Heartland is a 1979 film based on the letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, published first in The Atlantic Monthly and then in book form as Letters from a Woman Homesteader. As I read the letters I could picture so easily what Elinore described as she was such a good writer. There were many points at which I thought that this would make an excellent movie, but then I would wonder what to include and what to leave out as there is so much material. Really it would be a great miniseries. But in the late '70s, with a budget of $600,000, someone made it into a film.

Here's what the filmmakers got right:

~The realities of life on a Wyoming homestead/ranch in the early 1900s, including husbandry. There was no disclaimer at the end of the credits that said "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture" and there was no way they could have claimed that anyway. They show a fairly disturbing slaughter of a pig and the branding and gelding (is it called that with cattle?) of dozens of calves. Yuck to the nth degree and quite cruel. But, again, the harsh realities of life in that part of the world at that time.

~The setting is phenomenal. I believe it was filmed in Montana rather than Wyoming, but the landscape is perfect and forbidding. So much wind. You really get a feel for just how hard this life actually was. However, I don't think they filmed at all during the spring and summer months because none of the flowers and beauty that Elinore describes are shown. Also, the sun apparently never shines, rises, or sets in Wyoming. It is perennially cloudy. Or at least that's what this movie would have me believe.

~Conchata Ferrell, the actress who plays Elinore, looks a lot like her. It's almost uncanny. And Rip Torn was probably a good choice for Clyde Stewart.


Here's what the filmmakers got wrong:

~The character of Elinore. This is the most important thing to get right (in my mind) and they botched it. In her letters, Elinore is joyful. In every letter one can feel her smiling. She exudes wonder and amazement at her surroundings, toughness without being harsh, energy and spunk. In the movie Elinore seems flat, bitter, frowny, and unimaginative. She looks the part but her attitude is completely wrong.

~They made no use of the actual language that the real Elinore used in her letters. This is a story begging for a narrator. Other than the bits of dialogue (made up rather than adapted from her letters) and some mournful sounding score, this is a silent movie. Elinore's story is a fascinating one, but only because she tells it so well. That's what makes it so special. The filmmakers lost all of the richness of her letters by not using them as a basis for narration.

~When Elinore moved to Wyoming her daughter Jerrine was just two years old or so, which makes their solo adventures (also missing from the film) so much more incredible. In the film she looks to be at least seven years old. She is also fairly quiet, sullen, and mostly expressionless. Not good.

~They missed out on so many wonderful characters to whom Elinore's letters introduce us. No crazy Southern Zebbie, no devout Mexican couple, no argumentative German couple, no bandits stealing horses, no frightened new mother snowed in under the stars. The movie focuses only on Elinore, Clyde, and Jerrine, who become flat and severe. There are moments where the real characters of Clyde and Elinore come through, but they are few and far between.

~It's just boring. Boring. How could this story be made boring? I don't know, but somehow thy managed to do it.


My feeling is that the time is right for a well-done miniseries based on these letters, with good narration and the whole cast of characters. The BBC does miniseries so very well. I wonder if they would ever tackle a story of the American West...