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Heartland

“Heartland is about roots and origins. Heartland is about love and survival.”

1979 · 1 h 36 min
Directed by Richard Pearce

Cast

Rip Torn Conchata Ferrell Barry Primus

Credits

Written by: Beth Ferris

Plot

In 1910, a widow, Elinore Randall Stewart, takes her young daughter to Wyoming to work as housekeeper for a rancher, Clyde Stewart. Despite hardship, loneliness and harsh winters, a relationship slowly grows between the two adults. Richard Pearce's 1979 film, based on the real diaries of a pioneer woman, with Conchata Ferrell and Rip Torn, is an unsentimental portrait of frontier life, and won the Golden Bear in Berlin.

Sinekatalog’s take

Richard Pearce's drama follows a widow who takes a housekeeping job with a gruff Wyoming rancher in 1910 and slowly builds a life with him. Conchata Ferrell and Rip Torn are superb in a spare, honest portrait of frontier endurance.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.2 / 10 (1,520 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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