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50 free Legends of the Fall trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Legends of the Fall trivia questions with answers. Edward Zwick's 1994 epic follows Colonel William Ludlow and his three sons across half a century of Montana history, from a boyhood brush with a grizzly through the trenches of the First World War, Prohibition, bootleggers and a final reckoning in the wilderness. It made Brad Pitt a romantic lead, won John Toll the first of two consecutive cinematography Oscars, and sent thousands of parents looking up the name Tristan. This quiz covers the plot, the characters, the cast, Jim Harrison's 1979 novella, the Canadian locations and the reception. The easy questions ask who plays Tristan, what he cuts from the sleeping bear and which war the brothers go off to; the harder ones want the battalion they join, what Tristan sends home from the front, the friend whose $30,000 let Harrison write the book, the Cornish roots of the Ludlows, the Vancouver district that stood in for Helena and the year Tristan finally meets the bear again. It suits fans of sweeping 90s dramas and anyone who still tears up at the score. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, the author and the cast, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
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Q 01Who plays Tristan Ludlow?
Brad Pitt
The role earned him his first Golden Globe nomination and, in Rolling Stone's words, proved him 'a bona fide movie star'.
Q 02Who plays the patriarch, Colonel William Ludlow?
Anthony Hopkins
The bear trainer said he treated the bear 'like a fellow actor' and did many of his own scenes with it.
Q 03Who directed Legends of the Fall?
Edward Zwick
His 2024 memoir described clashing with a 'volatile' Brad Pitt over the film's final cut.
Q 04The film is based on a 1979 novella by which American writer?
Jim Harrison
He was considered America's foremost master of the novella form and published 24 of them.
Q 05In which US state does Colonel Ludlow build his ranch?
Montana
The film was actually shot mostly in Alberta and British Columbia.
Q 06Why does Colonel Ludlow leave the Army?
Disgust at US treatment of Native Americans
His closest companion on the ranch is One Stab, who narrates the story.
Q 07How many sons does Colonel Ludlow have?
Three
Alfred is the eldest, Samuel the youngest, and Tristan the wild one in the middle.
Q 08Why does the Colonel's wife Isabel leave the ranch for the East Coast?
She cannot cope with the harsh winters
Tristan vows never to speak of her again.
Q 09At age 12, what does Tristan cut from the grizzly bear that injures him?
A claw
The bear returns for the story's final scene half a century later.
Q 10Samuel returns from which university in 1914 with his fiancée Susannah?
Harvard
Almost immediately he announces he is off to fight in Europe.
Q 11The brothers go to war in which country's expeditionary force?
Canada's
The US had not yet entered the war, so the Montanans crossed the border to enlist.
Q 12Which unit do the Ludlow brothers serve in on the Western Front?
The 10th Battalion, CEF
The trench scenes took two weeks to shoot near Morley, Alberta, with locals and Canadian Forces soldiers as extras.
Q 13What does Tristan send home from the front to be buried at the ranch after Samuel dies?
His brother's heart
He holds his brother as he dies, having arrived too late to stop the reconnaissance mission.
Q 21Isabel Two, whom Tristan marries in the 1920s, is the daughter of which ranch character?
Decker, the hired hand
Her mother is Decker's Cree wife Pet; Tristan and Isabel Two have two children before tragedy strikes.
Q 22Who plays Isabel Two?
Karina Lombard
The Tahitian actress had played Antoinette Cosway in Wide Sargasso Sea the year before.
Q 23How does Isabel Two die?
Accidentally shot by a corrupt police officer
Tristan beats the officer nearly to death and is jailed.
Q 14What does the grief-maddened Tristan bring back from his single-handed raid on the enemy lines?
German soldiers' scalps
The trophies horrify his fellow soldiers, and he is discharged.
Q 15Who plays Susannah?
Julia Ormond
The English actress followed it with First Knight and Sabrina the next year.
Q 16Where does Alfred go to make his name after confronting Tristan over Susannah?
Helena
The city's street scenes were shot in Vancouver's Gastown with period facades added.
Q 17What message does Tristan eventually send Susannah from his years abroad?
Marry someone else
Alfred comforts her, and the Colonel finding them together triggers the rift between father and son.
Q 18What happens to Colonel Ludlow after his falling-out with Alfred?
He suffers a stroke and falls silent
Tristan's return in the 1920s brings the ranch, and his father, back to life.
Q 19Alfred marries Susannah and becomes what?
A congressman
His business and politics draw him into the orbit of the O'Banion brothers.
Q 20The O'Banion brothers, who cause the family so much trouble, are what?
Irish bootleggers and gangsters
Tristan's small-scale rum-running during Prohibition puts him at odds with them.
Q 24What becomes of Susannah?
She takes her own life
Tristan had refused her advances when she visited him in jail.
Q 25Where do the Ludlows dump the car after the final shootout at the ranch?
The Missouri River
Knowing Tristan will be hunted, they bury the bodies and he asks Alfred to raise his children.
Q 26In what year does the elderly Tristan die fighting a grizzly bear?
1963
The story spans nearly 50 years, from the early 1900s to that final encounter in the North Country.
Q 27Which famous animal actor, a trained Kodiak, plays the grizzly?
Bart the Bear
He also starred in The Bear and White Fang, and worked with Hopkins again in The Edge.
Q 28Which former child star of E.T. plays the youngest brother, Samuel?
Henry Thomas
He was Elliott in Spielberg's 1982 film.
Q 29Who plays Alfred Ludlow?
Aidan Quinn
Rolling Stone thought he had 'the toughest role', even if Pitt carried the picture.
Q 30Which Cree actor plays One Stab, the Colonel's companion and the story's narrator?
Gordon Tootoosis
British viewers knew him from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, buying the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.