Fresh
Redford and company have put a quirky twist on the material, investing it with a quasi-mystical aspect as well as some raw comedy.
Variety Staff, Variety
The Milagro Beanfield War
1988 · 1h 57m · R
Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Directed by
Robert Redford
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The Milagro Beanfield War
Overview
The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.
Director and cast
- Robert Redford Director
- Rubén Blades as Sheriff Bernabe Montoya
- Richard Bradford as Ladd Devine
- Sônia Braga as Ruby Archuleta
- Julie Carmen as Nancy Mondragon
- James Gammon as Horsethief Shorty
- Melanie Griffith as Flossie Devine
- John Heard as Charlie Bloom
- Carlos Riquelme as Marshal Amarante Cordova
- Daniel Stern as Herbie Platt
- Chick Vennera as Joe Mondragon
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
61%
Tomatometer
Rotten
Fairly choked with good intentions, whimsy, touches of fantasy, and cardboard liberal stereotypes.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Rotten
Redford's film sustains a slow mood of simpatico amiability and photographs the landscape with moony or golden washes that are perhaps hard to dislike, but is slain by its adherence to an outdated populist mythology.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
Rotten
The film is very big on sunsets and sunrises. It also has a touristy appreciation for all manner of things folkloric. What it doesn't have is dramatic coherence or backbone.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
Fresh
Corny, you bet. But that's to be admired in an old war horse on the last frontier.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
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