Sadly Over-hyped

Highly Overrated But Still Good

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

"Wild River" was released in 1960. I would have been 13 then and this movie is still strong in my now 67-year old mind. It was filled with tragedy and heartbreak, the destruction of past and future and hope. Shortly after the old woman left the island, her homestead on it covered over with water, covering her past like it had never occurred, and because she died in the fancy new house the TVA had made for her shortly after she got there, it was like she'd never been - like it had all been mist and shadows. That's stuck in my mind for most of my life, with a lesson that nothing is forever. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Eccl 3:1(KJV) AMEN!!!

Not many movies out there are about the TVA. But this one is, and it's both entertaining and educational. The Tennessee Valley Authority was part of the Depression Era New Deal. It both put unemployed men to work and built a system of dam driven turbines that furnished electricity to much of the South. The trouble is that it required taking over the land affected by the new waterways and moving off the owners. Despite offering compensation to the owners, many didn't want to leave. Here, old lady Garth (Van Fleet) refuses to leave and by golly no one's going to make her, including government man Glover (Clift). How he eases her off the land without using force forms the crux of the plot.Filming in Tennessee in Technicolor is a real asset, lending both eye appeal and authenticity. I also like the way the movie deals with social issues of the time. Blacks as well as Whites are hired onto the same TVA work teams and paid the same wages. That upsets both local segregation laws and the local economy since Blacks are customarily paid a fraction of what Whites get. Naturally many Blacks leave their former jobs to hire on with the better paying government work force. This angers many local Whites who then try to disrupt the project. Thus, federal man Glover has a lot to contend with, especially since he's also romancing old lady Garth's unhappy granddaughter, Carol (Remick).Van Fleet's excellent as the hard-bitten matriarch, and so is Salmi as one of the local thugs. Surprisingly, Remick's usual sexy appearance is downplayed in favor of a more emotive role. But to me, the real surprise is Clift. He's mostly expressionless throughout the 100-minutes. I suspect that's because of the auto accident that so damaged his face several years earlier. But, whatever the reason, he's not nearly as effective as we know he could be from earlier films.This may not be one of director Kazan's more celebrated showcases, but it is both an intriguing drama and a revealing look at an important slice of American history.

The DVD case with this release carries a comment describing the film as a 'hidden gem'. How often has that promise been fulfilled for buyers? In this case, for me, it definitely was. I like most of Elia Kazan's films, and 'Wild River' is an excellent example of his work.Kazan gets fine performances out of the whole cast. He tells the story without flourishes or cinematic indulgences, pacing the action and character development with wonderful skill and feeling. (A fine musical score contributes to the mood.) The film starts out with newsreel footage of flooding along the Tennessee River in the 1930s. The use of historical material is a simple and effective way of setting up the situation: the attempt by a Tennessee Valley Authority bureaucrat to persuade a woman landholder to move off the island she owns in the river, the last property not yet repossessed for a dam project. But Kazan's film is not of the 'cinema realism' type. It is a study in character: the bureaucrat who comes to do a job in the public interest, the old woman who refuses to surrender her birthright, and her widowed granddaughter who craves to rejoin society. The story takes these three characters through a convincing and interesting journey. There are no plot surprises, and yet the outcome is never obvious. Jo Van Fleet, as the woman hold-out, gives a powerful portrayal of someone soured in her rightness. Montgomery Clift, as the bureaucrat, is as good here as in any of his films. The reserved quality of his acting style is put to good use, in character terms, by Kazan. Lee Remick, as the granddaughter, demonstrates the emotional range and subtlety of performance that mark her best work. She is also strikingly beautiful. This film is a treasure.

According to Robert LaGuardia's biography of Montgomery Clift, director Elia Kazan got the germ of the idea for Wild River while working temporarily for the Department of Agriculture during the New Deal years. He saw how the creation of these government agencies changed American life and waited for about 20 years before finally getting to do his New Deal film.The agency he chose was one that has lasted and changed the lives of people in about seven states that the Tennessee River and tributaries flow through. The Tennessee Valley Authority was one of the great achievements of the Roosevelt administration bringing cheap hydroelectric power to a region that private companies would not service because it wasn't profitable. The dams on the tributary rivers and on the Tennessee itself became part of a whole system that changed everyone's lives in the region for the better.Well, almost everyone and that's what the story of Wild River is all about. A family named Garth headed by matriarch Jo Van Fleet lives and farms on an island in the river which will be flooded over when the dams are finished. TVA administrator Monty Clift is sent to deal with the situation, but also gets personally involved with Van Fleet's grand daughter Lee Remick.The film really belongs to Van Fleet. You'll not forget her portrayal of an aged and stern pioneer farm woman who is just fighting for the place that's been home all her life. In my opinion Kazan got just as good a performance out of Jo Van Fleet maybe even better than the one she got an Oscar for in East Of Eden. In fact the whole film is sadly overlooked when judging Elia Kazan's work. I think it's a masterpiece.As for Clift, Kazan originally wanted Marlon Brando, but when Brando proved unavailable he hired Clift who was becoming more available simply because of his unreliability due to his increased drinking. While he didn't stay clean and sober for the shoot, he respected Kazan and the film enough to be letter perfect on his days before the camera. Monty was on a sad downward spiral in his life though you would not know it from this film, the one preceding it Suddenly Last Summer and the one following it, Judgment At Nuremberg for which he got an Oscar nomination. He was one of the greatest screen actors there ever was, most of his work is classic. Ironically Marlon Brando would be hired when Clift died in 1966 for the starring role in Reflections Of A Golden Eye.Kazan has a real feel for the times in Wild River. It's not only good entertainment, but ought to be assigned viewing by political science professors who want to demonstrate the impact of the New Deal in American life during that period.And this review is dedicated to a man who worked for over 15 years to get the Tennessee Valley Authority through Congress. Senator George W. Norris was one of the giants of the US Senate, his is a career for the most part that ought to be studied and emulated. We could use a lot more like him today in government.