Wild River

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See also:U.S. National Wild and Scenic Rivers

Wild River
Directed by	Elia Kazan
Produced by	Elia Kazan
Written by	Borden Deal (novel) William Bradford Huie (novel) Paul Osborn
Starring	Montgomery Clift Lee Remick
Editing by	William Reynolds
Release date(s)	1960
Running time	110 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Wild River is a 1960 film directed by Elia Kazan starring Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Salmi and Jay C. Flippen. It tells the story of a young Tennessee Valley Authority administrator who comes to a small town in Tennessee to enforce the clearing of the land to be flooded by a new dam in the Tennessee river. An ageing matriarch (Jo Van Fleet) refuses to sell her land to the federal government and the film anticipates much of the environmental debates concerning the artificial control of rivers. The federal agent (Montgomery Clift) falls in love with the matrarch's granddaughter (Lee Remick) and some scenes between them are remarkable for their erotic tension with no explicits whatsoever. The film also portrays some of the racial issues in the south of the USA after the depression. Filmed in Cinemascope, this work by Elia Kazan shows a deep understanding of the relationship of Nature and the Land with the individual in the United States, reminiscent of artistic and philosophical concerns coming from the 19th century. Some of the panoramic scenes, with the river meandering by beautiful green hills, but with tree stumps on the foreground, are reminiscent of some landscape painting techniques of the Hudson River School. The acting is riveting -- one of the renowned imprints of Elia Kazan as a movie director.

The movie was adapted by Paul Osborn from two novels -- Borden Deal's Dunbar's Cove and William Bradford Huie's 1942 novel, Mud on the Stars. It was filmed in Charleston, Tennessee near Chattanooga on the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers.

[edit] External links

Wild River at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Films directed by Elia Kazan

1940s	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) • The Sea of Grass (1947) • Boomerang! (1947) • Gentleman's Agreement (1947) • Pinky (1949)

1950s	Panic in the Streets (1950) • A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) • Viva Zapata! (1952) • Man on a Tightrope (1953) • On the Waterfront (1954) • East of Eden (1955) • Baby Doll (1956) • A Face in the Crowd (1957)

1960s	Wild River (1960) • Splendor in the Grass (1961) • America, America (1963) • The Arrangement (1969)

1970s	The Visitors (1972) • The Last Tycoon (1976)