One of Brad Pitt’s Best Movies Is Now on Paramount+

Brad Pitt has appeared in a multitude of great movies, and one of his best is now on Paramount+. Subscribers to the streaming service can now watch A River Runs Through It, Pitt’s Academy Award-nominated 1992 drama. The film is maybe most well-known for its depictions of fly fishing, which Pitt has said he learned to do for the role. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.

A River Runs Through It was directed by Robert Redford, from a screenplay by Richard Friedenberg. It is based on a 1976 semi-autobiographical novella of the same name, written by Norman Maclean. The film is set in Missoula, Montana and follows two sons of a Presbyterian minister as they grow up through the era of World War I into the early days of the Great Depression. Pitt portrays Paul Maclean, the more rebellious son, with Craig Sheffer playing his studious brother, Norman. Additional cast members include a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn, and Emily Lloyd. A River Runs Through It was not just a hit with critics, but with fans as well. The film earned $66 million at the box office, on a budget of $12 million.

In 2021, Maclean’s son John published his own memoir, Home Waters, a companion book to A River Runs Through It. He also sat down with Field & Stream to discuss the book, including what his real-life uncle Paul was like. “He was a mystical, mythical character, but he was ever present-always, always, Paul,” John said of the man Pitt portrays. “And you could never be as great a fisherman as him.”

He then revealed, “My dad was going to name me Paul, but my mother intervened. But there was an obvious parallel between us. I became a newspaper reporter, just as he had been, and writer, and a fisherman.”

John went on to share, “He was really tough about fishing. He was extremely aggressive and utterly contentious of anybody who didn’t live up to the mark. If you failed to bring along a reel or something like that, you didn’t deserve to fish. Screw you, and he went off on his own. He fished competitively and would bet on anything like, who gets to those fish, who gets the biggest fish. He was ready to take on anybody.”