Blue Ridge Fall (1999) User Reviews (10)

How far will you go to protect a friend?

[Havan_IronOak · 7/10 · 26 January 2002]

Aaron, Danny, Taz and Shane are small-town boyhood friends. Shane is slightly older and has been in trouble with the law, Taz and Danny are high school seniors and both are football players. Danny even has prospects of a college scholarship. Aaron makes up the fourth of their quartet and although slow-witted and the victim of domestic abuse has real talent as a sketch artist.

When Aaron reacts with violence to his father's domestic abuse, his friends are faced with the question `How far will you go to protect a friend'. The boys make their decisions but through ill-chance and bad-decisions events quickly spiral out of control and no-ones life is going to be as it was.

Overall this film was watchable and the plot moved along well. All of the main characters were believable and you could easily empathize with the boys, however it suffered in that none of the characters were fully developed and the ending was, at best, ambiguous.

Immediately brings to mind a much better film .... "A Simple Plan"

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 28 December 2013]

There is a faint similarity between friends protecting friends films, "Blue Ridge Fall" and "A Simple Plan". While the former eventually peters out to mediocrity, the latter is "cult movie" material. "Blue Ridge Fall" starts out strong with one of the friends killing his abusive father, and the other three helping him to cover up the crime. Character development is good,and the small town Carolina atmosphere acceptable. Where the story begins to unravel is in the inept police work. No fingerprints or DNA are even hinted at being looked for. Instead the film churns on focusing on relationships and loyalty. The ending is especially weak, with justice far from served. - MERK

Solid drama somewhat misdirected

[=G= · 6/10 · 4 August 2001]

"Blue Ridge Fall" is a mediocre drama featuring some solid performances, particularly Irving, which tells of four small town buddies who through a series of bad decisions end up on the wrong side of the law. Lack of character depth and development and skirting one important issue, spousal abuse, to focus on the mechanics of the four guys' relationships, this flick manages to be something less than it might have been. As the film doggedly trudges through the story with an earthy sort of honesty it loses its sense of direction and purpose ending ambiguously. An okay watch which could have been better.

puzzling

[TealMill · 4/10 · 1 January 2003]

I missed the very beginning so maybe I missed something. I would appreciate any answers. I watched this mainly because the story was supposed to be fairly close to where I live. But I couldn't relate to much about this story, setting, or people. Is there any town in NC like this? When was this supposed to have taken place? Recently? Where do they drive 15 year old police cars and 25 year old trucks? Or was it supposed to be early 1980's? Did WCU have an African American football coach back then? I think it's important to know the era, because of the racial sub-theme.

flawed but interesting

[JamieWJackson · 5/10 · 12 April 2003]

Generally fairly good movie, although a few plot twists seemed contrived. The characters were well-rounded enough that I didn't mind that too much; I was interested in seeing what they would do and how they would develop as a result, so I was willing to overlook the implausibility factor here or there. I'd say it was worth it; the acting is solid and there's a lot of thoughtful interplay between the characters.

My only major objection was the ridiculous role of "Christianity" in the life of the abusive father character (Tom Arnold). Supposedly he's into the Bible and watches TV evangelists with his full attention, and uses what he thinks he's learned from this to justify mistreating his wife. Sorry, Hollywood; that's not insightful, it's just insulting. If you want to portray Christianity in a small town, why not show it across the lives of a representative proportion of the characters, letting the misunderstandings of the lone nutcase stand out against the rest? That would make for a more intelligent -- and believable -- script. (Of course, you might have to actually _understand_ Christianity for that to work. ;-)

Overall, I give it a 5. Won't change your life, but worth watching if you don't have anything better to do.

Not too bad... definitely worth seeing.

[teabean13 · 8/10 · 22 December 2000]

I had gone past this movie at Blockbuster, never giving it a second look. Then one night while I was channel surfing, I stumbled across it on one of the movie channels. It was half way over, but I watched it anyway. I liked what I did get to see, so I went back to the video store and rented it. It turned out to be a pretty good movie after all.

The plot is good and it features a talented young cast, particularly Eastman as the simple-minded abused "Aaron." Eastman is probably best remembered (if at all) as "Joey" from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 & 4. BLUE RIDGE FALL definitely showcases his talent as an actor. The film also features a distinguished supporting cast, including Amy Irving as Aaron's battered mother, Tom Arnold as his abusive father & Chris Isaak as the sheriff.

I found the most disturbing thing about this movie is not the fact that Aaron murders his father, but that the entire town, including Aaron's friends and the law, seemed to know about the violence in his home, yet did nothing about it. Although Aaron's mother seems to bear the brunt of her husband's physical abuse, Aaron suffers more mental and emotional abuse at the hands of his father (as well as getting hit), which is just as painful and destructive as any physical blow. His only escape is through his drawings and his friendships with Shane, Taz & especially Danny, the golden boy high school football star.

BLUE RIDGE FALL is definitely worth renting. It's a good movie about loyalty, friendship & the effects that family violence and abuse can have.

great plot line

[lihoboyz · 10/10 · 4 October 2005]

This movie has a great plot line and it is well written. James Rowe did a great job on creating a simple plot and such complex characters to develop one of my top favorite movies. Tom Arnolds is a great actor and this is one of his best roles ever. This movie can convey that feeling of someone who is over powered that then turns and becomes powerful. However, we see that the main character now has to face his punishment for his deed. The best part is the idea of true friendship and how these boys band together for one another. I was surprised at the length at which these boys were willing to go for one person. It is a must watch if you have friends.

Really engrossing if you lived in that era (80s) in North Carolina.

[choffman-184-554406 · 8/10 · 7 August 2015]

Very well made actually especially if you know or have a family member whom is autistic. Must watch especially if you grew up in the 70s-80s in North Carolina. Disagree with the other four reviewers - give this a high rating! In fact I believe this movie is an undiscovered gem. Had to watch twice to really understand all the nuances and what was going on in Aaron's head as well as how doing the right thing is nearly impossible in our police state world. Brought to mind Innocence Project, as well as small town (in)justice destroying millions of innocent lives every week in this supposed best country in the world. Especially jarring was the climax especially now as we approach 2020 and our world has just become more cruel and even more completely wrong in its meting out of justice by our so called law enforcement professionals. Chris Isaac sings one of my favorite songs of all time - so that is why I watched Blue Ridge Fall (or is it End of Innocence??????), as well as the NC setting. Strange such a great movie is so unknown, and why isn't it actually filmed in NC??? Utah? Can't find any more info on this film yet - so please help me if you have more details! Thank you all who worked on and helped with this movie - it will go down as one of my all time favorites. 8 out of 10.

A Excellent Movie

[loveablejohn-46629 · 10/10 · 27 February 2019]

This movie was outstanding from start to finish with excellent performances from the actor and the cinematography was excellent also. The script was well written as well plus it makes you think about how far would you go to protect a friend and the ending was a tragedy in what finally happened to the characters.

A gripping story about high school friends protecting each other

[jpsinsd · 9/10 · 11 August 2019]

This film was certainly worth watching. There are intricacies in the plot which kept me shouting at the characters trying to help them make the right decisions. But these are 17 and 18 year old kids and they don't make the correct decisions even though they have the best of intentions. I taught high school for 25 years and trust me, I could see some of the students I taught make the same decisions. The actors, especially the kids, did a great job with their characters and their acting let me overlook any flaws in the movie. I could write a lot more but I don't want to reveal the plot before you watch the movie. Sorry, no spoilers from me. Oh, I really like the ending too.