Zandy's Bride (1974)

Director:

Jan Troell

Writers:

Lillian Bos Ross (novel)
Marc Norman (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Zandy Allan purchases a mail-order bride, Hannah Lund. He treats her as a possession, without respect or humanity...

Plot Keywords:

Mail Order Bride | Farmer | Husband Wife Relationship | 19th Century | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Zandy Allan
Liv Ullmann	...	Hannah Lund
Eileen Heckart	...	Ma Allan
Susan Tyrrell	...	Maria Cordova
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Songer
Joe Santos	...	Frank Gallo
Frank Cady	...	Pa Allan
Sam Bottoms	...	Mel Allan
Bob Simpson	...	Bill Pincus
Vivian Gordon	...	Street girl
Fabian Gregory Cordova	...	Indian boy

Also Known As:

For Better, for Worse (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | UK:AA (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Connections:

Featured in Liv Ullmann scener fra et liv (1997)

Dreary western; even fine performances by Ullmann and Hackman can't breathe life into this one.

Zandy's Bride is quite interesting because it deals with a theme that has become relevant again in the 21st century. It's about a mail order bride, and of course with the introduction of the Internet into the majority of modern homes, the idea shopping for a wife has once again reared its ugly head. Beyond the topicality, however, the film is a failure on most other counts.

Gene Hackman plays a rough and rugged pioneer living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. He is waiting around for a mail order bride from Scandinavia, and when she arrives he mistreats her. It's not that he's a nasty man, more that he has lived a simple and uncomplicated life and he finds it hard to relate properly to another human being (especially of the opposite sex) after so many years of labouring away in such lonely surroundings.

The bride is played well by Liv Ullmann. The backdrop to the film is beautifully captured. Beyond the performances and the scenery, there's not much else to hold the attention. It's a boring film, critically hindered by the fact that it has too little to say and no notable plot to follow through to a logical conclusion. The unsuited pair meet, fall out a lot, and that's just about it. As much as I admire Hackman (worth watching in all his films... a real consummate actor), this one just isn't worth the effort. Skip it.