Wilder Strom

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.

When I first saw this movie (at age 13) I was frustrated with the inept, impotent bureaucrat portrayed by Clift. The when I next saw it (age 16), I was vexed by his girl, who seemed to be too patient and wise. The third time (age 18) had me trying to take sides on this complex question - does the good for the many always trump the good for the few, or the one? And I was hooked on this complex, multi-layered drama - I'll see it again whenever and wherever I can. See it if you can find it. Although it's one of Kazan's best, and one of his favorites, it's STILL not in public distribution.

On May 18, 1933 the Federal Government under FDR's "progressive agenda", created the Tennessee Valley Authority, a vast scheme of regional development that involved, in part, the diverting of masses of water into valleys thus protecting large populations of people from the ravages of flooding rivers. Dams were created to assist in this enterprise and to harness the vast energy of the raging waters through turbines which in turn created electricity for communities that still lived in the "dark ages." WILD RIVER begins with stock news footage of the damage ravaged upon a community by a flood, in particular a heart rending first hand account of a man who has suffered a great loss. In comes the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to save the day, a bastion of progress with Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift) as its representative. The TVA, in order to complete its mission, must relocate all the residents within a particular area slated for water relocation but Mrs Ella Garth, an old hard-as-nails woman living on a small island in the middle of the valley, refuses to leave her land for any price. This is the context of WILD RIVER, but for director Elia Kazan, the TVA and its surrounding controversy are a microcosm for America's growing pains and the divisions between North and South that have persisted since the Civil War brought them to a head. Kazan contrasts rugged individualism, so much a part of the Nation's heritage, with an activist Federal Government citing the best interests of the community. The traditional attachment that the South has to "the land", where "the elements" are an accepted part of life is contrasted with the North's reliance on technology to tame the elements. The sophisticated Montgomery, full of enthusiasm and conviction for his mission, is immediately jolted into reality first by the steadfast conviction of the old landowner (in a towering display of acting by Jo Van Fleet), then by overt Racism "for a minute I forgot where I was.", and finally by his own mixed emotions. His passions are aroused by Carol (Lee Remick), Mrs Garth's stepdaughter, who is suffering from under stimulation, both physically and mentally. Widowed for over two years, she lives with her two children and the old woman on the island. When the handsome, educated Chuck arrives on the scene, she finds in him a source of combustion to feed a very deep well of passion. Once ignited, the fire threatens to envelope Chuck's controlled existence and intensify Carol's feelings of displacement. Rarely has confusion, vulnerability and molten sexuality been rendered more effective by an actress. Remick completely dispenses with any pretense about her sexual and emotional hunger and sets the screen on fire! While still smoldering, she manages to convey her separate, but equally passionate emotions for man and child during a tender scene between Clift and her daughter.

There is little to add to the eloquent appreciations of Wild River by other users. Still, I want to pay my tribute. My father took me to see the film when I was a little girl and it made such an impression on me I have been searching for it for years. Odd, since I remembered nothing of the plot, retaining only fleeting images of autumn colours, Lee Remick's autumnal hair, the old ferry, an indelible impression of Montgomery Clift's face, the old woman surrounded by still 'figures in a landscape'. And the creation of a unique atmosphere so tangible, so lyrical, so elegiac it stayed with me for 40+ years. I've been wanting to know why it clung to me so. And wondering why it seemed to have disappeared without trace. This Christmas, in the fullness of time, my niece presented me with the DVD and I have at last seen it again. Why did it affect me so profoundly? That one's easy. Why had the film disappeared. That one's complex, as you know. What I hadn't expected was that stunning performance from the incomparable Jo Van Fleet. No Oscar? Were they mad? It is intensely interesting and sobering to reflect how politics can hold art hostage.

This movie features Jo van Fleet, a terrific actress who has been forgotten.

As usual, her performance carries the movie.

Some should remember her as the mother of the James Dean character in East of Eden, where her scenes with Dean are the most powerful in the film.

Elia Kazan, who directed Wild River, also directed East of Eden.

Kazan said in an interview he considered van Fleet a "great" actress, and expressed irritation that she had been "forgotten."

In Wild River the character she plays so believably is decades older than she actually was.

One previous reviewer here is so fixated on politics that he really uses his pretense of reviewing this movie to give his own personal political views, which are of no interest to me, and which do not belong in a forum of this type.