Movie Review || Sarah, Plain & Tall (1991) with Glenn Close & Christopher Walken

(Google summary) "Based on the novel by Patricia MacLachlan, the 1991 television film Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer living in Kansas in 1910. He struggles to care for his two children, Anna and Caleb, and manage his farm without the help of a wife. In an effort to find a solution, Jacob places an advertisement in the newspaper seeking a mail-order bride.

Sarah Wheaton, a single woman from Maine, responds to the ad, describing herself as 'plain and tall'. Despite their initial differences, Sarah travels to Kansas to marry Jacob and help him raise his children. As they navigate their new life together, Sarah’s kindness, patience, and strength help Jacob and the children heal from their past losses.

Through their journey, the film explores themes of love, loss, and redemption, showcasing the complexities of relationships and the power of human connection. Starring Glenn Close as Sarah and Christopher Walken as Jacob, the movie received critical acclaim and was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe and multiple Primetime Emmy Awards."

I hadn't seen this for close to thirty years 🤯, so was very curious to see how it matched up to my vivid childhood impressions. Turns out, I actually remembered the whole thing pretty correctly. (And even though I had no idea who he was at the time -- or for many years afterwards -- Christopher Walken made a gigantic impression. Summed up in two words: crazy eyes. xD)

Ok, all that aside(!), backing up for a few quick words on my choice to highlight it this week.

So, this does take place in 1910. The frontier closed (officially-ish) in 1880 (of course, that doesn't define a "western" as such or even tell us what was happening at the time, it just has to do with settlement). The wild west was such an interesting and unique time in that it was being mythologized as it was happening and immediately afterward (witness Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and the popularity of silent western films from the 1890's to the 1920's). And of course, if we're talking about cinematography and when classic westerns were produced, there's the towering era of golden age westerns coming out of mid-century Hollywood from the late 30's-50's followed by the spaghetti westerns of the 60's.

But here -- similar to my motivations to research Zorro, on the other end -- I really want to explore what bookends our ideas of the period. On the historical front, it's easy to say something like, "The era of The Wild West is defined as being between the CA gold rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1880." And there's an element of truth to that (though I would go earlier than 1849 as a start date). And the land may have all been portioned out by 1880, but as two for instances, Montana didn't become a state until 1889, with Wyoming a year later in 1890. And there were numerous range wars in the 1890's + the pressure to open public land for settlement -- ultimately leading to the land runs of 1889 and 1893, and subsequent smaller ones all the way up to 1901. So things were definitely still developing up to the turn of the century. 

But if we're talking about a genre of literature and film, my definition for what makes a western is (generally) more fluid, having way more to do with setting and conflict. You can have something that I would define as a Western happening in the 1930's, 40's or even 2020's. It all has to do with themes.

Which brings us to Sarah, Plain and Tall.

I would define this as a period drama settler / prairie family story, full of all the perpetual struggles of life on a homestead: Sarah is a mail order bride; East is meeting West; while running all through the story is the ever present danger of loss on the frontier.

The children, Anna and Caleb, are soooo genuinely plucky and sweet. As for Anna particularly... oof... Afraid to be happy, processing all her deep grief alone... poor precious girl! Yeah, as a mama, it's hard to watch in places. 

With both father and daughter, they really do a good job bringing out the complexities of processing grief -- all the rawness that can't hardly be put into words. 

I might revise this opinion on rewatches in the future, but I did find it ever-so-slightly choppy in places. But then again, when it comes to detailing real family life and the whole concept of strangers meeting with the intent to marry... the awkward speed-bumpish-ness is probably absolutely realistic.

The ending is predictable and ever-so-slightly contrived, but worth it for all the happy faces!

Content-wise, it does get intense in places, and there's a labor and delivery sequence that gets kinda scary (but not too showy). Otherwise, everything is kept very decent and family friendly. 

The acting is well done (including the secondary characters, like their sweet neighbors!). The attire is all fitting for the period, with some of it being quite lovely and underrated. I also love the historically accurate touches like Anna, for instance, having a genuine flour sack pinafore. (I will say that Jacob's overalls continue to throw me off and are the main reason I always think "Great Depression Era" when seeing the film. ;P But apparently, the British first invented overalls, aka 'dungarees', in at least the 1700's; with the first mass produced overalls being created in the 1890's. And I did indeed find several pre-1900 pics of railroad workers wearing overalls alongside their trousered-and-suspendered fellows. So that's all interesting.) 

Altogether, it's one of those understated, everyday-ish films. Don't get me wrong, the leads are verrrrrry different personality-wise and the inciting incident is entirely different, but it does ever so slightly remind me of my dear Magic of Ordinary Days. Though, with certain stereotypes and plot points, in a lot of ways it matches up almost exactly to Love Comes Softly (which one I actually favor, between the two, but that's a personal thing). Technically, of course, though, this film predates both the others. So there is that. Love Comes Softly was published 7 years earlier than the book for Sarah, Plain and Tall, though, which is interesting. Additionally, LCS is more of an adult read whereas SP&T is described as being for children. I'm assuming they upped the ante on the drama for the film, but I still need to read the series one of these days and verify that. Anyway, all that to say, this is a Hallmark Hall of Famer and if you love any of the above, you might enjoy SP&T as well.

In conclusion: Sarah, Plain and Tall is a solid, classic period drama set on the Kansas prairies. It's a drama threaded through with the themes of loss and renewal; revolving around a family having to depend on each other in a world where one must go on living and striving while wresting survival itself from the wide-spreading land and changeable sky. (That last was a ridiculously highfalutin sentence, but absolutely true. ;))

I'm looking forward to revisiting #2 (Skylark) + #3 (Winter's End) sometime and hopefully getting a review up for those, too. Let me know if you've seen this one or would like to!