"River Runs Through It" still draws visitors to Montana
By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian
It's called the "Crocodile Dundee effect," and Montana felt it in the 1990s.
No film has had such an impact on Montana as did "A River Runs Through It," the 1992 Robert Redford movie that turned the unforgettable words of author Norman Maclean into big-screen beauty.
"It's been one of the most impactful films, as far as driving tourism goes, as there's ever been," says Sten Iversen, manager of the Montana Film Office. "We still get calls about it today, 15 years later."
It drew crowds of fishermen to our rivers, helped lure outsiders to Big Sky Country not just to visit, but to live, and played a part in the changing face of western Montana.
Australia experienced a similar phenomenon in the late 1980s, after a low-budget film called "Crocodile Dundee" became a hit with American audiences. After the film, which starred Paul Hogan, the number of U.S. tourists visiting Down Under doubled.
"River" - the story of Maclean's coming to grips with the death of his brother Paul, played by Brad Pitt - struck audiences the same way.
Set against the backdrop of a love of fly-fishing passed down to them by their father, "it only showed the beauty of it," says John Bailey, owner of the famous Dan Bailey Fly shop in Livingston, which reaped benefits from the fly-fishing boom. "We have this great gorgeous place, water is always inviting, the cinematography was so good, and now we see the results."
In the years since, Livingston has been transformed from a railroad and cowboy town into a place of chic restaurants, art galleries and celebrity sightings.
Bailey says nearby Bozeman, which offered newcomers more amenities, shopping and a university, changed even more after "River" was released. Indeed, the population of Bozeman grew by more than 21 percent between 1990 and 2000.
Much of that, most agree, would have happened with or without the movie.
"But I think it hurried it along," Bailey says. "Fly-fishing saw a huge increase after the movie came out, and that's faded. But real estate is gaining all the time. I think the movie put the region on the map as a place of great and unspoiled beauty. We're going through the same thing Colorado did in the 1970s."
While some would argue whether helping the secret get out was a good thing, Bailey believes the movie has also aided in efforts to preserve Montana rivers like the Blackfoot and Yellowstone.
"I'm certain it's one reason there's no dam on the Yellowstone," Bailey says.
"One of the most interesting things about the movie, and they never expected it, was that women liked it," Bailey says. "Women fell in love with the movie. I'm sure Brad Pitt helped there, but women fell in love with fly-fishing too. The movie took out all the detail of fly-fishing, and they were left with this incredible film that put people in incredible settings. You get fly lines in the air and it looks like an art form."
Says Iversen: "I don't have a dollar figure, but 'A River Runs Through It' had a significant, long-lasting impact that's still going on to this day."
The film won cinematographer Philippe Rousselot an Academy Award.
Redford returned to Montana half a dozen years later to direct and star in "The Horse Whisperer." Alarmed at the effect "River" had had, he declined to identify the Big Timber area in the closing credits as the location where "The Horse Whisperer" was filmed.
