Cross Creek **** (1983, Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, Peter Coyote, Dana Hill, Alfre Woodard) – Classic Movie Review 8691

Director Martin Ritt’s 1983 Cross Creek tells the story of a real-life writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling, who in 1926 left her husband and home in the big city to start a new life in the Florida Everglades, where she finds life still isn’t too quiet after all.

Mary Steenburgen’s terrific performance sustains this pleasurable film, though Dalene Young’s screenplay (based on Rawlings’s memoirs) is better on the heroine’s need for self discovery than on her passion for writing, and Ritt’s warm direction is stronger with character and atmosphere than pace and dynamism. Rosenman’s score and Alonzo’s location cinematography are big assets.

Rip Torn is outstanding in support as Marsh Turner, Alfre Woodard is notable too as Geechee, Peter Coyote impresses as Norton Baskin and Steenburgen’s then husband Malcolm McDowell appears briefly as a famous editor, Max Perkins.

Cross Creek was nominated for four Oscars: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Rip Torn), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Alfre Woodard), Best Costume Design (Joe I Tompkins) and Best Music, Original Score (Leonard Rosenman). The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (1983).

Also in the cast are Peter Coyote, Dana Hill, Ike Eisenmann, Joanna Miles, Cary Guffey, Toni Hudson, Jay O Sanders and John Hammond.

Cross Creek is directed by Martin Ritt, runs 127 minutes, is  made by Radnitz, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, and Universal Pictures, released by Universal Pictures (1983) (US) and Thorn-EMI (UK), written by Dalene Young, shot in Technicolor by John A Alonzo, produced by Robert B Radnitz and Martin Ritt, scored by Leonard Rosenman and designed by Walter Scott Herndon.

It was filmed in Cross Creek and other locations in Florida, plus Long Island, New York.

Sadly, it was not a good business plan for Britain’s Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, as it grossed a paltry $200,000 on his home ground, America.

Rip Torn (1931 – 2019).

RIP Rip Torn (1931–2019). His nomination here was his sole Oscar nod in a 60-year film career running back to Baby Doll in 1956. He did however win a Primetime Emmy for The Larry Sanders Show (1996).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8691

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