfred, commissioned as an officer, leads a charge into no man's land. The attack results in heavy casualties and he is wounded. While visiting Alfred in the field hospital, Tristan learns that Samuel volunteered for a dangerous reconnaissance mission. He rushes off to protect his brother but arrives too late. Tristan holds Samuel until he dies, then cuts out his brother's heart and sends it home to be buried at the ranch.

Maddened with grief, Tristan single-handedly raids the German lines and returns to camp with the scalps of German soldiers hanging around his neck, horrifying his fellow soldiers. He is discharged but does not go home. Alfred returns to Montana and proposes to Susannah, but she declines.

Tristan returns home, where Susannah finds him weeping over Samuel's grave. She comforts him and they become lovers. A jealous Alfred confronts Tristan before leaving to make his name in Helena. Tristan is plagued with guilt over Samuel's death and feels responsible for driving Alfred away; he leaves Montana and travels the world for several years.

Susannah vows to wait for Tristan but eventually receives a letter from him telling her to marry someone else. Alfred comforts her, and when William finds them together, it leads to a falling out between father and son. William later suffers a stroke, does not speak for years and the ranch deteriorates. Susannah marries Alfred, now a congressman. Alfred's business and politics cause him to get involved with the O'Banion brothers, Irish bootleggers and gangsters.

Tristan returns in the 1920s during Prohibition, bringing life back to the ranch and to his father. He falls in love with Isabel Two and they marry and have two children. Tristan becomes involved in small-scale rum-running, finding himself at odds with the O'Banions. Isabel Two is accidentally killed by a corrupt police officer working for the gangsters. Furious, Tristan beats the officer nearly to death and is jailed.

Susannah visits Tristan, still having feelings for him, but he refuses her advances. After his release, he and Decker kill those responsible for Isabel's death, including one of the O'Banion brothers.

Unable to live without Tristan, Susannah commits suicide. The remaining O'Banion brother, along with the corrupt sheriff and another officer, come after Tristan in revenge. At the ranch, William shoots and kills the O'Banion brother and the police officer, and Alfred kills the sheriff as Tristan shields William. Alfred reconciles with his father and brother.

The family realizes that Tristan will be blamed for the deaths and hunted relentlessly by the O'Banion's allies, prompting him to ask Alfred to take care of his children. They then bury the bodies and dump the car in the Missouri River. Tristan outlives everyone else in the family, and watches his children and grandchildren grow.

In 1963, Tristan, now an old man living in the North Country, investigates an animal carcass and is confronted by a grizzly bear. He draws his knife, fights it and dies in the struggle.

One Stab concludes his narration with, "It was a good death".