Themes: Eccentric Families, Servants and Employers, Sexual Awakening
Main Cast: Laura Dern, Robert Duvall, Diane Ladd, Lukas Haas, John Heard
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Rambling Rose is the most part a flashback, related by grown-up Southerner Buddy Hillyer (John Heard). The bulk of the film takes place in 1935, when rambunctious backwoods housekeeper Rose (Laura Dern) virtually invades the Hillyer household. Daddy Hillyer (Robert Duvall), a bed-rock Southern gentleman, welcomes the congenitally amoral but basically goodhearted Rose into his house, carefully fending off her ill-timed romantic advances. But Rose can't help feeling smitten with him; meanwhile, she has also drawn the attentions of 13-year-old Buddy (Lukas Haas). Based on the novel by screenwriter Calder Willingham, Rambling Rose was not the box-office breakthrough that many expected for director Martha Coolidge; though it fizzled financially, the film did manage to secure Oscar nominations for both Dern and her real-life mother Diane Ladd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Charming but bawdy, old-fashioned but politically progressive, Rambling Rose is a study in contradictions. A nostalgia piece in which sexual awakening and boyhood love intertwine in the unlikeliest of ways, the film hinges on sweet, sensitive performances from Lukas Haas and Laura Dern. Him the curious youngster, her the hothouse naif, their characters together represent both the innocence of our basest urges and the double standard applied to the curiosities of the two sexes. It's unusual for a film to have two separate but complementary emotional centers; the marriage between Mother and Daddy Hillyer, however, carries as much resonance as the friendship between Buddy and Rose. As the patriarch, Robert Duvall injects Big Daddy stereotypes with gentlemanly class and a genuine moral backbone, while Diane Ladd brings both a decorous exterior and a spine of steel to the role of his big-hearted wife. Despite a somewhat strained framing device featuring John Heard as the grown-up Buddy, Rambling Rose showcases a more mature, character-based style of comedy from Martha Coolidge, previously known as a director of cult-favorite teen comedies. Soft-focus, suffused with melancholy and beautifully shot, the film should have earned as loyal a popular audience as it did a critical following. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Kevin Conway - Dr. Martinson; Robert John Burke - Police Chief David Wilkie; Lisa Jakub - Doll Hillyer; Evan Lockwood - Waski Hillyer; Matt Sutherland - Billy; James Binns - Minister; Michael Gwynne; General Fermon Judd, Jr. - Shadrack; Michael Mott - Man in Store; Richard Olsen - Chief of Police; D. Anthony Pender - Foster; Dale Robertson - Young Salesman; David E. Scarborough - Horton; Jeffrey Smith - Stand-In; Aleta Helena Chappelle
Credit
Susan Benjamin - Art Director, Kathleen M. McKernin - Art Director, Christian Wagener - Art Director, Aleta Helena Chappelle - Casting, Jane Robinson - Costume Designer, Martha Coolidge - Director, Steven Cohen - Editor, Suzanne Fenn - Editor, Edgar J. Scherick - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Thomas Newman - Composer (Music Score), Manilo Rocchetti - Makeup, Robin Standefer - Production Designer, John Vallone - Production Designer, Bojan Bazelli - Cinematographer, Johnny E. Jensen - Cinematographer, Mary Kane - Production Manager, Renny Harlin - Producer, Mario Kassar - Producer, Karen Koch - Producer, Laurie Parker - Producer, Nancy Tenenbaum - Producer, Nick Wechsler - Producer, Greg Hull - Special Effects, Calder Willingham - Screenwriter, Michael Jackson - Storyboard Artist, Robert Gould - Set Decorator, Calder Willingham - Book Author
Ladd and Dern in real life are mother and daughter, and both earned Academy Award nominations for their performances in this film. Edgar J. Scherick served as executive producer. Calder Willingham wrote the original novel in 1972 and later wrote the screenplay for the film.
Plot
The film depicts the struggles of Rose (Dern) to stay employed with the Hillyer family and thus avoid the pitfalls of prostitution. As Rose enters the Hillyer family dwelling as a domestic servant, chaos ensues. Rose has a long history of being sexually abused and confuses overt and promiscuous sex with love. She develops a crush on Mr. Hillyer (Duvall) that he resists by citing the example of the Spartans' "thou shalt not pass." Meantime, Mrs. Hillyer, who is working on her doctoral dissertation, and is a pronounced feminist, becomes Rose's greatest protector. When Rose turns up sick, it is Mrs. Hillyer who protects her interests as Mr. Hillyer and an unscrupulous physician plot to "fix" Rose's problems for good.
MPAA Rating
Rambling Rose is Rated R for strong sexuality/sensuality.
