The Reivers

Release date:December 25, 1969

Directed by:Mark Rydell

Rated:

Runtime:107 minutes

The Reivers is a 1969 film directed by Mark Rydell based on the William Faulkner novel of the same name. It stars Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Mitch Vogel, and Burgess Meredith as the narrator. Set in the 1900s, the film follows the exploits of the likable but raffish Boon Hoggenbeck , who takes... an interest in a new car, a Winton Flyer that is the property of a man named Boss , the patriarch of the McCaslin family, who live in the Mississippi area where Boon lives. When the taking of the car first by Boone and then by Ned leads to a public brawl, the local magistrate lets them off by a bond that Boss pays on the condition both men stay out of trouble and further away from the car while he is away with family to tend to a funeral. That is soon changed by Boon, who takes the car again to go down to Memphis to see his woman Corrie and talks his young friend Lucius into going for the ride. Ned stows away as well, but Boone grudgingly allows him to come.
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A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and... in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century. Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the way reality is created in the works of fiction, the fascination of the character study, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history. The individualism of the presentation makes the personal memoir and the autobiography the two closest relatives among the genres of modern histories. The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct "literary" prose, specific media requirements , a characteristic subject matter that creates both intimacy and a typical epic depth can be seen as features that developed with the Western market of fiction.
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