Sightlines · reception
How The Bridges of Madison County was received
1995 · Clint Eastwood · The Bridges of Madison County on Sightlines
The arc
In 1995 the shock was that anyone — least of all Clint Eastwood — could make a good movie out of Robert James Waller's much-mocked bestseller; critics called it the rare film that improves on its source. Three decades on it's been fully canonized as one of Eastwood's finest and one of the great grown-up American romances.
What’s debated
The perennial fight: is this a swooning defense of an affair or a clear-eyed film about duty and sacrifice — and does the famous ending destroy you or manipulate you?
Its footprint
The rain-soaked truck scene — a hand hesitating on a door handle at a red light — is one of cinema's most referenced tearjerker moments, and the story's afterlife even includes a Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation.
Where it stands
A former 'mom movie' turned certified cinephile weepie — now a staple of best-romance lists and routinely named the atypical masterpiece of Eastwood's filmography.
Did you know? The project came through Steven Spielberg's Amblin, and Bruce Beresford was attached to direct before Eastwood took over — he then shot it quickly and under budget in Iowa, and Meryl Streep's performance earned her tenth Oscar nomination.