reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (11/17/84)
[Note: "The River" will not be released until early December. This
review is based on a preview showing of the final cut.]
"The River" is the last of this year's unusual cycle of farm
movies and, in my opinion, the best. Curiously, it is also the
most "Hollywood" of the three. "Places in the Heart" was origi-
nally an attempt to display a tapestry of life in a rural Texas
town in the 1930s, and never entirely lost that character.
"Country" is downbeat and overtly political. "The River", on the
other hand, could very easily have been made at any time in
Hollywood's history. It tells a rather conventional story, in a
rather conventional way. It even has that Hollywood staple, a
central role cast in a manner that outwardly seems to have more
to do with box office than appropriateness. Despite its fami-
liarity, though, I found "The River" to be much more satisfying
than the other two films. Its pleasures are the pleasures of
fine craftsmanship; if these pleasures are not equal to those of
great art, they are probably the next best thing.
"The River" centers around the struggles of a farming family
in Tennessee. They have the misfortune to own a farm on the
banks of a river which is given to flooding. When the floods get
too bad, their crops are washed away, along with anything else
not anchored down. The film starts with just such a disaster. A
rain storm which at first seems pleasantly blustery becomes a
torrential downpour. The river rises, and the family's efforts
to dam it come to naught. They must flee with the belongings
they can carry, to return after the flood abates so they can sal-
vage what the river hasn't destroyed.
Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson play the husband and wife. Yes,
that's right, Mel Gibson: Mad Max - The Road Warrior, more re-
cently seen as Mr. Christian in "The Bounty". Mel Gibson,
Australia's biggest star. What, you may ask, is an Australian
doing in Tennessee? Well, in this case, feeling right at home.
Gibson's accent and mannerisms are flawless. Had I never seen
him before, I think I would have assumed that he was an American,
and probably a Southern, actor. (Of course, Gibson really is an
American citizen; his father took the family to Australia over
ten years ago as he had moral objections to his sons being forced
to kill Vietnamese.) Not only is Gibson's accent flawless, but
his performance is superb. He makes us see every emotion felt by
his decent but stubborn character as he moves from one trouble to
the next. This performance confirms that Gibson is not just
another pretty face or merely suitable for action pictures. Mel
Gibson is a movie star and actor in the old fashioned mode, of a
type that hasn't been seen for many years. Comparisons to the
likes of Clark Gable and William Holden may be a bit premature,
but would be well to keep in mind.
Sissy Spacek matches him. Of course, she is rural South by
birth and upbringing, but there is much more to her performance
than authenticity. She molds an extremely believable picture of
a strong, modern woman in an old-fashioned setting. Spacek's
character is required to bring in a corn crop all by herself, and
she really looks like she can do it, and bake bread, and take
care of her children, and rescue herself from peril if she has
to, and be there for her man when he needs her. Some people find
Spacek to be plain, or even ugly. I've always thought that she
radiates an inner beauty based on strength of character. Her
role in "The River" confirms my impression. Mark Rydell, the
director of "The River", has spoken of her as "carrying the truth
like a torch", and she uses it to illuminate this film.
As Rydell is also fond of saying, movies don't make them-
selves and they aren't accidents. Rydell is not the most in-
spired of American directors, but he is talented, and he usually
takes only the assignments he truly cares about (though I wonder
how anyone could have cared about "Harry and Walter Go To New
York"). His concern shows in "The River". He gives his films a
lot of thought, too, and is one of the few directors I've heard
speak who can really explain what he wanted in his films; and,
given a chance, he will do so, almost to the point of garrulity.
Rydell was intimately involved in all aspects of the production,
so most of what is good in "The River", and there is much, re-
flects on him in part. Rydell has also handled his actual direc-
tion duties very well. Particularly impressive are the opening
scenes and a sequence in which a confused deer wanders into a
steel mill.
Beyond the performances, which are fine in the supporting
roles as well as in the leads, the most obvious virtue of "The
River" is the photography. Vilmos Zsigmond has produced the most
beautiful cinematography I have seen this year. There are rav-
ishing shots of the river in many moods, as well as well con-
ceived montages of the beauties and perils of rain. Zsigmond is
able to make a broken down steel mill look good without losing
track of its grittiness and squalor. Much of "The River" was
filmed in the golden light of afternoon, but even interiors are
perfectly lit. To top it off, Zsigmond and Rydell had the good
fortune (for them, bad for everyone else involved) to be visiting
Alabama at the time of some major floods; they came back with im-
pressive helicopter shots of the devastation of a real flood.
Which brings us to one of the other major behind-the-scenes
heros of "The River": Charles Rosen the production designer. As
in most big budget films made in Hollywood nowadays, the little
details of sets and costumes are nicely handled. Rosen's great
triumph is the flood sequences. To make them, the film company
reclaimed a patch of swamp land on the banks of a river, built a
complete farm there, installed massive flood control equipment,
and gained the cooperation of both federal and state governments
to get temporary control over the amount of water flowing down
the river. Then they chained down the cameras, tied the actors
to tethers, crossed their fingers, opened a huge steel floodgate,
and let hundreds of thousands of gallons of water flood their
set. Then they closed the floodgate, pumped out the water,
cleaned up the set, and did it again. Feats of generalship like
this, or Richard Attenborough's staging of Gandhi's funeral
(which involved literally hundreds of thousands of extras), or
D.W. Griffith's Babylon sequences from "Intolerance" never fail
to make me respect a director more, particularly when they are
effectively filmed. "The River's" flood sequences are extremely
effective.
Lastly, the script deserves some praise. It's very well
constructed. Every incident fits neatly into the framework of
the overall story. We understand the purpose of every scene, and
the movie's themes are nicely merged. I would mention the
screenwriter's name, but unfortunately I don't remember it, and,
since "The River" will not be released for nearly a month yet, I
can't look it up in ads. Whatever his name is, he did a better
job than William Whitliff did on "Country", though his assignment
was similar. He was sent out to the Midwest to write a script
about the plight of farmers. What he came up with is quite
creditable.
In all, I strongly recommend "The River". It's an honest,
well-intentioned, well-executed story of the continuing hard
times of America's farmers. The ending is upbeat, yet not fool-
ishly optimistic. Revelations, either artistic or social, are
not to be expected, but you can count on solid, respectable sto-
rytelling and all of the virtues of a first class Hollywood film.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher