The Postman

7 December 2014

The Postman 1997

• Director: Kevin Costner
• Based on Book: by David Brin
• Cast: Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Larenz Tate, Olivia Williams, Giovanni Ribisi, Tom Petty, Peggy Lipton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kevin Costner: Swing Vote, Rumour Has It, A Perfect World, Bodyguard, JFK, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Dances with Wolves, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Silverado, Stacey’s Knights
• Will Patton: American Violet, Breakfast of Champions, The Client, Romeo Is Bleeding, Stars and Bars, After Hours, Desperately Seeking Susan, Silkwood
• Larenz Tate:  Ray, Dead Presidents
• Olivia Williams – An Education, Tara Road, To Kill a King, Born Romantic, The Sixth Sense
• Giovanni Ribisi: The Rum Diary, Avatar, Public Enemies, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Cold Mountain, Friends, Lost in Translation, The Gift, Saving Private Ryan, SubUrbia
• Tom Petty – here and there
• Peggy Lipton: Twin Peaks, The Mod Squad
• Why ? Reported connection to Shakespeare
• Seen: November 29, 2014

After the wars pockets of survivors wander the desert, some peaceful, some murderers.

A lone thespian entertains a small village of pioneers with a performance ofMacbeth but gets kidnapped by fascist militaristic religious Holnists whose leader exchanges Shakespeare quotes with him. He escapes, finds a wrecked mail van and under the guise of an official postman of a fictional revived US government he finds himself a messiah in another village of survivors.  They’re hungry for news from the outside and for reports of a recovering nation and one comforting lie leads to another.

The bits of US patriotism are awfully hard to take and it gets very hokey at times, especially the love story and the baby stuff. It’s a typical Costner the-goofy-guy-wins-in-the-end. The sweeping western gung-ho stereotypes are boring and it goes on forever.

But it’s funny at times, especially when the Postman tells the villagers that the new president is Richard Starkey and the new capitol is in the Hubert Humphrey Viking Stadium in Minneapolis – two insider jokes, one could say.

And Shakespeare wanders in and out of the film.  Besides my dad was a postman in real life.  So

2 ½ * of 5