Ryan's Daughter (1970)

Set in rural Ireland circa 1917, a young naive girl (Sarah Miles) has romantic notions and a huge crush on the local schoolmaster (Robert Mitchum). But when their eventual marriage doesn't live up to her dreams, she finds herself attracted to a handsome British officer (Christopher Jones) which doesn't endear her to the anti-British village she resides in. Written by Robert Bolt (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS) and directed by David Lean (BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI). Despite its four Oscar nominations (winning two), the film wasn't received well by the critics. Reputedly, director Lean was so devastated by Pauline Kael's review that he didn't make another movie for another 14 years (A PASSAGE TO INDIA). Although what should have been a simple love story has been blown up to epic proportions, I'm an unabashed admirer of the film and even prefer it to Lean's "masterpiece" LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. In fact, it's that very "epic" quality of the movie that I love. Freddie Young's Oscar winning cinematography (shot in 70 millimeter) is stunning and the film's set piece, the entire village rescuing crates of weapons against the English during a massive storm is awesome. Today, it would have been done with CGI but we're seeing real people amid a fearsome real storm. In a change of pace from his machismo roles, Robert Mitchum is impressive as a mild mannered school teacher. As the village "idiot", John Mills can't resist hamming it up so of course, he won an Oscar. Maurice Jarre's underscore could have used some subtlety. With Trevor Howard, Leo McKern, Barry Foster and Marie Kean.