A Thousand Acres, 1997

"Best friends. Bitter rivals. Sisters."

Summary:

Director Jocelyn Moorhouse's screen adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, finds skeins of KING LEAR-like conflict running through the bedrock of a midwestern family.

Jason Robards stars as Larry Cook, a powerful, stoic Iowa farmer who decides to retire and split his 1,000 acres of land among his three daughters. His two eldest daughters, Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Ginny (Jessica Lange), live and work on the farm and happily accept the lucrative agreement, while the youngest, Larry's favorite, Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), has abandoned farming life for a law career in Des Moines and refuses to take part in the deal.

Initially, Larry is consumed with rage and shuts out Caroline while Rose and Ginny go about running the farm with their dutiful but greedy husbands. However, as Larry begins to lose touch with his farming life, he loses touch with reality, and his painful descent into madness leaves him bitterly opposed to his daughters' ways of running the farm.

Paranoid and disillusioned, he decides to sue Rose and Ginny with Caroline's help in an effort to regain his patriarchal control. The lawsuit divides the family forever, leaving Rose and Ginny to suffer alone while realizing painful memories from their childhood.

As Rose and Ginny discover their own individual strengths in the face of adversity, they learn how to survive on their own, without the protection of the farm and the suffocating presence of their father.

""He was licking his wounds with every woman he met. When Jess pours on the sensitivity with Ginny and Rose you might see that as his narcissism, but I see it as his pride in his sensitivity. I don't believe it's cynical. He actually appealed to me the most when he became violent, because that is when he is most honest.

(Movie)

Memorable Quotes from "A Thousand Acres":

Ginny: Rose left me with a riddle I have not yet resolved: how we judge those that hurt us and show no remorse.

Rose: Don't make me feel sorry for myself. The more pissed off I am, the better I feel.

Rose: We're not going to be sad. We're going to be angry till we die.

Ginny: It was Rose who dropped things through the grates. It was Rose who sang.

Directed by:
Jocelyn Moorhouse

Writing credits:
Jane Smiley	(novel)
Laura Jones	(screenplay)

Full credits here

Runtime: 105 min

Country: USA

Language: English

Color: Color

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Certification: Argentina:13 / Chile:14 / Finland:K-12 / France:U / Germany:12 (w) / Netherlands:12 / Portugal:M/12 / Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) / USA:R / Singapore:R(A)

MPAA Rating: R (Restricted: under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)

Also Known As (AKA):

1000 Morgen	–	Germany (TV title)
A Thousand Acres	–	Denmark
Amigas e Rivais	–	Portugal
En lo profundo del corazón	–	Argentina
Heredarás la tierra	–	Spain
Heretaràs la terra	–	Spain (Catalan title)
Secrets	–	France
Segreti	–	Italy
Sydänmailla	–	Finland
Tausend Morgen	–	Germany
Terras Perdidas	–	Brazil
Tisoc akrov	–	Slovenia
Tusen tunnland	–	Sweden

Release Dates

Filming Locations

Production Company/Company Credits

Cast:

Jessica Lange	Ginny Cook Smith
Michelle Pfeiffer	Rose Cook Lewis
Jennifer Jason Leigh	Caroline Cook
Jason Robards	Larry Cook
Colin Firth	Jess Clark
Keith Carradine	Ty Smith
Kevin Anderson	Peter Lewis
Pat Hingle	Harold Clark
John Carroll Lynch	Ken LaSalle
Anne Pitoniak	Mary Livingstone
Vyto Ruginis	Charles Carter
Michelle Williams	Pammy
Elisabeth Moss	Linda
Ray Toler	Marv Carson
Kenneth Tigar	Doctor

Some information courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.

Also with thanks to the Colin Firth Career Timeline