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The Postman (1997)
Released By: Warner Home Video   Rating: R   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Warner Home Video
Genre: Action-Adventure
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Kevin Costner
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: James Russo, Kevin Costner, Larenz Tate, Will Patton
Published ID: 7316
UPC: 085391551928, 883929064120, 883929077342,
Plot: Kevin Costner directed and stars in this adaptation of David Brin's science fiction novel The Postman (1985), first published in 1982 issues of {~Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine}. Costner's return to directing after his Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves(1990) is a futuristic epic depicting the aftermath of a destructive war. Some 16 years from the present day, America has been turned into a wasteland of separated communities minus a national government. A vagabond (Costner) who travels through these little villages performing Shakespeare is captured by marauders known as the Holnists, and thrown into a totalitarian labor camp run by a Hitler-like dictator, General Bethlehem (Will Patton). Making an escape, the drifter, known to some as Shakespeare, stumbles across an abandoned U.S. Postal Service jeep and dons the dead postal-worker's uniform. With a scheme simply to get food, he sets out to deliver 15-year-old mail, proclaiming himself The Postman, and discovers that residents accept his lies about a restored United States government because they desperately need something to believe in. This hope leads to the thought that perhaps the United States of America could indeed be restored, so an unusually inspired young man, Ford (Laren Tate) is deputized with the Neither snow, nor rain... oath to become the country's second Postman. At the town of Pineview, the attractive Abby (Olivia Williams), who has an impotent husband, asks The Postman to impregnate her. After Abby's husband is killed during a raid by Bethlehem, she is taken prisoner but injures Bethlehem and makes an escape. Pregnant, she spends the winter nursing the wounded Postman in a snowbound cabin. When spring comes, they emerge to discover that Ford has organized an entire squad of mail deliverers who regard The Postman as a mythical hero. The Postman reluctantly accepts his messianic role in the rebirth of the country, even as it becomes clear that the rebel force must ultimately battle and defeat the Holnist army in order to regain the American Dream. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Postal Future
Added 10/24/2009

What a great story and epic adventure! This is one of the best post apocalypse movies ever made, maybe THE best. Not unrealistic, very well acted and directed.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Mixed bag
Added 10/12/2009

Are people giving this movie 5 stars simply because so many critics savaged it when it came out? As a fan of the book before the movie came out, I enjoyed aspects of it, especially near the beginning, but felt the acting and plotting just didn't hold up until the end.

I enjoyed the scenary and thought that was fairly well done, just when he starts interacting with other people, I often cringed. When the postman is traveling in a post-apocalyptic US, I think that was fairly well-done as well.

But some of this seems to come out of the limitations of Costner as a director, compared to Dances with Wolves, one of my favorite movies of all time. Simply, the epic feel of the movie went overboard. Instead of actually caring about the characters other than the Postman, I constantly felt like I was being manipulated, with sweeping scenes often telling me I had to care about this crucial moment. This is important! Civilization is important!

I agree with these ideas, I just didn't feel like the film communicated that particularly well. It didn't whisper or speak in a moderate tone. It shouted.


0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Where's the dts version?
Added 9/26/2009

This is a great film as most of you have said before me, but the sound was so compressed with Dolby.
When are studios going to use some of the time they take to make a blu-ray disc better, better? Please
take the time and do it right, either dts or uncompressed.

0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
For Fans, Great Value
Added 9/20/2009

Chances are, if you're reading this, you're a fan of this movie.
The Postman has a small cult following, probably because as ham-handed as the western motifs that nearly overwhelm the simple patriotic message are, they don't drown it out, and on repeat viewings, this message is.. (in this reviewers opinion) welcome & and noticably missing from alot of film today. Costner's character is an unnamed drifter who wanders thru Oregon in 2013, years after a nuclear winter has devastated the country and left it to the terror tactics of an army of racially intolerant neo-fascists who base their lives on the self-help book of a long dead motivational speaker. Will Patton is a great villain in this film as the quiet, brooding General Bethlehem. After narrowly escaping being conscripted by them, he seeks shelter in an abandoned Mail delivery truck, and borrows the clothes and mailbag of the dead postman to pretend to be a representative of the 'restored Congress of the United States', presumably to gain favor with people and score some free food and board. This ruse, of course, only ends up generating hope in the poor villagers he comes across, and starts to become bigger than him... and that idea is the charm of the movie-

The idea that being free and making things better involves, at first, a dream, a fantasy, maybe even a lie. Whatever it takes.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a great movie, and feels more like an abbreviated tv miniseries in some ways.. but it has some charm. And some beautiful outdoor photography, and costumes.. all of which look really splendid in hi-def. This print is clean, the only odd thing I noticed was a jitter in the frame when Costner stands outside the gate at Pineview.. only time I noticed it, and some grain issues in the slow motion shots.. but in many other places, particularly in close-ups and long distance shots the detail and color was striking, and even pops in places you wouldn't expect. Very happy with the transfer.

The only thing I don't like? The music.. it's overblown opera-western stuff.. really was NOT necessary to sell the story, and contributes to making some scenes really cheesey.

But for fans.. the price is right, and it looks GREAT.


1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
Amazon screws customer again
Added 9/16/2009

Is there any point in pre-ordering from Amazon? In instances such as with THE POSTMAN, they show the price at $ 17.99 and you make the mistake of ordering it. They then lower the price to $ 14.99 a week later, but still two weeks before the item ships. Do they give you the lower price.....ARE YOU CRAZY? Then one week after it comes out, it is now $ 12.99. Conclusion. For reserving a copy with Amazon, the customer pays more than anyone else. This is done over and over and over by Amazon, or atleast as much as their wallets will allow.
2 out of 4 people found this helpful.
Postal Future
Added 10/24/2009

What a great story and epic adventure! This is one of the best post apocalypse movies ever made, maybe THE best. Not unrealistic, very well acted and directed.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Mixed bag
Added 10/12/2009

Are people giving this movie 5 stars simply because so many critics savaged it when it came out? As a fan of the book before the movie came out, I enjoyed aspects of it, especially near the beginning, but felt the acting and plotting just didn't hold up until the end.

I enjoyed the scenary and thought that was fairly well done, just when he starts interacting with other people, I often cringed. When the postman is traveling in a post-apocalyptic US, I think that was fairly well-done as well.

But some of this seems to come out of the limitations of Costner as a director, compared to Dances with Wolves, one of my favorite movies of all time. Simply, the epic feel of the movie went overboard. Instead of actually caring about the characters other than the Postman, I constantly felt like I was being manipulated, with sweeping scenes often telling me I had to care about this crucial moment. This is important! Civilization is important!

I agree with these ideas, I just didn't feel like the film communicated that particularly well. It didn't whisper or speak in a moderate tone. It shouted.


0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Where's the dts version?
Added 9/26/2009

This is a great film as most of you have said before me, but the sound was so compressed with Dolby.
When are studios going to use some of the time they take to make a blu-ray disc better, better? Please
take the time and do it right, either dts or uncompressed.

0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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