The 3 Best Films of 1994

1994 was a banner year for Brad Pitt, finally headlining two films, after his breakout role as a supporting character the year before. The best that Hollywood had to offer in '94 took us to frontier Montana and the genuinely mean streets of contemporary New York City. Never mind the African lions voiced by white actors, here are the best films of 1994:





3. The Stoned Age

2. Fresh

Not only is Fresh far and away the best film about chess, it's also the most exciting film about the game of kings. The movie is the coming-of-age tale of pre-teen Michael, nicknamed "Fresh", as he navigates his violent and bleak environment.

The story begins with Michael making a run during his job as a heroin courier for local drug dealer, Esteban, in his Bronx neighborhood. Though Fresh is, indeed, a 12-year-old criminal, he's still very much a child, which shows in his difficulty in bringing himself to strike up a conversation with his classmate, Rosie, on whom he harbors a crush. The reason for his involvement in the drug trade becomes clear when his living conditions are revealed: Fresh lives with his aunt and 11 cousins in his grandmother's cramped home.

Fresh's keen intelligence is made clear when he negotiates a pay raise from his other boss, Corky, for whom he sells crack hand-to-hand. Fresh also earns money by playing chess for cash in Lower Manhattan's Washington Square Park. As gifted as he is, Fresh is still unable to best his father, Sam, who taught him the game. After meeting with Esteban, Fresh lets his sister, Nichole, know that the former is interested in her. Nichole, however, is dating another local dealer, James.

Later, while watching a neighborhood basketball game, Fresh witnesses Jake, a violent hot-head who also works for Corky as a lookout, murder another boy Fresh's age for embarrassing him during the game-winning play. Worse, when Jaje shoots Curtis, a stray shot hits Rosie, whom Fresh sees bleed out on the court. The following day, he's able to put his father's king in check for the first time during their regular match.

When he takes his best friend, Chuckie, with him to Esteban's in an unsuccessful attempt to get him a job, Fresh sees Nichole and realizes that she's started sleeping with Esteban. This revelation combined with Rosie's shooting crystallizes things for him and he consequently enacts a plan to extricate himself and his sister from their circumstances.

1. Legends of the Fall

Legends of the Fall is the story of Colonel William Ludlow and the tragedies that befall him and his three sons.

Having befriended One Stab, a member of the Cree Nation, Col. Ludlow resigns his post in the U.S. Army after witnessing atrocities committed against Native Americans by the U.S. government. Seeking to distance himself from American society, Ludlow builds a ranch in Montana with assistance from One Stab and Decker, a former outlaw. Ludlow's wife Isabel gives birth to sons Alfred, Tristan and Samuel before eventually abandoning the family for the East Coast; Tristan never forgives her for this.

At 12 years old, Tristan, the Colonel's wildest and favorite son, prompts One Stab's prediction that he'd die young when he instigates a grizzly bear attack, but manages to not only survive but to injure the bear, armed only with a knife.

Nearly a decade later, Samuel returns home from Harvard with his fiancee, Susannah Fincannon, in order to introduce her to the family. While Susannah befriends Decker's half-Cree daughter, Isabel Two, and charms all of the Ludlow men, she finds herself drawn to Tristan. This is an attraction that she shares with Isabel Two, who vows to marry Tristan when she's older.

Angering their father, who is now virulently opposed to war, both Alfred and Samuel announce their intention to serve in the Great War by enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Tristan, who has no interest in military life, joins solely to safeguard Samuel. All three are assigned to the 10th Battalion, CEF; when Alfred is injured in battle, Tristan visits him in a field hospital, though the two have always shared a contentious relationship. During the visit, Tristan discovers that in a rare moment when he let Samuel out of his sight, his baby brother volunteered for a high-risk reconnaissance mission.

Utilizing the hunting and shooting skills learned from One Stab and Decker, Tristan races off and fights his way to Samuel's position, only to arrive too late to save him. Blinded by mustard gas, the youngest Ludlow becomes ensnared by razor wire before being machine-gunned  by German soldiers. After cutting out his brother's heart to send home for burial at the family ranch, Tristan dons blood as war-paint and proceeds to scalp several enemy soldiers. Questioning his mental state, Tristan's superiors discharge him from military service but instead of returning to Montana, he opts to travel the world.

Following his recovery, Alfred does return to the ranch, where fantastical stories of Tristan's exploits are the only traces of the middle Ludlow. Alfred proposes to Susannah, who never left and though she declines, Susannah encounters Tristan at
Samuel's grave some time later, leading to a love affair between the two. Doubtful that Tristan will ever be able -- or even willing -- to provide a decent life for Susannah, Alfred confronts him before vowing to find success in the state capital, Helena.

Still feeling responsible for Samuel's death, Tristan leaves the ranch, eventually sending Susannah a bracelet and a letter instructing her to marry someone else. Still holding a torch for the heartbroken Susannah, Alfred comforts her, angering Colonel Ludlow and further driving a wedge between father and son.

After leaving the ranch permanently, Alfred eventually marries Susannah, following his election to Congress. The Colonel suffers a stroke, which renders him unable to speak.

When Tristan returns, during the 1920s, he visits Susannah at the mansion she shares with Alfred; he later falls in love with Isabel Two, now an adult. They name their first-born Samuel Decker and Tristan becomes a bootlegger in order to provide for the family. However, when a police officer in the employ of his well-connected rivals, the O'Banion brothers, accidentally but fatally shoots Isabel Two, Tristan beats him to within an inch of his life.

Susannah visits Tristan in jail and confesses that she wanted Isabel to die and that she still loves him, only to be rebuffed. Grief-stricken by the prospect of a life without Tristan, Susannah shoots herself in the bedroom that she shares with Alfred.

Meanwhile, Tristan ignores Alfred's warning and goes on a warpath, hunting down the members of the O'Banion gang with Decker. The surviving O'Banion and what remains of the organization track Tristan to the Ludlow ranch, only to be shot to death by Alfred and the Colonel. Now a fugitive, Tristan entrusts his children to Alfred and leaves for good.

Originally Posted 7/8/19