Amber Waves (1980) is one of those little miracles of television that appeared at a time when so many low-quality TV movies were being produced. With a strong cast that includes Dennis Weaver, Kurt Russell and Mare Winningham, this poignant story is only superficially about American patriotism during the Vietnam war era--its true strength is in the humanity of the characters and the essence of their struggles to find meaning in an often heartless, random world.
Kurt Russell is a vain, self-absorbed and angry male model who gets stranded in Kansas after a photo shoot and is helped out by a passing farmer (Weaver) who has learned that he has terminal cancer. Bridging the divide between the honest, hardworking farmer and the selfish young man is Mare Winningham, the daughter of the farmer, who is attracted to Russell's character but is also disappointed at his lack of character and work ethic. The farmer hires the young man to help with the urgent harvest work, and the young man only takes the job so he can have enough money to go home again.
Weaver plays his role without any bombast or melodrama...you can just feel his mortality slipping away from him, yet he knows he must set his fears aside to be able to get the harvest done on time and save his farm and his daughter's future. Russell's character is seething and confused, looking for something meaningful to give him a sense of purpose. Part of his attraction to Winningham's character is that she represents something more real and more beautiful than anything he has known before.
Amber Waves is a highly underrated and moving story about people and their core values that holds up well even more than 30 years after the movie was made.
Kurt Russell is a vain, self-absorbed and angry male model who gets stranded in Kansas after a photo shoot and is helped out by a passing farmer (Weaver) who has learned that he has terminal cancer. Bridging the divide between the honest, hardworking farmer and the selfish young man is Mare Winningham, the daughter of the farmer, who is attracted to Russell's character but is also disappointed at his lack of character and work ethic. The farmer hires the young man to help with the urgent harvest work, and the young man only takes the job so he can have enough money to go home again.
Weaver plays his role without any bombast or melodrama...you can just feel his mortality slipping away from him, yet he knows he must set his fears aside to be able to get the harvest done on time and save his farm and his daughter's future. Russell's character is seething and confused, looking for something meaningful to give him a sense of purpose. Part of his attraction to Winningham's character is that she represents something more real and more beautiful than anything he has known before.
Amber Waves is a highly underrated and moving story about people and their core values that holds up well even more than 30 years after the movie was made.