laurence-48 I agree with all the other reviewers in that this is quite a well made movie, however you don't have watch too closely to see that actually not a lot of wheat gets cut by these custom cutters. In scenes with the combines, they spend most of their time just driving aimlessly around an already cut field in the dark or even worse making it appear like they are cutting wheat by in fact just driving the machine through some scrub grass. Some minimal stock footage was used of combines in wheat but it amounts to seconds of the film.Its sad that the movie could not have had the chance to get some decent shots of the machines doing the job.This is the only major factual fault in what really is a well produced, directed and acted TV movie.

Jonathon Dabell Amber Waves is a rarely-seen TV movie about wheat harvesters in the American midwest. As an Englishman, I found much of the film interesting purely because it is about a way of life totally unfamiliar to me. The landscapes are very nicely photographed, and the leading performances from Dennis Weaver and Kurt Russell are pretty engaging. The story is about a grizzled old harvester named Bud Burkhardt (Weaver) who learns that he is dying from lung cancer. His attitudes to life are simple: work hard, be reliable and fight for your corner when you have to. However, he finds himself in a peculiar position, since he needs an operation desperately if he is to have any hope of survival, yet he doesn't have the time to be recuperating on a hospital bed when there's a harvest to be gathered. Should he put his life first, or his responsibility to deliver the crop? He hires an extra harvester in the shape of a young, failed magazine model (Russell) who initially hates hard labour, but soon comes to realise that the responsibility and drive of honest hard work is good for the soul. There's nothing remarkable about the plot, which has elements of disease-of-the-week cliches and lots of long, loving sequences showing men driving around fields in combine harvesters. However, the engaging performances and the lovely photgraphy keep you interested. The film isn't as moving as I thought it might be (given the potentially tear-jerking storyline). There's one moving scene where Weaver phones his long estranged son and begs him to come home, but other than that the opportunities for powerful emotional scenes are generally missed. On the whole, Amber Waves is a run-of-the-mill TV movie which has some nice touches and agreeable, interesting moments but doesn't quite hit the emotional level that it seems to be aiming for.

NotSureifthisis7734 This movie is an insult to the viewer at every conceivable level. It is an abomination of junk writing, brain-dead story, wretched casting and mind-numbing pointlessness. I watched this film in sheer horror. There was nothing of any value on the screen. I had a better time watching "The Swarm." Every moment was false. It was as if someone had taken one of the greatest movies ever made, Days of Heaven, shoved it in a blender and then threw the results in my face. Wait a minute. It wasn't "as if," it was. Everyone associated with this picture should be ashamed to the depths of their being. They should have been blacklisted, fined, and never permitted to work in movies again. Alas, I have read many critics who ooh and aah over the rubbish and I guess in that way reveal they never saw a movie they didn't like. People this is a plea: watch Days of Heaven instead. Know the difference between art and dreck.

tanner I have looked for this movie on TV, satellite, and rental. It has not been shown in our area in over six years. I would like to see it released or at least shown on TV so I can copy it. It's a very good family/romance type movie. That also deals honestly with life, love, growing up, facing responsibilities and the hardship of farming during wheat harvest.