There have only been a handful of movies I’ve been able to call my favorite of all time. From 2015 to the present (February 2024), it has been The Revenant. The Town had a few years run before that. Before that, the honor belonged to The Shawshank Redemption, holding it for many years after wrestling it away from Braveheart, which had an equally long run. It dates back to the 1980s, The Goonies and a surfing movie called North Shore until Young Guns took the title in 1987. The ’90s was when my favorite film changed hands the most, full of some of the first Rated R movies I saw in the theater, including Flatliners, True Romance, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, and Ron Howard’s (In The Heart of the Sea, Rush) sweeping romantic adventure Far and Away.

Though I probably watched this movie more than ten times, it’s been 25 years since I last watched it. My latest viewing was full of nostalgia, so much so that I could easily understand how a 16-year-old could fall in love with me. Far and Away was a moviegoing experience that felt designed for me.

The film begins in 1892, in Ireland, where Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise – Top Gun: Maverick, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation) dreams of owning his own land one day. After his father dies, landlord Daniel Christie (The Thief, Dead Man Walking) sends his men to burn down the Donnelly family home as punishment for their unpaid rent. Leading the charge is Stephen (a nearly unrecognizable Thomas Gibson – television’s Dharma and Greg, television’s Criminal Minds), a wealthy aristocrat who has been promised to Shannon (Nicole Kidman – The Hours, Being the Ricardos), Daniel’s vivacious and audacious daughter with grander plans than filling the role of a dutiful life.

Joseph travels to the Christie home to kill the wealthy landlord, only for things to go poorly, involving a pitchfork injury, a pistol duel at dawn, and, ultimately, a trip across the ocean, working as Shannon’s serving boy until she can get settled in America, hoping to capitalize on the promise of free land that has been circulating throughout Europe.

Together, Joseph and Shannon arrive in Boston and learn that America is far different than expected. Free land is a pipe dream. They struggle to find employment, with most of Boston refusing to hire Irish. It’s only after Mike Kelly (Colm Meaney – Law Abiding Citizen, Con Air), an Irish alderman, secures them each work as day laborers and gives them a shared room in a local brothel. Joseph welcomes the work while Shannon struggles, believing it is beneath her to pluck the feathers off chickens.

Years of working the fields or fending off the bullying of his older brothers in fistfights have prepared him for bare-knuckle boxing, where he becomes a prize-fighting feature at Kelly’s club. He becomes a fixture and the owner’s darling, putting more money in each of their pockets as he easily defeats opponent after opponent. His success irks Shannon, in disbelief that a lowly farmhand can earn more than her. Defiantly, Shannon decides to dance burlesque at Kelly’s club to earn extra money. This is another example of furthering the connection between Shannon and Joseph, one that draws them closer as a pair but at the expense of finding individual greatness. This recurring theme is by no means new to cinema. It’s also one of the film’s driving forces despite the heartache it continues to cause.

Far and Away’s cinematography is astonishing as this was the first film to use Panavision Super 70 camera equipment. It showcased ultra-realistic visuals and gorgeous landscapes, including the pit fight bar scenes and the 1891 landrace. John Williams produced one of the most beautiful and memorable scores of the 1990s. The tracks “Blowing Off Steam” and “The Big Match” are my favorites. Hearing all of the tracks again reminded me of how important this movie was to me during my teenage years.

In a film with two future heavyweights, Gibson’s portrayal of the privileged, ever-lurking Stephen gives us the needed antagonist. While we never reach a point where we think evil will overcome good, Stephen’s authoritative entitlement brings a certain creepiness to each of his scenes. Would Ron Howard pull the rug from beneath our feet when we least expected it? Not in a PG-13 romantic adventure with Hollywood’s darling company.

Many in my age demographic wanted to be a version of Joseph or Shannon at some point in their youth. The handsome Cruise and beautiful Kidman were still in the early stages of their A-list careers. Though from different economic and social castes, we knew Joseph and Shannon were destined to be together. Whether that was from the film’s promotional poster, their off-camera romantic relationship, or similar films of the era that conditioned us to believe this was a probability didn’t matter.