The River Runs Through It - 25 Years Later
- Thread starter silver creek
- Start date
k_e_v
Well-known member
Thanks silver, Great story about a great movie. One of the few movies I can watch over and over, Might have to watch again tonight?
Kevin
Kevin
mcnerney
Administrator
Silver: Thanks, that was great!
spm
Well-known member
Good article. Who can forget Brad Pitts character shadow casting on top of a rock. The scene only lasts seconds, but for fly fishers, it is most remembered scene in the movie.
Thanks for posting this, Silver.
steve
Thanks for posting this, Silver.
steve
Joey Bagels
Well-known member
I was most impressed by the Bumpus Bug. Never actually understood what "shadow casting" was. I remember hearing from friends in the area about how Redford and crew bought trout from hatcheries and farms and then dragged them around on film before releasing them again. We all throught that was pretty funny and sad.
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silver creek
Well-known member
The Youtube video contains the fishing sequence and the Shadow Cast.
YouTube
Jason does the roll cast at 2:20 into the video. You can see that he is casting with the 3 point grip, index finger extended along right side of grip.
Gary Borger >> Blog Archive >> The Three Point Grip
Jason doubles for Brad Pitt and performs the shadow cast is at 3:18 in the video. The cast sequence is a Galway cast into a Pendulum cast into a Climbing Hook cast into the Forward cast
Galway
Pendulum
Climbing Hook
Forward Cast
Here is what I know.
Jason was on the set and I've talked to Gary Borger about the filming. I do know that Redford was a stickler for detail. He wanted Jason to perform the "shadow cast" with a real bamboo fly rod. Jason tried out the first rod and told Redford that the rod would break but Redford told him to go ahead with the bamboo rod. The rod snapped during the filming. The backup bamboo rod was given to Jason and that rod broke as well. It was only then that a Hexagraph was used for the take that is in the film.
So I have to ask. With that attention to historical detail, would Redford use hatchery fish?
Furthermore, I also know that the large rainbow trout that the Brad Pitt character caught was caught by Jason Borger. Jason actually caught 2 fish, one is a male and the other is a female. Both are in the film and if you look closely, you can tell that the male and female are used in different scenes.
Jason actually had to catch trout for those scenes twice. The first set of fish he caught were placed in a live cage in the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley. When Jason went to retried the fish, someone had stolen them. So he caught the fish that were used in the film.
So I have to ask myself, if Redford used hatchery fish, why would he send Jason for several days of fishing to catch trout? Why not have the hatchery net the fish from their ponds and deliver them to the set? Why store them in live cages and have Jason take a live tank to retrieve them from the cages.
Furthermore, I doubt that the state of Montana allows the release of private hatchery or farm fish into their rivers.
Joey Bagels
Well-known member
Be that all as it may, the fish were trucked in...from somewhere...and kept in pens. And dead hatchery fish were used.
River Runs Through It, A
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River Runs Through It, A
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silver creek
Well-known member
ia_trouter
Senior Member
Perhaps they would, in the interest of not shooting film for excessive days trying to catch the right fish. In any event, it no way detracts from the movie which I thought outstanding. It's a movie, not a documentary. They did a fine job of making it realistic for the most part.
pnc
Well-known member
Ah, the trout fishers fantasy film.
........ pc
........ pc
rangerrich99
Well-known member
Though the movie didn't influence my desire to learn to fly fish (that was something that was already growing inside my mind), the movie did have powerful influences in my life.
It gave me an impetus to examine my relationship with my immediate family, in particular, my relationship with my brother and father. Though it turned out to be a slow and arduous process, after making up my mind I began the process of trying to change those relationships. With varying degrees of success. But my relationship with my brother is much repaired from what it was before I saw A River Runs Through It," and I'm not sure I would be saying that now, if I hadn't seen the movie.
Now you'll have to excuse me, as i have to go back and watch that video of the Galway cast and try to figure out how to do that.
Peace.
It gave me an impetus to examine my relationship with my immediate family, in particular, my relationship with my brother and father. Though it turned out to be a slow and arduous process, after making up my mind I began the process of trying to change those relationships. With varying degrees of success. But my relationship with my brother is much repaired from what it was before I saw A River Runs Through It," and I'm not sure I would be saying that now, if I hadn't seen the movie.
Now you'll have to excuse me, as i have to go back and watch that video of the Galway cast and try to figure out how to do that.
Peace.
GrtLksMarlin
Well-known member
spm
Well-known member
Really interesting article, Joey.
Thanks,
steve
---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:20 PM ----------
Yeah, me too. NOT!
steve
Unknownflyman
Well-known member
Good movie, I just remember the movie bringing fly fishing back from the dead and later kind of resentful about that too, seeing so many fly fishers in places I wanted to fish not only here but Montana as well.
silver creek
Well-known member
The Galway is the easiest of the elements of the Shadow Cast. The Galway is a backcast performed while you turn your head and look backwards. For example you could use the Galway when you need the backcast to go into an opening between two trees. In the stop motion below the forward cast is to your right side of the computer screen and the backcast is made to the left.
Rather than facing the forward cast, you stand sideways so you can look forward by turning your head. Note that in the stop motion Jason Borger is facing us. With a normal backcast is the open stance, his palm would be facing him. Instead he SUPINATES his hand so his palm faces out (toward us the observers) and the fly reel faces in the direction of the backcast. This allows him to make a forward casting motion except it is in the backcast direction. Then for the forward portion of the cast (the pendulum and climbing hook) he rotates his hand back (supinates it) so that his palm is facing him and the fly reel is now facing forward. Then he can make the normal forward casting motion.
Think of turning your hand so the fly reel always faces toward both the backcast and forward cast. Another visual is imagining the rod is a hammer and you turn your hand so you are hammering both backward and forward.
Similarly, you can perform the Galway while casting sidearm. Again an open stance is used and make a side arm backcast Galway and regular forward side arm casts by rotating the casting hand palm down (Galway backcast) and palm up (normal forward cast).
Below is the Galway casting module from Jason's Book.
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Yep, in combination with the 80s drought and a booming economy, this movie pretty much ended any thoughts of solitude while fishing Montana tailwaters. Whether this is good (more advocates) or bad can be debated, but "What difference does it make now?" applies. Can't unring that bell.Good movie, I just remember the movie bringing fly fishing back from the dead and later kind of resentful about that too, seeing so many fly fishers in places I wanted to fish not only here but Montana as well.
el jefe
Well-known member
We fly fishers are a funny bunch. We lament it when the fishing industry is shrinking, but get pissed when we find the rivers getting crowded. I do it, too.
Unknownflyman
Well-known member
I was speaking in the past tense in my post, the years directly following the movie but at that time in my journey I didn't know what I didn't know.
I saw was a large uptick in angler foot traffic and viewed that as unpleasant.
Flash forward a number of years and getting involved in groups meeting people and reading lots of DNR and fisheries reports, understanding the challenges of North American cold water fisheries and can now realize the power of fly fishers getting involved and what a huge positive effect that has had. And the positive impact education from other fly anglers has had on me.
The movie I believe a very positive impact.
We grew and changed, old mindsets were changed I never thought that could happen. People caring for trout and salmon and carefully releasing them? Impossible! Unheard of! Groups lobbying for river protection and rehabilitation, much like a sapling planted in the forest after years looking at a large white pine now shading a portion of river.
At some point I concluded after having one of the best days fly fishing on local waters that were previously marginal....Rivers and fish need friends. I think I always knew that but I couldn't of imagined the positive impact over time not only on the craft but conservation. Literally every aspect has changed for the better and while not perfect fly fisherman and women have much to be proud of today.
Now meeting my fellows on the river, we chat briefly and I pass on some of my flies, talk of fish and hatches and local goings on, and smile. Grateful to so many that worked so hard and what we have great rivers and fly fishing.
And still many miles to go, with many challenges.
I saw was a large uptick in angler foot traffic and viewed that as unpleasant.
Flash forward a number of years and getting involved in groups meeting people and reading lots of DNR and fisheries reports, understanding the challenges of North American cold water fisheries and can now realize the power of fly fishers getting involved and what a huge positive effect that has had. And the positive impact education from other fly anglers has had on me.
The movie I believe a very positive impact.
We grew and changed, old mindsets were changed I never thought that could happen. People caring for trout and salmon and carefully releasing them? Impossible! Unheard of! Groups lobbying for river protection and rehabilitation, much like a sapling planted in the forest after years looking at a large white pine now shading a portion of river.
At some point I concluded after having one of the best days fly fishing on local waters that were previously marginal....Rivers and fish need friends. I think I always knew that but I couldn't of imagined the positive impact over time not only on the craft but conservation. Literally every aspect has changed for the better and while not perfect fly fisherman and women have much to be proud of today.
Now meeting my fellows on the river, we chat briefly and I pass on some of my flies, talk of fish and hatches and local goings on, and smile. Grateful to so many that worked so hard and what we have great rivers and fly fishing.
And still many miles to go, with many challenges.
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