This is How Movies Should Be Made

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely amazing

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I agree with most of the praises that precede this post -- I'm glad I tuned into it on TCM and on my recently added wide screen TV -- it is the made for wide screen version and it is magnificent. The reason I stepped in here was: there was a sharecropper (?)who resembled James Earl Jones so I looked into the credits. Someone was ahead of me and said that it was James Earl Jones' father, who also had a deep resonant voice.Jo Van Fleet deserved a Best Supporting Actress definitely. Albert Salmi had a role he could play easily -- with menace that worries an audience. A nine because I didn't buy into the romance with Lee Remick and those scenes were too long for me.

I can see why this movie is considered a classic. A particular version of rural Tennessee is captured very starkly with the characters and atmosphere seeming to walk right out of a painting. That much alone makes it worth a view. The acting is excellent, especially in the supporting and minor roles. They create and carry the film. Given that, Montgomery Cliff, although a great actor, is not as good as one might expect. The attempts at romantic moments with Lee Remick really fall flat and it seems to be his presence that is the problem not hers or the director's. She puts out a good effort but it is not believable when it is pointed in his direction. His other scenes are much better but even with those, this is not one of the great Montgomery Cliff vehicles. There is one confrontation scene that is a bit confused in that it is not exactly clear what the motivations of all the participants are and their actions are likewise difficult to make sense of. It almost came across as a scene that was artificially built up with extra characters that the director wanted to show but had no other logical place in which to do it. It could have been scaled back and been more effective.

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.

I am assuming that this movie was filmed near Vonore, Tn, but I am not sure. However, my grandfather (Bob Gray)and my great-grandfather (William Luther Gray) were extras in this film. In one scene my great grandfather was on a raft carrying cattle across the river. In another scene, my grandpa drove a horse and buggy over a ledge. I think there was also a scene where they were in trench coats. They were paid around $5 an hour to do this, I believe. I was also told by my grandmother that the livestock used in the film belonged to a man named Bob Carson. This information is all an account from my grandmother so I am not sure about all of it. Another movie that was filmed in the area The Curse (Tellico Plains) was filmed in the house that my grandparents lived in when they were married. My grandmother can point out where their bed was. I have never seen either of these films so if any of this is incorrect, sorry.