There's some mighty pretty country on display in "Legends of the Fall," Ed Zwick's big, fancy film based on Jim Harrison's lean, muscular novella. Not to mention the mighty pretty people roaming through it. Foremost among them is Brad Pitt, departing from the solemnity of his "Interview With the Vampire" performance and wearing a rakish grin as big as all outdoors. Mr. Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way. But it does, maddeningly so. In gussying up this tale of a prosperous prairie family at the time of World War I, Mr. Zwick goes for the Kodak moment at every opportunity, drowning out dialogue with swelling music and sweeping scenery. Instead of simply letting its characters speak, this film would rather resort to handsome, sincere gazes from the photogenic principals. Mr. Zwick, whose visual grandiosity also showed in "Glory," hasn't cast a single actor who wouldn't be perfectly at home in a modeling spread, man, woman or child. Beyond good looks, he has enlisted some serious, blue-eyed talent to play this story's fashion-plate ranchers: Anthony Hopkins as William Ludlow, a retired Army colonel, with Mr. Pitt, Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas as his sons. In Mr. Harrison's story, two of those young men fall in love with the same woman. The movie, with characteristic extravagance, makes matters more confusing by involving her with all three. The woman is Susannah (the graceful Julia Ormond), first spotted by one of the brothers "at a Harvard tea for Amy Lowell." Her arrival at the ranch is filmed with typical fanfare, as if it were an advertisement for outdoor life. Father and sons Samuel (Mr. Thomas) and Alfred (Mr. Quinn) arrive, looking shy and dashing; warm glances are exchanged all sides. Then Tristan (Mr. Pitt) thunders up on horseback, exuding the brash cowboy arrogance and giving Susannah, who is his brother Samuel's fiancee, one of the film's most meaningful looks. If we've seen "East of Eden," we know what it means. But "Legends of the Fall," which opens on Christmas Day, has lots of other business to take care of. The story is heavily plotted, which turns Mr. Zwick's reliance on soggy wordless effects into a huge liability. And in such a relentlessly picturesque film, it's hard to accommodate Mr. Harrison's most macho flourishes, like the idea that after one of the brothers is killed in World War I, Tristan, the hunter and free spirit of the story, will cut his brother's heart out so it can be brought home for burial. No Kodak moment there -- though not for lack of trying. "Legends of the Fall" does bring together gripping material and good actors, however unlikely their circumstances (this may be the only time Mr. Hopkins will ever be seen in a bandanna). But it winds up all the more disappointing for its great promise. Before it turns exhaustingly hollow, this film shows the potential for bringing Mr. Harrison's tough, brooding tale to life. And the actors may have captured the spirit of the story, but that's impossible to know. These are performances that lost too much in the editing room, smothered by music and overshadowed by a picture-postcard vision of the American West. "Legends of the Fall" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes gory violence, nudity and sexual situations.
