The River Wild

Director: Curtis Hanson Curtis Hanson

Overview

"In a change-of-pace role designed to prove that she could carry high-concept genre films as well as character-driven dramas, Meryl Streep headlined this fast-paced adventure as Gail, a white-water rafting guide. For a vacation, Gail is accompanying her son, Roarke (Joseph Mazzello), and workaholic husband Tom, (David Strathairn), on a river trip. Gail and Tom are experiencing marital troubles and contemplating divorce, but their problems take a back seat when they encounter some menacing rafters led by Wade (Kevin Bacon). After Tom saves Wade from drowning, they discover that the men are murderous fugitives using the river as an escape route. Kidnapped by the killers, Gail is forced to leave her husband stranded onshore and guide the villains through the ""Gauntlet,"" a raging confluence of rivers that few rafters ever survive. Meanwhile, Tom proves to be wilier than anyone suspected, following the raft on foot and plotting his family's rescue. Following a quartet of popular B-grade thrillers, director Curtis Hanson attempted to break partially out of the genre with The River Wild, which, despite the presence of a psycho killer, played as more a stunt-filled action movie than a murder mystery."

Product Details

Release Date:	12/10/1997
UPC:	0025192004322
Original Release:	1994
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	1,638

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Meryl Streep	Gail
Kevin Bacon	Wade
David Strathairn	Tom
Joseph Mazzello	Roarke
John C. Reilly	Terry
Benjamin Bratt	Ranger Johnny
Victor H. Galloway	Gail's Father,Gail's Father
Elizabeth Hoffman	Gail's Mother
William Lucking	Frank
Stephanie Sawyer	Willa
Diane Delano	Ranger
Thomas F. Duffy	Ranger
Paul Cantelon	Violinist
Glenn Morshower	Policeman
Curtis Hanson	Actor
Nancy Klopper	Actor
Jerry Goldsmith	Composer

Technical Credits

Denis O'Neill

Bruce Evans

Ray Gideon

Curtis Hanson	Director
Roy Arbogast	Special Effects,Special Effects
David Foster	Producer
Ray Hartwick	Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Producer,Producer
Ilona Herzberg	Executive Producer,Producer
Max Kleven	Stunts
Nancy Klopper	Casting
Lawrence Turman	Producer
Denis O'Neill	Screenwriter
Billy Bates	Stunts
Anna Behlmer	Sound Effects
Chris Dawson	Special Effects
David Boulton	Sound Effects
Charles L. Campbell	Sound Effects
Louis L. Edemann	Sound Effects
Kirk Francis	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Ray Brown	Special Effects
Bruce Evans	Screenwriter
Ray Gideon	Screenwriter
Tony Epper	Stunts
Ivan Sharrock	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

While the "vacationing family in peril" is not a new construct, director Curtis Hanson, in one of his pre-L.A. Confidential genre films, brings a fresh and palpable fear to the scenario in The River Wild. Due to the believable performances -- led by Meryl Streep in a departure and the wolfish Kevin Bacon in his familiar sheep's clothing -- the film crackles with a sense of normalcy spinning out of control. In less skillful hands, the good deed of picking up stranded boaters along a rocky river would have been saturated with doom from minute one -- as well as the certainty that the heroes would emerge unscathed. Hanson paints the set-up more in shades of gray, leaving the menacing behavior more of a surprise (even when the audience knows it's coming), and the outcome of tense moments not nearly so easy to telegraph. As the emasculated father, David Strathairn hits just the right pitch of nervous desperation. One might criticize the film for borrowing too heavily from another rafting adventure gone awry, Deliverance -- including a noticeable parallel between the off-boat survival instincts of Strathairn and Deliverance's Jon Voight. But Hanson and Streep provide the credibility to elevate The River Wild beyond the level of mere knock-off.