Love Comes Softly (2003)

Katherine Heigl is Marty Claridge, enduring the long journey West with her new husband Aaron.

She’s convinced they’re going the wrong way when they stumble upon the fertile valley they and their wagon train companions plan to settle.

But the joy over reaching the land they intend to homestead is short-lived. One of their horses runs off; Aaron sets out in pursuit and is thrown from the horse he’s riding in fatal accident.

Suddenly, Marty finds herself alone in the wilderness with no idea of how she’s going to survive on her own.

Then Clark Davis (Dale Midkiff) approaches with a proposition. He’s a widower with a 9-year-old daughter sorely in need of an older woman’s influence.

Clark proposes marriage, with the stipulation that he’ll help Marty make her way back East to her family come spring.

With no other options, Marty reluctantly agrees.

Second thoughts creep in when she meets step-daughter Missie (Skye McCole Bausiak), who sees no need for her presence, resents her for trying to take her mother’s place and is wholly unimpressed with Marty’s frontier skills. Or rather her lack thereof.

Katherine Heigl as Marty Claridge, exciting about the prospect of a new day on the frontier as her husband rides off in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Dale Midkiff as Clark Davis, trying to convince Marty not to give up in her attempt to make headway with his daughter in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Review:

The film is as predictable as any you’ll ever sit down to watch.

It’s also quite entertaining, thanks to stellar performances by Katherine Heigl as the grieving young widow and Skye McCole Bausiak as the tomboyish daughter.

They’re on the screen so much, they’d better be outstanding. In other words, don’t expect a film complicated by lots of subplots.

In one of the best scenes, Marty’s book learning about skunks backfires and she winds up being sprayed. Missie has an answer for that, dragging a bathtub outside and crushing tomatoes over Marty’s head to disguise the stench, all the while wearing a clothespin on her nose.

Katherine Heigl and Dale Midkiff would return the next year for “Love’s Enduring Promise,” the first of several “Love” sequels.

Heigl went on to appear in 120 episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Sadly, Bartusiak died at age 21 of an accidental drug overdose in 2014. She also played Mel Gibson’s youngest child in “The Patriot” (2000).

Skye McCole Bausiak as Missie Davis, bragging about her ability to cook a chicken dinner in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Oliver Macready as Aaron Claridge, talking about his plans for a homestead with young wife Marty (Katherine Heigl) in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Directed by:
Michael Landon Jr.

Cast:
Katherine Heigl … Marty Claridge
Dale Midkiff … Clark Davis
Skye McCole Bausiak … Missie Davis
Corbin Bernsen … Ben Graham
Theresa Russell … Sarah Graham
Oliver Macready … Aaron Claridge
Tiffany Ambert Knight … Laura Graham
Adam Loeffler … Clint Grahm
Nick Scoggin … Rev. Johnson
Jaimz Woolvett … Wagon train scout
Rutanya Alda … Wanda Marshall

Runtime: 84 min.

Theresa Russell as Sarah Graham, sharing the reality of life on the frontier with Marty Claridge in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Corbin Bernsen as Ben Graham, sharing the news of Aaron’s death with Marty Claridge in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Memorable lines:

Aaron Claridge: “We’d be there already if the weight of these books hadn’t slowed us down.”
Marty Claridge: “Those books will provide us with a little culture once we get settled.”
Aaron: “Oh, it’s just too bad we can’t eat any of that culture. That 200 pounds of beans and rice we had to toss off the wagon to lessen the weight would taste a whole lot better right now than the 200 pounds of books we got.”

Sarah Graham to Marty: “There is no place in this country to be crying over your wants. Your life’s about needs now.”

Missie Davis, when Marty emerges from the bedroom they share: “I never seen nobody sleep so long. I thought you might be dead.”

Katherine Heigl as Marty Claridge, thrilled to have finally reached the end of the long journey West in Loves Comes Softly (2003)

Katherine Heigl as Marty Claridge, mourning the loss of her young husband in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Marty, when Clark Davis offers to move her books into the cabin: “The books? How did you know they were mine and not Aaron’s?”
Clark Davis: “A man would have thrown them off the wagon at the first big hill. Unless he was trying to please a stubborn woman.”

Missie Davis to Marty: “How’d you get so old without knowin’ how to do nothin’?”

Missie Davis, after Marty’s been sprayed by a skunk: “Better get some more tomatoes, pa. Took a whole bushel just to get her smellin’ this good.”

Sarah Graham, explaining her second marriage to Marty: “Sometimes love isn’t fireworks. Sometimes love just comes softly.”

Katherine Heigl as Marty Claridge, reaching the ranch of the man she hastily agreed to marry in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Dale Midkiff as Clark Davis, realizing Marty might have turned a corner as a frontier wife in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Skye McCole Bausiak as Missie Davis, seeing no need for a new mother figure in her life in Love Comes Softly (2003)

Katherine Heigl as Marty Claridge, enduring a tomato juice bath after being sprayed by a skunk in Love Comes Softly (2003)