Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, The Bridges of Madison County is a beloved romance movie for many people. Released in 1995, I had somehow gone 30 years of my life without ever watching this movie. I was watching some kind of YouTube video with my wife that was talking about movies that had an anniversary in 2025, and this one came up, and she was mind blown that I had never seen it.
How to Download The Bridges of Madison County
The Bridges of Madison County was released on June 2, 1995. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Interested in more moviews with Clint Eastwoood?. Don’t miss out on Dirty Harry, Any Which Way You Can, or The Mule.
The Movie Review
My First Time Watching The Bridges of Madison County
The weird thing is, I thought I had seen this, but for some reason I got this confused with A River Runs Through It…. Yeah, I have no idea how I got these movies confused. Anyway, after hearing my wife talk about what a great movie it was and the YouTube video praising it, plus I love Clint Eastwood, I thought I should check it out. Which I am glad that I did!
Reactions After Watching the Movie
After the movie ended, my wife, pretty much as soon as the credits started, asked me if I liked it, and I said yes, it was pretty good. “Pretty good?” she said back at me. I think she wanted me to say it was one of the greatest movies I had ever seen! While it was not that, it was a great love story, and I can see why so many people love this movie. Although, the more I have thought about it after watching the movie, the more I have come to like it.
Meryl Streep Shines as Francesca
I came into The Bridges of Madison County expecting to be blown away by Clint Eastwood, but just like that YouTube video and my wife said, it is Meryl Streep as Francesca who steals the show here. The movie is told in flashback form as it starts with a brother and sister, Carolyn and Michael showing up at their recently deceased mothers house to take care of her stuff and it is here they find a bunch of her personal belongings where they read about a passionate love affair she had back in the 60s.
A Passionate and Poignant Love Story
Francesca is an Italian who now lives in Iowa with her husband, Richard, and her two children. Richard and the kids are heading out of town for a few days to go to a state fair, leaving Francesca at home, and it is here that she meets Robert Kincaid, who is played by Clint Eastwood.
Stellar Performances from Eastwood and Streep
Robert is a photographer who has been sent to take photos of the Bridges of Madison County and he asks Francesca for directions. What starts off as her just trying to help someone, turns into a passionate love affair that lasts the whole time her family are away. Even though, Francesca is cheating on her husband, you really like this pairing and want them to get together, but life ends up getting in the way.
Robert and Francesca are fantastic characters, they are both complex and feel real. Meryl Streep is just incredible here, you would truly believe that she is actually Italian. It is crazy to think that I went all these years without seeing the amazing performance that she gives here. Clint Eastwood is great too, but as I said earlier, Meryl Streep is the show stealer of this movie. If you want a fantastic romance story, this one here is honestly hard to beat, and I could see myself adding this to my physical movie collection one day.
