Cross Creek (1983)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

Absolutely Fantastic

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

When this movie came out nearly twenty years ago, I was completely aware of it, yet avoided it like the plague. Why? Because it was in the Top Ten lists of most of the noted critics that year, and because of preconceived notions I had about critics and their 'lofty' reviews at the time. I am kicking myself soundly now for having done so. For those few out there not aware of this remarkable film yet, CREEK is the biographical depiction of a period in the life of renowned author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, when she moved to a very rural area of Florida, became enamored of the place and its people, and was inspired during that time to write some of her best work, including the novel that defined her career, THE YEARLING. Mary Steenburgen's career was just starting to come into its own when she made this film, and her wonderful portrayal of the author as a strong, independent-minded woman at a time when being so was frowned upon is the movie's rock-solid center. Complementing her are marvelous turns by Peter Coyote as Norton Baskin, the man who becomes extremely interested in Marjorie and becomes a big part of her life; Rip Torn and Dana Hill as Cross Creek natives Marsh and Ellie Turner, the father and daughter who (according to this version of the story) become the inspiration for Rawlings' best-known work, and Alfre Woodard, who was also early in her career, playing Marjorie's somewhat skittish yet steadfast housekeeper, Geechee. Note must be made of all the actors in the small roles as well, as they all add to the ambiance of this quiet, almost serene backwoods community that Marjorie learned to call home, and where she did much of her best work. A particularly haunting part of the film is when she encounters a young backwoodsman named Tim (John Hammond) and his beautiful pregnant wife (Toni Hudson), who also become the basis of another important Rawlings' story, "Jacob's Ladder", which I am now determined to find.John Alonzo's photography brings an almost magical feel to the swamp and marshlands of the region, and Leonard Rosenmann contributes a score that accents rather than interrupts the movie's flow.Plus, there is a bonus in the form of an actor who was also an integral part of Steenburgen's personal life at the time, portraying Max Perkins, Marjorie's publisher. Fans of Mary will already know who I'm talking about, and it is a treat to see them together again after their previous film, TIME AFTER TIME. I wouldn't call this a 'family' film per se, since the younger ones who might be disturbed by THE YEARLING or OLD YELLER will find this just as disconcerting. But for adults especially, seeking to escape car chases, exploding buildings or the latest adolescent yuk-fest, CROSS CREEK will come as a welcome respite...as soothing and comforting as Ms. Rawlings eventually found it to be.

This biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (author of "The Yearling") covers her early career from her move to the rural Florida town of Cross Creek until she found her voice as an author and began being published.I felt Mary Steenburgen was miscast. To survive the hardships that Rawlings had to overcome in getting her dilapidated house in order and turning her orange grove into a successful operation would imply that she was a pretty tough woman, both physically and mentally. When we see Steenburgen pitching in to clear tree roots and logs from a waterway she moves and acts more like a demure woman who would be more comfortable in fashionable society, and when she expresses anger one does not feel daunted by it in the least - it's like she is just reading her lines. Steenburgen's slight performance is unfortunate since the entire supporting cast is quite good and Rip Torn is magnificent in his portrayal of Marsh Turner, a feisty and colorful local. Torn breaths such life into the formidable but kindly Turner that I found myself just waiting out the times between his appearances. A woman of equal power to match Turner (as I am sure the real Rawlings must have been) would have raised this film above the average. Someone like Kathyrn Hepburn or Judi Dench would have been good for this part. The photography of rural 1930s Florida and the lush bayous was well done, as were the period details of dress and autos. There are memorable and touching scenes, like the one where Rawlings' housekeeper Geegee (Alfre in a fine performance) comes close to leaving. And the scenes involving the yearling in this movie are tremendously more powerful than they were in the movie "The Yearling."Why certain real life facts were altered that would have made the story more believable and interesting is puzzling. In the movie we have Steenburgen announcing at an upscale New York party, seemingly out of nowhere, that she is going to move to Florida to manage an orange grove and, if her husband does not want to come with her, then that's the end of the marriage. In truth she purchased the land using an inheritance from her mother and her husband moved there with her. In short order her husband decided he could not take it and went back to New York.All in all I did not get a feeling that I got to know the real Rawlings and, for that matter, the person Steenburgen was playing did not seem real to me.

Novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings took to the backwoods of Florida in 1927 to work on her literary projects. She left behind a husband who was unwilling to relocate, and fashioned a working studio in the most rural of southern locations.The trials she experienced, both creatively and physically, are depicted in this slow-moving, yet well-intentioned enactment. Filmed in lovely Technicolor in Marion and Alachna Counties, Florida by John Alonzo, to the accompaniment of a lush score by Leonard Roseman, the movie attempts to capture Rawling's varied experiences in pursuit of her writing goals. Like many films of true-to-life creative artists, one has little factual evidence as to the accuracy of this tale. The challenges Rawlings faced in attempting to first write her "Gothic novel" and getting rejected by a publisher, are carefully acted out. Only when she changes her subject to that which she is actually experiencing there in Florida does her publisher accept the manuscript. Since there's not much dramatic about a writer "pecking away" at a typewriter, the script finds other things to depict. When a local girl has an emotional "turn" involving a pet deer, and when the focus is on our heroine's saving her farm crops from devastation, another plot begins to be recalled.One realizes this is the story of the woman who finally wrote the beloved family classic, "The Yearling." The film version of that novel, after a failed attempt in the early forties with Spencer Tracy, was finally brought to the screen in 1946 by Director Clarence Brown, with Gregory Peck. That movie captures the essence of Rawlings' work, again in a beautiful Florida setting. "Cross Creek" may perhaps appear to lack focus or be too deliberately paced for some tastes. At the same time, it has its heart in the right place in expressing Rawlings' unusual "artist retreat," as well as her steadfast dedication to her craft. For those who think writing is easy, this may be a stark awakening as to the tenacity it often takes to birth a respectable literary work.

I found this movie to be an excellent. The acting is superb. The movie addresses real life issues in a delightful tale. There are no cars blowing up or gripping battle field heroics. Skip it if what you think a great movie needs is nudity and violence. See it if you like to face life and enjoy a deeper look at it...