I didn't have any idea what I was gonna see with Wild River but for me it was a mixed bag.
First off I really did like this film. I'm a huge Elia Kazan fan along with Lee Remick. One of my favorites ever is "A Face in the Crowd " so I was eager to see a little gem I didn't know existed in the Kazan canon.
The film itself is extremely well made and acted. Great subject matter and very different for the time it was made. Monty Clift looks a lot better in this then films he did after this. He's crystal clear and coherent with no signs of sickness or illness. He stands out for sure. All the actors make a stand in this film so to me it's an ensemble piece. Not a Clift piece. Lee Remick is just gorgeous in this.
I guess my only complaint would be the racism part. I've grown up in the south my whole life and have known people who are like one of the protagonists in this, very racist and cruel, but I think a lot of films in this time that protracted the south just made everyone seem like they were stupid or backwards and hated everyone black or whatever background they were. There's some mild cases of that in this film also. I'm glad the days of film-making with that tone are over cause not everyone was like that. Seems Hollywood for a long time liked to take that agenda and squeeze it for all it was worth.
It amazed me they took as long as they did to throw this old woman off of her property because it was plainly obvious that the river needed to be redone to fix a lot of issues and appeasing this old biddy didn't make sense to me. She and her "island" bunch wouldn't have held up progress for thousands of people on a principle in this day and age. Of course in the end it all works out but it's still offbeat to me to see that people were like that back in the day. Screw progress and screw everyone else...what's mine is mine. That's selfish and not acceptable in any day and time.
This a nice little Kazan gem. If it passes your eye, stop and grab it. It's worth a watch.
First off I really did like this film. I'm a huge Elia Kazan fan along with Lee Remick. One of my favorites ever is "A Face in the Crowd " so I was eager to see a little gem I didn't know existed in the Kazan canon.
The film itself is extremely well made and acted. Great subject matter and very different for the time it was made. Monty Clift looks a lot better in this then films he did after this. He's crystal clear and coherent with no signs of sickness or illness. He stands out for sure. All the actors make a stand in this film so to me it's an ensemble piece. Not a Clift piece. Lee Remick is just gorgeous in this.
I guess my only complaint would be the racism part. I've grown up in the south my whole life and have known people who are like one of the protagonists in this, very racist and cruel, but I think a lot of films in this time that protracted the south just made everyone seem like they were stupid or backwards and hated everyone black or whatever background they were. There's some mild cases of that in this film also. I'm glad the days of film-making with that tone are over cause not everyone was like that. Seems Hollywood for a long time liked to take that agenda and squeeze it for all it was worth.
It amazed me they took as long as they did to throw this old woman off of her property because it was plainly obvious that the river needed to be redone to fix a lot of issues and appeasing this old biddy didn't make sense to me. She and her "island" bunch wouldn't have held up progress for thousands of people on a principle in this day and age. Of course in the end it all works out but it's still offbeat to me to see that people were like that back in the day. Screw progress and screw everyone else...what's mine is mine. That's selfish and not acceptable in any day and time.
This a nice little Kazan gem. If it passes your eye, stop and grab it. It's worth a watch.