Amber Waves

Who would have thought that a TV movie about wheat-whackers would be this good? (See other reviews for detailed description.) Dennis Weaver, Kurt Russell, and Mare Winningham are uniformly excellent in their roles in a dramatic (but never melodramatic) script by veteran television series writer Ken Trevey ("Gunsmoke," "The Big Valley," "Lou Grant," et al.). It might sound like a snooze-fest, but you won't regret watching this one.

This is an excellent television movie with much to say that was made during the peak of the made-for-TV era. It's the story of a widower (Dennis Weaver) and his kids who travel around the farm belt hiring out as professional wheat harvesters. Kurt Russell signs on reluctantly to help. Weaver's performance is one of his best and the rest of the cast shines as well. Top notch writing, directing, photography and score. I saw this film during a very dark time in my life and it inspired me to press on and make changes. I recommend it to anyone in need of inspiration. They don't make these kind of intelligent, sensitive and involving films for television often anymore. But these are exactly the kind of films we need today.

Everything about this movie is "classic," as far as custom combining movies go. About the only thing wrong with it is maybe too much licentiousness. Weaver and the others do excellent acting. Custom combining is an American tradition since World War II. In the late '70s and early '80s, there were a lot of combining crews, as combines were getting bigger and more comfortable to operate, yet they weren't as modern as today's combines. And a lot of those combines were Canadian-built Massey-Ferguson 760s. This was an ABC TV movie. It was filmed in Canada, though the movie is supposed to occur in the U.S.A. Weaver's character almost kills himself and loses a combine, but the harvest must go on.

Amber Waves is a rarely-seen TV movie about wheat harvesters in the American midwest. As an Englishman, I found much of the film interesting purely because it is about a way of life totally unfamiliar to me. The landscapes are very nicely photographed, and the leading performances from Dennis Weaver and Kurt Russell are pretty engaging.

The story is about a grizzled old harvester named Bud Burkhardt (Weaver) who learns that he is dying from lung cancer. His attitudes to life are simple: work hard, be reliable and fight for your corner when you have to. However, he finds himself in a peculiar position, since he needs an operation desperately if he is to have any hope of survival, yet he doesn't have the time to be recuperating on a hospital bed when there's a harvest to be gathered. Should he put his life first, or his responsibility to deliver the crop? He hires an extra harvester in the shape of a young, failed magazine model (Russell) who initially hates hard labour, but soon comes to realise that the responsibility and drive of honest hard work is good for the soul.

There's nothing remarkable about the plot, which has elements of disease-of-the-week cliches and lots of long, loving sequences showing men driving around fields in combine harvesters. However, the engaging performances and the lovely photgraphy keep you interested. The film isn't as moving as I thought it might be (given the potentially tear-jerking storyline). There's one moving scene where Weaver phones his long estranged son and begs him to come home, but other than that the opportunities for powerful emotional scenes are generally missed.

On the whole, Amber Waves is a run-of-the-mill TV movie which has some nice touches and agreeable, interesting moments but doesn't quite hit the emotional level that it seems to be aiming for.

Despite its simple plot, this television movie can be viewed on several levels. This story of a stranded model who reluctantly takes a temporary job on a wheat harvesting crew is about the values we cherish. Kurt Russell as the model and Dennis Weaver as the cancer-stricken harvester who needs help on his crew lend real credibility to their roles. In less than two hours the script tells us the meaning of life and death and what love is and what it isn't. This film tells us about the self-renewal which can come from hard work and responsibility.

Kurt Russell plays Larry, a male model who is stranded in a small Kansas town when he screws up a photo shoot. He literally runs into Dennis Weaver, who is looking for a warm body for his harvesting crew. He isn't too particular or he wouldn't hire this man who has never done a honest days work and has the hands to show it. Despite some rough moments Russell learns the value of hard work and becomes a leader on the crew.

Several subplots are cleverly weaved into the delightful mix. Dennis Weaver finds that he has cancer and is advised by his doctor to "bail out". This is easier said than done, because he has obligations to farmers whose wheat must be cut. He reaches out to his son, who fled to Canada because of his objection to the war. It is obvious that there is still tension between the two of them and the son returns to Canada. There is a competing harvester (played by Wilford Brimley) whose son went to Viet Nam and was maimed. Mare Winningham plays Weaver's daughter, a girl who is looking for a ticket to a new life. In the end Larry offers the only hope for another harvest.

The focus of this film is the relationship between Russell and Weaver. Despite the difference in their backgrounds, they have much in common. They meet on a day which has not been kind to either of them. Russell has lost his job and Weaver has discovered his cancer. "It's been that kind of day", he tells Russell. Uneasy and volatile at first, the relationship develops into one of affection and even love.

Filmed in Canada there is much more emphasis on scenery than usual in this television movie. "Do you ever get tired of this?", Russell asks Weaver as he gazes across the wheat fields framed in the setting sun. I don't know about him, but I never did.