Shadow Casting: The Making of 'A River Runs Through It' Page #3

which one of us was tougher.

But if boyhood questions aren't answered

before a certain point...

...they can't be raised again.

So we returned

to being gracious to one another...

...as the church wall suggested.

I then saw something remarkable.

For the first time, Paul broke free

of our father's instruction...

...into a rhythm all his own.

OK.

OK.

They're both marvellous.

I'd say the Lord has blessed us all today.

It's just that he's been

particularly good to me.

North Coast! Stops in Helena, Bozeman...

The year ended with my acceptance

into Dartmouth College.

Sometime before, Father had told me...

...I could attend

any college in the world I could get into.

I knew he earned

no more than $1,800 a year...

...so his offer meant more to me

than anything in my life.

Well, do your best.

I will.

All aboard!

Hey, Norman! Norm!

So, in the autumn of 1919...

...I boarded the Northern Pacific

for a 3,000-mile trip east...

...to the unknown.

To the son of a Montana minister,

Dartmouth was more than an education.

It was a revelation, exposing me

to a world I'd only guessed at.

As part of my degree...

...I had to enlighten incoming freshmen

on the wonders of the Romantic poets.

And although I was unaware of it then,

teaching fit me.

But most of the time, I sat

in the card room of my fraternity house...

...giving my blue-nosed brothers

a lesson in Front Street poker.

In all, I spent six years at Dartmouth...

...away from home nearly all that time.

On the other hand,

Paul stayed home for college...

...unwilling to leave the fish

he had not yet caught.

After graduation, he took a job

as a reporter for a Helena newspaper...

...and moved to that town...

...his connection with the family

growing as slight as my own.

It was not until the spring of 1926...

...that I finally did come home.

Dinner is in half an hour,

so you have time for a bath.

Do I look thin, Mother?

Do I look old, Norman?

No, you look, uh...

I wish Paul could have been here tonight.

He's working late.

Norman?

Won't you come in?

I'm sorry Paul won't be here.

The life of a newspaperman.

Well, you know how Paul likes to...

I do.

Sit.

I also hear that he...

Well, I hear everything, don't I?

The Lord forbid

my flock keep me in ignorance.

Yes.

You can bet that everyone from here to

Helena knows all about your education.

It is an achievement.

To what use

shall you put this achievement?

Uh... Well, I've been considering

the Forest Service.

As a career?

No...

No, for the summer.

As a break.

Well, that's a good idea.

- The body fuels the mind.

- That's what I was thinking.

And after?

I'm not absolutely sure yet.

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