Everything That Rises

The struggle to hang onto the ranch is a backdrop, like the breathtaking footage of Montana, to the personal story of a father and son. Dennis Quaid, who also directed, plays a very convincing rancher-cowboy, who has learned to live in the unforgiving man's world that he inherited from his own father, but who knows little how to communicate his love to his own 14-year-old son (Ryan Merriman), eager to grow up and be a man just as strong. Their relationship is prickly until the boy is injured in an accident, and the difficulties between them are aggravated by the father's concern that he's about to lose the ranch.

The link between them is the rancher's wife (Mare Winningham) and an old cowboy (Harve Presnell) who lives and works on the ranch. Each in their way try to bring boy and father together and help keep the family on the ranch. Spragg's gift for revealing character through dialogue (evident in his book) and Quaid's direction make the scenes between characters rise again and again above the preditable. It's also a pleasure to have the "bad guys" come across sympathetically -- it's painful to watch the loan officer at the bank squirm in discomfort as he has to deliver bad news, and the land developer is portrayed as a generous man making every effort to preserve another man's wounded pride.

I recommend this film to anyone interested in the modern west, especially the high plains and mountains, and the details of ranch life. It's also a fine father-son story, with moments of well-earned pathos that bring a tear to the eye. As a companion, I recommend any of Mark Spragg's books. He's a fine writer.