The River Wild is a 1994 thriller film directed by
Curtis HansonCurtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
and starring
Meryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
,
Kevin BaconKevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
,
David StrathairnDavid Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
,
John C. ReillyJohn Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
, and
Joseph MazzelloJoseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
. The story involves a family on a whitewater rafting trip who encounter two violent criminals in the wilderness.
Plot
A Boston couple, Gail (
Meryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
) and Tom (
David StrathairnDavid Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
) are having marital problems, due to his inability to spend time with his family because of his work as an
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. Gail, a rafting expert, decides to take their son Roarke (
Joseph MazzelloJoseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
) on a holiday rafting trip down the
Salmon RiverThe Salmon River is located in Idaho in the northwestern United States. The Salmon is also known as The River of No Return. It flows for through central Idaho, draining and dropping more than between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National...
in Idaho, along with their pet dog. Their daughter Willa (Stephanie Sawyer) accompanies them to Gail's parents' house in Idaho. At the last minute, just when they are about to leave for the almost week-long trip, Tom joins them. As they are setting off, they meet a couple of other rafters, Wade (
Kevin BaconKevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
) and Terry (
John C. ReillyJohn Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
), who appear to be friendly. Thus Gail, Tom, and Roarke leave for the trip, leaving Willa behind to be taken care of by her grandparents.
After a day's rafting, the family make camp for the night, but Tom continues to work on his renderings rather than entering fully into the experience. This agitates Roarke, who thinks that his father does not really seem to realize he is away from home. They are joined by Wade and Terry who help to celebrate Roarke's birthday the same night. Gail slowly becomes friendly with Wade. However, after a while he begins acting suspicious and she decides it would be best to part ways. During the morning's rafting, he reveals to Roarke that they have a gun with them. As they raft down the river his parents discuss an exit strategy that will allow them to leave the two men behind, and at lunch they attempt to leave on their raft and get away before Wade and Terry realize what is going on.
Their attempt fails and Wade pulls the gun on them and assaults Tom. Gail then realizes that an armed robbery she had heard about was actually carried out by Wade and Terry, and their rafting trip is actually a way for them to get away. They are forced to raft at gunpoint down the rest of the river before they all set up camp for the night. Meanwhile, a park ranger named Johnny (
Benjamin BrattBenjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
), who knows Gail, is white water canoeing down the river. He bumps into the group; but Wade holds the gun to Gail's back and pretends that everything is okay. Later, he appears again but this time Wade shoots him, grabs him by his shirt, and throws him into the rapids.
It is revealed that Wade and Terry, in order to aid their escape, want to go on down the river to a set of rapids where in recent years one person was killed and another was left paralyzed. Consequently, rafting is no longer allowed there. They force Gail to raft down through the rapids despite her repeated attempts to flip the raft and so force them out of the river.
During the night Tom attempts to steal the gun off the sleeping Terry but is heard and has to run into the bushes and to the river. Wade gives chase and believes he has shot him when he hears a loud splash into the water.
Tom reappears and manages to flip the raft. Gail and Roarke, who have been tied to the raft by Wade, remain in it and manage to get hold of the gun, which had fallen into the water, while Tom is fighting Terry. The struggle ends when Gail throws the bag of money into the water and shoots Wade whose dead body floats off down the river. The film ends with the family and Terry (who has been arrested) being helicoptered out.
Cast
- Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
as Gail
- David Strathairn
David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
as Tom
- Joseph Mazzello
Joseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
as Roarke
- Stephanie Sawyer as Willa
- Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
as Wade
- John C. Reilly
John Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
as Terry
- Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
as Ranger Johnny
- Elizabeth Hoffman
Elizabeth Hoffman is an American actress who has guest-starred in a number of television shows, mini-series as well as several movies including playing the role of "Grandma Ruth" in Dante's Peak. She also played the role of Beatrice Reed on the television drama Sisters and Catherine Langford in...
as Gail's Mother
- Victor H. Galloway as Gail's Father
- Diane Delano
Diane A. Delano is an American character actress, sometimes credited as Diana Delano. Her best known roles might be "Bobbi Glass" as well as her twin sister nurse "Jessi Glass "on the 1999 series Popular and the recurring character "Barbara Semanski" on Northern Exposure...
as Ranger
- Thomas F. Duffy as Ranger#2
- William Lucking
William Lucking is an American film, television, and stage actor perhaps best known for his role as Piney Winston in the drama series Sons of Anarchy.-Film and television:...
as Frank
- Paul Cantelon
Paul Cantelon Paul Cantelon Paul Cantelon (born December 25, 1959 is an American composer of contemporary classical music, a film score composer and an actor He is also a violinist, pianist, and accordionist, who is also a founding member of American alternative band Wild Colonials....
as Violinist
- Glenn Morshower
Glenn Grove Morshower is an American actor best known for playing Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce on the Fox action thriller drama series 24...
as Policeman
Production
Many of the film's whitewater scenes were filmed on the Kootenai River in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Additional ones were filmed on the
Rogue RiverThe Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States flows about in a generally westward direction from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Known for its salmon runs, whitewater rafting, and rugged scenery, it was one of the original eight rivers named in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act...
, in
Southern OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and the Middle Fork of the
Flathead RiverThe Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Rocky Mountains near Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of , empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark...
. Meryl Streep did most of her own stunts in the film. She had a scare at the end of one day of filming when Hanson asked her to shoot one more scene, which she protested against because of exhaustion. She, however, decided to attempt it and with a lack of strength from fatigue was swept off the raft into the river and was in danger of drowning before she was rescued. On being so she said to Hanson "In the future, when I say I can't do something, I think we should believe me," to which he agreed.
Release
The film premiered on September 30, 1994 in the United States but release was delayed in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
until February 24, 1995. The film grossed a total of $94,216,343 worldwide, earning $46,816,343 domestically in the United States and $47,400,000 abroad.
Reception
The River Wild generally received a mixed reaction by critics although the scenery and cinematography of the film was widely praised. Film critic
James BerardinelliJames Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
praised the production of the film in its cinematography and score and the pace of the rafting experience to the audience. He praised Curtis Hanson's directing in that like
The Hand That Rocks the CradleThe Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a 1992 American thriller about a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family. The film was directed by Curtis Hanson, starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, and Matt McCoy...
, Hanson, "could manipulate characters and situations within the comfortable confines of a formula plot", describing it as a "level of excitement designed to submerge implausibilities and minor gaffes, and a film which "braves the rapids while keeping the viewer afloat amidst its churning waters". He also praised Streep's powerful performance as a female action hero but described the film overall as "a cut below a white-knuckler".
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun Times also highlighted the best elements of the film as the cinematography, which he described as "great looking" and the performances by Bacon and Streep, who he described as "putting a lot humor and intelligence into her character". However, Ebert identified serious flaws in the strength of the plot, remarking that, "movies like this are so predictable in their overall stories that they win or lose with their details...
The River Wild was constructed from so many ideas, characters and situations recycled from other movies that all the way down the river I kept thinking: Been there". He emphasised the lack of credibility in the storyline and sheer impossibility of some scenes, particularly involving David Strathairn as he outruns the pace of the river and his scenes with the cliff and his
Swiss Army knifeThe Swiss Army knife is a brand of pocket knife or multi-tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing the German name....
.
Streep received Golden Globe and
Screen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
(SAG) nomination for best actress for her portrayal of a former river guide turned wife and mother. Bacon received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Featured Film. Neither of them won the Golden Globe, with the awards going to
Jessica LangeJessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
in
Blue Sky and
Martin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
in
Ed WoodEd Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau...
respectively.