The Legend of Bagger Vance

It handles a sports movie the way Billie Holiday handled a trashy song, by finding the love and pain beneath the story. more

Redford plays the game of filmmaking to reveal what he holds sacred: story, character, feeling, thoughtful pacing, and an alertness of nuances of honor and shame that most movies skip in the rush to the rush.

After a slow setup, this charming fable wisely spends most of its time on the golf course. more

It offers pleasures of a kind that fewer and fewer films even seem to remember, much less aspire to. more

Despite some engaging performances and good scenes, it's by far the least original, and least accomplished, of the six Redford-directed films. more

Though it's sweet and likable to a fault, it's also a movie that never seems heartfelt or deep. more

A temple of enlightenment posing as a movie. more

As entertaining, charming and conceited as other Robert Redford joints, but it's also insufferably obvious. more

Molasses-paced fable. more

Your reaction will depend on your response to the title character, who's meant to be God or one of God's messengers. more

This is a drama. Don't watch it looking for action of a lot of laughs, but don't think you won't enjoy it just because it doesn't have tons of humor or action. It deals with very real pain and develops some very strong characters. The movie is set in the Savannah, Georgia in the middle of the Great Depression. Rannulph Junuh, played by Matt Damon, is a war veteran and former golfer who at one time possesed a lot of talent, but has now lost his "swing", not to mention his faith. Despite this he has been asked to play in an exhibition match against the two greatest golfers of his day. His... more

One of the things I love best about Robert Redford's movies is the singular visual quality he employs in each, and the way he uses the environment to add to the telling of the tale. Whether it be in the breath-taking "A River Runs Through It", in which the stunning Montana countryside is a virtual unattributed co-star in the film, or "The Horse Whisperer", in which every rugged natural element about the pristine rural surroundings add to the tale, he always uses his topography, climate, and setting to charm the audience into the frame of reference he is using to spin his yarn. This is no... more

I absolutely love this movie. I know it gets some mixed reviews but I think it is because the world is way too cynical. Redford does and excellent job with view of sport as Metaphor for life. Juna has lost his swing which in life terms is his soul and must get it back if he is going to get back in the game. Bagger is a spiritual sage (caddy) of some sort who is there to help him find his way. The cinematography is just breathtaking. The golfcourse looks like the Garden of Eden. I love stories about larger than life characters on a great journey. This is certainly one of them. The movie... more