Rating: 
Summary: You can be 16 anytime you want
Review: The other reviews have largely already pegged this - twenty years ago, in my "Dirty Harry" youth, I'd have been hard pressed to stay awake. But this movie was wonderful from the beginning. Eastwood plays the part of a quiet, introspective and fun-loving rover. Streep plays the part of an Italian immigrant, farmer's wife and dedicated mother who is clearly homesick for something she's never had. Neither is terribly young, but they show you can be 16 anytime you want - it just costs so much more when you're older.Their passion for each other stutters at first, then explodes - only to be ripped apart at the peak of its adolescent ardor, before it can truly mature. But it's a good story, and the theme, although pretty ordinary but nice as romances go, is made much more powerful because it changes both their lives and endures in a way that it never could, had they been free to continue. An eye-dimming tale for those who have experienced distant affairs of the heart and mind - the rest won't get it.
Rating:
Summary: Great romantic movie
Review: Many emotions - great actors - simply: a wonderful movie. You are going to cry even if you saw the movie several times before. One of the best there is.
Rating: 
Summary: Francesca
Review: This was a book I loved but the movie was disappointing. I loved Clint as Robert, but Meryl really bothered me as Francesca. She had a stilted, bizarre way of moving and talking (no, the accent wasn't convincing) and I just couldn't buy her as arousing such passion in Eastwood's character. I still cried at the end when she had to make the choice. And I loved the music, much of which, I understand, was from Clint's collection.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: This is an excellent movie. However, it will probably appeal more to women, but that does not diminish its effect or its quality. You should add this movie to your home movie library.
Rating: 
Summary: AFI's Great Love Stories: #90 The Bridges of Madison County
Review: Pretty much everyone on the planet knew years before "The Bridges of Madison County" that Meryl Streep could do any accent under the sun and put on an acting clinic. However, the acting revelation in this film is Clint Eastwood, although ironically I have always had the feeling that he is not really acting. I mean, from the Man With No Name to Dirty Harry to William Munny the man has played some of the most hard-bitten characters around. I try to remember the last romantic lead Eastwood played off the top of my head and all that comes to mind is "Paint Your Wagon." Yet as photographer Robert Kincaid he is warm, charming, engaging, in other words, pretty much everything I would like to think the real Clint Eastwood is like in the real world. No wonder Francesca falls for him. The story takes place in the summer of 1965, when Francesca's husband and kids are off to the Iowa State Fair. Francesca, an Italian war bride who sometimes misses the old country, is planning on a few days of peace and quite when Robert Kincaid shows up in a pick up truck asking for directions to one of those covered bridges that are all over the place in Madison County. It turns out he is on assignment from the National Geographic magazine to photograph them and when Francesca agrees to help it is the quiet beginning to a four-day romance of epic proportions. There is a framing device for the tale, which takes place after Francesca has died, in which Francesca's children find her journal and read for the first time of the secret affair their mother enjoyed, but for the most part this just gets in the way. Certainly the knowledge of how this affair will end impacts our level of emotional involvement with the two lovers. Admittedly, this is one of the great hit or miss romance films of our generation. It will either click for you or it will not. But I think you have to check it out at least once just to catch a glimpse of the "real" Eastwood. Note: If you get a change, check out the audio-tape version of the novel, which is narrated by author Robert James Waller with the dialogue for the two leads done by Ben Kinsley and Isabelli Rossalini. You have to admit, it sounds intriguing, right? Most Romantic Lines: (1) "This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime." (2) "I don't want to need you, because I can't have you." Tear-Jerk Scenes: (1) Two pick-up trucks stopped at a red light at the one interesection in town. If you like "The Bridges of Madison County," then check out these other films on AFI's list: #1 "Casablanca." Why? Because the big time movie tough guy does not get the girl in that film either.
Rating:
Summary: AFI's Great Love Stories: #90 The Bridges of Madison County
Review: Pretty much everyone on the planet knew years before "The Bridges of Madison County" that Meryl Streep could do any accent under the sun and put on an acting clinic. However, the acting revelation in this film is Clint Eastwood, although ironically I have always had the feeling that he is not really acting. I mean, from the Man With No Name to Dirty Harry to William Munny the man has played some of the most hard-bitten characters around. I try to remember the last romantic lead Eastwood played off the top of my head and all that comes to mind is "Paint Your Wagon." Yet as photographer Robert Kincaid he is warm, charming, engaging, in other words, pretty much everything I would like to think the real Clint Eastwood is like in the real world. No wonder Francesca falls for him. The story takes place in the summer of 1965, when Francesca's husband and kids are off to the Iowa State Fair. Francesca, an Italian war bride who sometimes misses the old country, is planning on a few days of peace and quite when Robert Kincaid shows up in a pick up truck asking for directions to one of those covered bridges that are all over the place in Madison County. It turns out he is on assignment from the National Geographic magazine to photograph them and when Francesca agrees to help it is the quiet beginning to a four-day romance of epic proportions. There is a framing device for the tale, which takes place after Francesca has died, in which Francesca's children find her journal and read for the first time of the secret affair their mother enjoyed, but for the most part this just gets in the way. Certainly the knowledge of how this affair will end impacts our level of emotional involvement with the two lovers. Admittedly, this is one of the great hit or miss romance films of our generation. It will either click for you or it will not. But I think you have to check it out at least once just to catch a glimpse of the "real" Eastwood. Note: If you get a change, check out the audio-tape version of the novel, which is narrated by author Robert James Waller with the dialogue for the two leads done by Ben Kinsley and Isabelli Rossalini. You have to admit, it sounds intriguing, right? Most Romantic Lines: (1) "This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime." (2) "I don't want to need you, because I can't have you." Tear-Jerk Scenes: (1) Two pick-up trucks stopped at a red light at the one interesection in town. If you like "The Bridges of Madison County," then check out these other films on AFI's list: #1 "Casablanca." Why? Because the big time movie tough guy does not get the girl in that film either.
Rating:
Summary: Get your hankies, girls!!!!!
Review: I am sure that every woman, and more men than would like to admit...can relate to this movie! If you can get past Clint and his sloppy, smacking smooches...this movie can tear at the heartstrings like no other I have ever seen! The scene with Francesca's hand on that truck door handle! I have to give old Clint a hell of a lot of credit for that scene. It was simple yet ever so powerful...and so reminiscent of the human condition as whole, if you ask me. When did we all stop letting out intuition guide us? When did we all decide that the "ultimate sacrifice" is letting yourself live out your days in mediocrity of the mind, body and soul? To live out your life unsatisfied is a crime of nature. I would have told a different story...Francesca...take it from me, sister...GO FOR IT!!! And just by the way...D. Grant Haynes from Middle America...should I happen upon you the way Robert did Francesca...would you promise to run away with me??? I loved your review. More men should think the way that you do.
Rating:
Summary: Francesca should have opened that door!
Review: I viewed Hollywood's adaptation of Robert James Waller's "The Bridges of Madison County" last evening. I had seen the film initially some years ago and regarded it as much ado about nothing for the most part at that time. But I was struck in this new viewing more than before by the universality of Francesca Johnson's dilemma. Perhaps maturation and recent life experiences have generated a heightened understanding and awareness on my part.
Robert Kinkaid possessed a few of the qualities that have both inspired and dogged me during my middle years.
He was a rootless writer and photographer, as well as a keen and cynical observer of the human condition. Kinkaid had been far and done much. He had seen and experienced multiple facets of life and love and possessed limitless anecdotal knowledge of the world. He offered much to Francesca in terms of sensitivity, understanding, appreciation of beauty and companionship that she would never find on an Iowa farm. But Kinkaid lacked Middle America's major indicators of success and worthiness--roots sunk deeply in one geographic location, a home and real estate, and most importantly, a traditional Cleaver family mind set. Francesca reluctantly opted for the Cleaver family syndrome, choosing security and safety over fascination, inspiration and love. She lived out her years with a boring Iowa pig farmer, remaining a lonely and empty woman with nothing but tattered memories of her brief encounter with Kinkaid. Had I been writing the screenplay, I would have had her fling open that truck door and dash through the rain storm to head west with Robert Kinkaid.
For better or worse, that's the impulsive sort of decision that has governed my life more often than not. But such actions and those who take them do not comfort the psyche of Middle America's puritanical heartland. Though they know better from their own experiences and those of others, the majority of Americans--middle class protestant ones especially--prefer to keep their heads safely in the sand about life and the human condition, pretending still in a little house on the prairie dream world that probably never was--one that most certainly doesn't exist now.
All is well in this delusional world of make believe--one that's filled with Little League games, soccer moms, church suppers and PTO meetings. Marriage and family are still the rocks of civilization and the ostriches are "saved" and bound for Heaven. Their president, George W. Bush, is a worthy man with a commission from their God to root out homosexuality, abortion and Islam.
In my opinion, such as they dwell in the outer limits of utter darkness, living and dying without a clue about the past, the present, or the future. They're not living--they're merely existing in a state of perpetual denial, awaiting the flat line and the rude awakening that will likely follow. Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is termed resignation is confirmed desperation." Francesca Johnson completed her life journey in this condition of quiet desperation. I think that's a damned shame. I wanted more for her. I wanted her to go with Robert Kinkaid and seek a few years of happiness and joy while they each had the time and opportunity. D. ...
Rating:
Summary: No where near the book
Review: I was really disapponted by this movie. I read the book and fell in love with the story. I was really excited when I found out is was being made into a movie. I was so disapponted when I saw it. The book was a thousand times better.
Rating:
Summary: Romantic classic
Review: A beautiful, moving film. Streep is incredible, as usual, and Clint, though not what you might consider a character or method actor, puts in a good performance in a role outside his comfort zone. He certainly deserves credit for his subtle, competent direction, and his willingness to square off with the world's greatest actress. I didn't like everything about this movie--for a timeless romance, I found Francesca's adult children jarringly modern and a little wooden. Also, they could have trimmed a bit more dialogue, and inner musings--Francesca didn't need to comment on her... longings while immersed in a warm bathtub, for heaven's sake. Between Streep's languorous, sensual body language, the setting, and the viewer's imagination, the ... overtones were obvious enough. But overall, I found it interesting, believable, hopelessly involving and very sexy. Sad too, of course, but not oppressively so. And suddenly, Iowan housewives are more provocative than French maids. Well, the Italian accent certainly helps.
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