Wild River (1960)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Paul Osborn (screenplay)
William Bradford Huie (novel) ...

Release Date:

26 March 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A young field administrator (Montgomery Clift) for the TVA comes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River...

Plot Keywords:

River | Tennessee | Dam | Island | Rural

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Montgomery Clift	...	Chuck Glover
Lee Remick	...	Carol Garth Baldwin
Jo Van Fleet	...	Ella Garth
Albert Salmi	...	Hank Bailey
Jay C. Flippen	...	Hamilton Garth (as J.C. Flippen)
James Westerfield	...	Cal Garth
Barbara Loden	...	Betty Jackson
Frank Overton	...	Walter Clark
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Sy Moore

Runtime:

110 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #19552) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2004) | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bradley County, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Elia Kazan was always fond of this movie and sometimes even said it was his favorite of all the films he made. In the 1970s he tried to buy the rights so that he could re-release it to the public, but the studio's asking price was too high for him.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Chuck drives the black workers to their new TVA-built homes, a white car can be seen parked in the distance which appears to be a 1949 or 1950 Ford, but which in any case is plainly not a vehicle that would have existed in 1933, when the film is set.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995)

Soundtrack:

In the Garden

Jo Van Fleet - Underrated Genius

This is a most remarkable film, chronicling a piece of Americana and presenting a compelling image of the tragedy of progress. And it is Jo Van Fleet whose utterly convincing and captivating portrayal of an 80-year old hillbilly woman (she herself was 45 years old) makes WILD RIVER a masterpiece. To reiterate what others have stated, the fact that her performance was not even nominated for an Oscar is an outrage! I tend to disagree with other reviewers in regards to the subplot between Monty Clift and Lee Remick; I feel their scene slow things down and I find myself fast-forwarding past them to get to the match of will between Clift and Van Fleet. I do, however, understand the necessity of the Chuck/Carol love affair - here you have a stubborn old woman who simply refuses to leave her lifelong home and a sensuous young woman who simply begs to get out! And Monty Clift becomes nemesis and savior. But their scenes together are a total yawn when the good stuff involves the reason Clift is there to begin with - not just his cat-and-mouse with Van Fleet, but all the other obstacles he faces from the rest of the populace of the rural south in the 1930's.

Still, an incredible film and worth viewing over and over again.