Wild River 1960
I had never heard of this movie, but the blu-ray showed up at Dollar Tree and it seemed like a safe bet. Not Elia Kazan’s most notable movie, but made during his peak years, it tells the story of a Tennessee Valley Authority employee trying to get one last holdout off of her land so that a nearly completed dam can cover it up with a lake. Forcing people off of their land is never pretty, but the government does it for the greater good (here derisively called “progress,” though fairly portrayed as a project that will stop horrible floods and bring electricity to rural Tennessee). To spice up the otherwise simple story, the TVA man gets involved with a local widow really quickly and gets in trouble for paying equal wages to black laborers. The movie does a good job of portraying these characters as well as some others, but the movie isn’t really making any kind of statement. It is often plodding with good, but kind of quiet performances, particularly Montgomery Clift as the TVA guy who does a lot of quiet thinking on screen. It definitely has the vibe of a modern indie movie. I would like to have seen a little more edge, but maybe for 1960 this was as far as they could push things. The movie does look good, with a clear picture and accurate colors. I don’t think I had ever seen Clift in anything before, so it was interesting to see this student of method acting at work. The movie never really comes to a boil, but just simmers for the most part.
Written: 15 Jun 2020
Owned on: Blu-ray