The Postman (film)

''The Postman'' is a 1997 American epic post-apocalyptic adventure film produced and directed by Kevin Costner, who plays the lead role. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland, based on David Brin's 1985 book of the same name. The film also features Will Patton, Olivia Williams, James Russo, and Tom Petty. Set in a post-apocalyptic neo-Western United States in the then near-future year of 2013, the film follows an unnamed nomad who, after finding a United States Postal Service uniform, unwittingly sparks a movement to restore the United States that challenges the rule of a tyrannical warlord.

Released on Christmas 1997 by Warner Bros., ''The Postman'' was panned by critics, who criticized the performances, screenplay, direction, and long runtime. Costner's decision to cast himself in the film was criticized. The film grossed $30 million worldwide against a budget of $80 million. It was nominated for three Saturn Awards and won all five of its Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture.

Plot

In the late 20th century, unexplained apocalyptic disasters (implied to be World War III) devastate the world. Most knowledge and technology from the past is lost, and the former United States reverts to an unconnected pre-industrial society.

In 2013, a nomad traveling to St. Rose, Oregon wanders the Western U.S., trading performances of long-forgotten Shakespearean plays for food and water. In one town, the nomad is forcibly conscripted into the Holnists, a neo-feudalist militia obsessed with a misinterpreted self-help book that serves as the tyrannical authority in the region, led by General Bethlehem. The nomad, dubbed "Shakespeare" by Bethlehem, faces harassment by Captain Idaho, who mentions Colonel Getty, Bethlehem's second-in-command. Getty once challenged him for the right to lead; Bethlehem won the fight and mutilated Getty by cutting out his tongue and castrating him. The nomad and another conscript are sent to kill a lion, but Idaho arrives and forces the nomad and the conscript to fight to the death. Idaho kills the conscript, but before he can shoot the nomad he is killed by the lion. The nomad escapes by jumping into a river. He takes refuge in an abandoned United States Postal Service Jeep DJ, burning letters and wearing the long-deceased postal carrier's coat to stay warm.

Now donning the postal uniform and mail bag, the nomad arrives in the town of Pineview and is held at gunpoint by their leader, Sheriff Briscoe. To avoid execution, the nomad pretends to be a Postman from the newly-restored U.S. government, presenting a letter addressed to elderly villager Irene March as proof. The Postman inspires teenager Ford Lincoln Mercury, who he swears in as a postal carrier and helps reactivate Pineview's abandoned post office. The Postman also meets spouses Abby and Michael and fulfills their clinical request to impregnate her. When the Postman leaves for the town of Benning, he carries a pile of mail left at the post office by the townspeople.

During a raid on Pineview, General Bethlehem learns of the Postman's claim of a restored government in Minneapolis. Fearing his loss of power if word spreads, Bethlehem has the post office burned to the ground, kills Michael, abducts Abby, and raids Benning looking for the Postman, who he does not know is the nomad. The Postman surrenders, but Abby rescues him, and they flee into the surrounding mountains, where they hibernate through the winter in an abandoned cabin. In the spring, they leave and encounter another postal carrier, who reveals that Mercury has kept the Postal Service alive by recruiting other carriers and opening more post offices, connecting settlements across the former U.S. and inadvertently forming a quasi-society in the "Restored United States".

Bethlehem, threatened by the rise of the Restored U.S., persecutes and publicly executes postal carriers. Wracked by guilt for their deaths, the Postman, now effectively the Postmaster General, orders the Postal Service to disband and writes a letter to the militia revealing that it was formed on a lie, but Bethlehem, dismayed upon learning the Restored U.S. has spread as far as California, redoubles his efforts to hunt down the Postman. The Postman, Abby, and a group of young postal carriers travel to Bridge City, escape Holnist scouts with help from the mayor and rally the population to resist Bethlehem.

The Postman organizes a Restored U.S. Army to face the Holnists in a pitched battle. Unwilling to allow further bloodshed, the Postman reveals to Bethlehem that he is "Shakespeare" and challenges him to a one-on-one duel for power with their troops as witnesses; per Holnist traditions, Bethlehem accepts. The Postman wins the hand-to-hand fight, but spares Bethlehem's life to maintain morale. Bethlehem tries to shoot the Postman as he turns away, but is shot dead by Getty, who disarms the Holnists.

Thirty years later in 2043, the Postman dies at the age of 70. His adult daughter Hope speaks at a ceremony unveiling a memorial honoring his efforts in St. Rose, Oregon, part of the Restored U.S., with the implication that modern society and technology have returned.

Cast

* Kevin Costner as The Postman
* Will Patton as Ford Lincoln Mercury
* Olivia Williams as Abby
* James Russo as Captain Idaho
* Tom Petty as Bridge City Mayor
* Daniel von Bargen as Pineview Sheriff Briscoe
* Scott Bairstow as Luke
* Giovanni Ribisi as Bandit 20
* Roberta Maxwell as Irene March
* Joe Santos as Colonel Getty
* Ron McLarty as Old George
* Brian Anthony Wilson as Woody
* Peggy Lipton as Ellen March
* Rex Linn as Mercer
* Shawn Hatosy as Billy
* Ryan Hurst as Eddie March
* Charles Esten as Michael
* Ty O'Neal as Drew
* Jude Herrera as Carrier
* Tom Bower as Larry
* Mary Stuart Masterson as Hope, Postman's Daughter (uncredited)
* John Coinman as Troubadour (uncredited)

Production

On his personal website, author David Brin reveals that while studios were bidding for ''The Postman'', his wife decided during a screening of '' Field of Dreams'' that Kevin Costner should portray the title character. Brin agreed that the emotions evoked by ''Field of Dreams'' matched the message he intended to deliver with his novel. A decade later, after learning Costner would be cast as the lead, Brin said he was "thrilled". Costner discarded the old screenplay (in which the moral message of the novel had been reversed) and hired screenwriter Brian Helgeland; Brin says the two of them "rescued the 'soul' of the central character" and reverted the story's message to one of hope. Costner supposedly passed on the lead role in ''Air Force One'' to work on ''The Postman''.

In an interview with '' Metro'' before filming began, Brin expressed his hope that ''The Postman'' would have the "pro-community feel" of '' Field of Dreams'' instead of the ''Mad Max'' feel of Costner's other post-apocalyptic film ''Waterworld''. Brin said that, unlike typical post-apocalyptic movies that satisfy "little-boy wish fantasies about running amok in a world without rules", the intended moral of ''The Postman'' is that "if we lost our civilization, we'd all come to realize how much we missed it, and would realize what a miracle it is simply to get your mail every day."

''The Postman'' was filmed in Metaline Falls and Fidalgo Island in Washington; central Oregon; and southern Arizona around Amado and Nogales. Metaline Falls is the location for the community of Pineview in the film.

Despite the film performing disastrously at two test screenings, Costner refused Warner Bros.' appeals that he edit it from its three-hour running time.

Music

Reception

Box office

The film was a notorious failure at the box office. The first four days after opening brought in only $5.3 million on 2,207 screens in the United States and Canada. Produced on an estimated $80 million budget, it grossed $17 million in the United States and Canada and $30 million worldwide.

The film was subsequently released on VHS and DVD on June 9, 1998 and on Blu-ray Disc on September 8, 2009.

Critical response

''The Postman'' was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A massive miscalculation in self-mythologizing by director and star Kevin Costner, ''The Postman'' would make for a goofy good time if it weren't so fatally self-serious." Metacritic gives the film a score of 29 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

In ''The New York Times'', Stephen Holden criticized the movie for its "bogus sentimentality" and "mawkish jingoism". In the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', Roger Ebert described ''The Postman'' as a failed yet well-meant effort at a parable, being "goofy", "pretentious", and "way too long", yet "good-hearted". He criticized Costner's putting himself in the lead role, arguing that such roles should be cast against type and that Costner had played too many similar roles in past films. On ''Siskel & Ebert'', Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs down", and Siskel sarcastically called it "Dances with Myself" (in reference to Costner's film '' Dances with Wolves'') while referring to the bronze statue scene.

Costner defended the film:

In 2023, ''Rolling Stone'' cited ''The Postman'' as one of the fifty worst decisions in film history.

Accolades

References

Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Postman, The
1997 films
1990s action adventure films
1997 science fiction action films
American action adventure films
American science fiction action films
American science fiction adventure films
1990s English-language films
Films about censorship
Films about racism in the United States
Films about terrorism
Films about the United States Postal Service
Films based on science fiction novels
Films directed by Kevin Costner
Films scored by James Newton Howard
Films set in Oregon
Films set in 2013
Films set in 2043
Films set in the future
Films shot in Bend, Oregon
Films shot in Washington (state)
Films shot in Arizona
Golden Raspberry Award–winning films
American post-apocalyptic films
Warner Bros. films
Films with screenplays by Eric Roth
Films with screenplays by Brian Helgeland
1990s American films
1997 science fiction films
English-language science fiction action films
English-language action adventure films