Cross Creek

When this movie came out nearly twenty years ago, I was completely aware of it, yet avoided it like the plague. Why? Because it was in the Top Ten lists of most of the noted critics that year, and because of preconceived notions I had about critics and their 'lofty' reviews at the time. I am kicking myself soundly now for having done so.

For those few out there not aware of this remarkable film yet, CREEK is the biographical depiction of a period in the life of renowned author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, when she moved to a very rural area of Florida, became enamored of the place and its people, and was inspired during that time to write some of her best work, including the novel that defined her career, THE YEARLING. Mary Steenburgen's career was just starting to come into its own when she made this film, and her wonderful portrayal of the author as a strong, independent-minded woman at a time when being so was frowned upon is the movie's rock-solid center.

Complementing her are marvelous turns by Peter Coyote as Norton Baskin, the man who becomes extremely interested in Marjorie and becomes a big part of her life; Rip Torn and Dana Hill as Cross Creek natives Marsh and Ellie Turner, the father and daughter who (according to this version of the story) become the inspiration for Rawlings' best-known work, and Alfre Woodard, who was also early in her career, playing Marjorie's somewhat skittish yet steadfast housekeeper, Geechee.

Note must be made of all the actors in the small roles as well, as they all add to the ambiance of this quiet, almost serene backwoods community that Marjorie learned to call home, and where she did much of her best work. A particularly haunting part of the film is when she encounters a young backwoodsman named Tim (John Hammond) and his beautiful pregnant wife (Toni Hudson), who also become the basis of another important Rawlings' story, "Jacob's Ladder", which I am now determined to find.

John Alonzo's photography brings an almost magical feel to the swamp and marshlands of the region, and Leonard Rosenmann contributes a score that accents rather than interrupts the movie's flow.

Plus, there is a bonus in the form of an actor who was also an integral part of Steenburgen's personal life at the time, portraying Max Perkins, Marjorie's publisher. Fans of Mary will already know who I'm talking about, and it is a treat to see them together again after their previous film, TIME AFTER TIME.

I wouldn't call this a 'family' film per se, since the younger ones who might be disturbed by THE YEARLING or OLD YELLER will find this just as disconcerting. But for adults especially, seeking to escape car chases, exploding buildings or the latest adolescent yuk-fest, CROSS CREEK will come as a welcome respite...as soothing and comforting as Ms. Rawlings eventually found it to be.

This is a gentle movie that reflects the pace of life for old Florida in a way that settles in my soul and brings back my childhood. Cross Creek looks deeply into a different lifestyle that actually still existed less than 50 years ago. In my childhood, Florida was a slow paced, slice of something that had ceased to exist else-country. Though the extremes may have seemed harsh, this movie captures the sweet taste of pre-Disney Florida, and the best part of the movie for me (even though I agree with the accolades for the acting, photography, etc.) is that Cross Creek is still there. You can go to Orange Lake and take a step backwards in time. This is my Florida, and I will always love it.

No, I don't think Cross Creek will ever be put up there with Kane or Casablanca, but for some reason I made a connection with this movie the first time I saw it 20 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite films even today.

Every creative person goes through the struggle to find their voice, and Cross Creek is about a city-bred writer who runs away to the country to live an ascetic life with her typewriter. She expects her isolation and alienation to "prod the muses" but instead finds these new people and this new land to draw her in until they and it become the soul of her writing.

The natural, understated tone of the film allowed for a human resonance I've rarely seen in mainstream Hollywood fare. And while Mary Steenburgen and Peter Coyote are perfectly fine, Rip Torn and Alfre Woodard's performances absolutely floored me. They respectively brought Marsh Turner and Geechee to life with such abandon and clarity, it's some of the finest acting I've witnessed on film, period.

I revisit Cross Creek every few years and it always holds up stylistically (Leonard Rosenman's score is timeless). Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings symbolizes America itself, in my opinion, so concerned with pleasing its own, yet progressively exposed to a foreign world that ultimately will shape its real identity.

It's a universally human story and, like I said before, I really connect with this little film, and appreciate Director Martin Ritt's courage in making it the way he did. I can't guarantee that others will necessarily feel the same way, but I always recommend Cross Creek to friends, be they creatives or not.

Novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings took to the backwoods of Florida in 1927 to work on her literary projects.

She left behind a husband who was unwilling to relocate, and fashioned a working studio in the most rural of southern locations.

The trials she experienced, both creatively and physically, are depicted in this slow-moving, yet well-intentioned enactment.

Filmed in lovely Technicolor in Marion and Alachna Counties, Florida by John Alonzo, to the accompaniment of a lush score by Leonard Roseman, the movie attempts to capture Rawling's varied experiences in pursuit of her writing goals.

Like many films of true-to-life creative artists, one has little factual evidence as to the accuracy of this tale. The challenges Rawlings faced in attempting to first write her "Gothic novel" and getting rejected by a publisher, are carefully acted out.

Only when she changes her subject to that which she is actually experiencing there in Florida does her publisher accept the manuscript.

Since there's not much dramatic about a writer "pecking away" at a typewriter, the script finds other things to depict. When a local girl has an emotional "turn" involving a pet deer, and when the focus is on our heroine's saving her farm crops from devastation, another plot begins to be recalled.

One realizes this is the story of the woman who finally wrote the beloved family classic, "The Yearling."

The film version of that novel, after a failed attempt in the early forties with Spencer Tracy, was finally brought to the screen in 1946 by Director Clarence Brown, with Gregory Peck. That movie captures the essence of Rawlings' work, again in a beautiful Florida setting.

"Cross Creek" may perhaps appear to lack focus or be too deliberately paced for some tastes. At the same time, it has its heart in the right place in expressing Rawlings' unusual "artist retreat," as well as her steadfast dedication to her craft.

For those who think writing is easy, this may be a stark awakening as to the tenacity it often takes to birth a respectable literary work.

There's a lot in Cross Creek that's excellent. Several fascinating performances create well-honed characterizations of complex, sometimes-likable characters.

The visuals are beautiful, mostly shot on location in Cross Creek. It certainly evokes this part of Florida. (I grew up about 25 miles from the setting.) Some negatives lower my rating. But despite these, I still highly recommend the film.

Though many like the score, I found it mostly sappy, the only exceptions being the music created by the characters.

Summer never seems to come. Once we see MKR wipe her brow. We get no sense of the oppression of the summer heat and humidity.

But likewise, winter never seems to come. For goodness sake, when you're lighting fires to protect orange trees, that's because it's FREEZING! Those orange trees won't be hurt above about 25F. And freezing weather in Florida is normally accompanied by wind. This may not seem like much to those who live farther north, but it requires more serious clothing than most of the characters don. Yet none seem to notice that it's cold. And MKR's house wouldn't have been so well heated that she could sleep in that weather with only light clothes and covers.

It never gets muddy. The movie shows some torrential downpours, yet when the characters get back out on the roads and paths, it's all dry and neat. That doesn't happen in the swamp.

And it never seems to get buggy. We hear a couple of mentions of mosquitoes but mostly they don't seem like a big problem. People just sit and walk around with no sign that they notice.