STARS: *** �
DIRECTOR: Robert Redford
PRINCIPLE CAST:
Matt Damon
Will Smith
Charlize Theron
J. Michael Moncrief
Jack Lemmon
TAGLINE: It was just a moment ago.
Back when I heard about this movie being made, I had a feeling I was going to love it. The cast alone is worth the price of admission. Add onto this Robert Redford�s beautiful direction and a wonderful script and what more could you ask for?
The Legend of Bagger Vance, based on the novel by Steven Pressfield, is a beautifully shot film about finding yourself. The story opens on an elderly Hardy Greaves (Jack Lemmon) playing a round of golf. When he goes to retrieve his ball from the trees, he has his fifth heart attack and he begins telling this wonderful fairy tale. We flashback to the twenties when Hardy was just a young boy (J. Michael Moncrief) and the biggest fan of Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon).
Before the war, Junuh had everything he needed: a natural talent for golf, the support of the town, and the love of Miss Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron). However, Junuh returns from the war fourteen years later, a drunken wreck. He comes back just in time for Adele�s father to set up a beautiful resort, go broke during the depression, and killing himself, leaving all his debts to Adele.
After she gets fed up with the committee that tries to buy the resort, Adele decides the answer is a golf tournament. She uses her charms to get Bobby Jones (Joel Getsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill) the two premier golfers of the time, to join her tournament. The committee, which seems a lot like a single mind in about six separate bodies, likes her idea, but decides someone needs to represent Savannah. Of course, Hardy suggests Captain Junuh and is soon sent to retrieve him. After, he and even the committee fail to commit him, Adele shows up and strikes up a spark in him. He makes her angry and she leaves.
This visit convinces him that maybe he has not lost his swing, so he goes out and takes a few swings. Enter Bagger Vance (Will Smith) a caddie who will work for a guaranteed five dollars. It is Bagger who finally gets Junuh to join the tournament.
The tournament could have just been another addition into the typical sport movie retread, but under the direction of Robert Redford, this becomes engaging. We see that Jones and Hagen are not villains, but men who love the sport. Unlike most sports films where we put all of our support between the main character, here we find ourselves a bit hesitant because we do not necessarily want the others to lose either. We also begin to feel that though golf is �just a game you can�t win, only play,� it is a spiritual experience. The beautiful cinematography on the course gets you right into the game as well as Junuh�s mind. You start to see the world the way Bagger wants people to see it.
The performances all around are not surprisingly wonderful. Matt Damon has yet to let me down. Will Smith has always expressed great potential under his action hero persona. And Charlize Theron just has a rarely scene natural beauty and charm, bringing you back to the old days of Hollywood starlets. A big joy is newcomer J. Michael Moncrief. This young boy has not made a film before, but that does not mean he cannot do a good job. He has the potential to be the next young star.
As with the performances, the direction is excellent. Robert Redford has a way of bringing out the beauty in everything. He knows how to capture a moment and have it live in your memory with beautiful photography and music, which are both definitely here. The cinematography and score are both among the best of the year. I do not know if it will happen, but this movie deserves some Oscar recognition at the end of the year. It is so great a movie that it is still fresh in my mind, as if when I watched it, �it was just a moment ago.�
