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The River

Play trailer Poster for The River PG-13 1984 2h 4m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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27% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
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The River

Critics Reviews

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Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune 04/17/2020
2.5/4
The River is nothing more than a conventional, albeit pretty, melodrama. Go to Full Review Bob Thomas Associated Press 04/17/2020
Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson suffer admirably as the farm couple, but their roles have no real dimension. Go to Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times 04/17/2020
[The River] has a meticulously detailed physical production and, from time to time, is acted with passion by its cast. Yet its ideas are so profoundly muddled that the film must run mainly on sentimentality. Go to Full Review Christopher Lloyd The Film Yap 09/16/2024
4/5
A flop when it came out 40 years ago with a purportedly miscast Mel Gibson, Mark Rydell's unironic look at struggling Tennessee farmers deserves a reappraisal. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 08/05/2020
2/4
Of the three "save the farm" films that all appeared on the scene in 1984, The River places a distant third behind the superb Places in the Heart and the solid Country. Go to Full Review Candice Russell South Florida Sun-Sentinel 04/17/2020
The difficulty in seeing The River lies in part with its ill-timed release so soon after Places in the Heart and Country... Similarities aside, The River is the best of the three. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jelisije J 06/06/2024 A nice well made movie about a farmer and his family living in a town where everyone is struggling to survive and is battling his wife former love interest who is trying to buy his land to make way to end a river so he can make a dam......not the most interesting or well paced story that you will watch or even want to rewatch. See more steve d 07/14/2020 really melodramatic and not at all interesting. See more 08/16/2018 Here's the basic problem with this film. At its core it's about how a community adapts to intensive flooding and plummeting land prices. To represent this there are two men: one who wants to rebuild and improve the local economy by buying out ruined farmland and putting in a hydroelectric power station which will provide local jobs and prevent such wide-scale flooding, and a stubborn farmer who insists on keeping his failing farm and disrupting the community's plans for improvement. And guess which one's the hero? Honestly, this film has a real struggle with distinguishing nobility from mere surface details. While obstinacy can be noble it isn't inherently virtuous unless in service of a cause worthy of the fight. And this fight is just a matter of pride and an inability to adapt to changing circumstances. Because the film chooses to see all lost causes as virtuous (and in a not particularly subtle piece of symbolism the Confederate flag is displayed prominently several times) we're given a paean to stupidity over common sense and rational planning. See more 07/28/2017 Great mainstream depiction of farmers' crisis in mid-80's. See more 12/31/2016 Solid film about a family farm threatened to be lost first to severe flooding and later to a dam being push by a local businessman. Good cast helps. I couldn't help but think if the flooding is that bad on two occasions, it may be time to consider moving. See more 06/11/2016 Farmer fights floods to save his farm in this melodrama. See more Read all reviews
The River

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Cast & Crew

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Mark Rydell

Director

Mel Gibson

Tom Garvey

Sissy Spacek

Mae Garvey

Scott Glenn

Joe Wade

Shane Bailey

Lewis Garvey

Becky Jo Lynch

Beth Garvey

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The River

The River (1984) The River (1984) The River (1984) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Director
Mark Rydell
Screenwriter
Robert Dillon
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Universal Pictures
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 19, 1984, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 5, 2016
Runtime
2h 4m
Sound Mix
Stereo, Surround
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Scope (2.35:1)
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