Rambling Rose Synopsis & Summary

Movie Main

Rambling Rose is the most part a flashback, related by grown-up Southerner Buddy Hillyer (John Heard). The bulk of the film takes place in 1935, when rambunctious backwoods housekeeper Rose (Laura Dern) virtually invades the Hillyer household. Daddy Hillyer (Robert Duvall), a bed-rock Southern gentleman, welcomes the congenitally amoral but basically goodhearted Rose into his house, carefully fending off her ill-timed romantic advances. But Rose can't help feeling smitten with him; meanwhile, she has also drawn the attentions of 13-year-old Buddy (Lukas Haas). Based on the novel by screenwriter Calder Willingham, Rambling Rose was not the box-office breakthrough that many expected for director Martha Coolidge; though it fizzled financially, the film did manage to secure Oscar nominations for both Dern and her real-life mother Diane Ladd. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring:

Laura Dern, Robert Duvall, Diane Ladd, Lukas Haas, John Heard

Theatrical Release Date:

06/09/2008

DVD Release Date:

03/16/1999

Rating:

MPAA Reasons:

for sensuality.

Run Time:

115 min.

Distributor(s):

Seven Arts

Production Co.:

Midnight Sun Pictures, New Line Cinema

Director(s):

Martha Coolidge

Genre(s):

Comedy, Drama

Themes:

Sexual Awakening, Servants and Employers, Eccentric Families

Tone:

Nostalgic, Gentle, Literate, Sexy, Sweet, Warm, Affectionate, Poignant

Keywords:

Southerner, adolescence, coming-of-age, family, flashback, friendship, housekeeper, love, lust, naive, promiscuity, seduction, sexual-awakening, sexuality, slice-of-life, small-town, uninhibited

Setting:

small town

Country of Origin:

USA (09-20-1991)

Time Period:

Great Depression

Language:

English

Status:

DVD