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The River

The River

Drama · 1984

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.

Movie details

The River

“He might be able to hold back the river. But could he hold back the greed of man?”

1984 Drama 2h 2m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The River?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mark Rydell

Written by

Robert Dillon · Julian Barry

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Tom Garvey

Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek

Mae Garvey

Scott Glenn

Scott Glenn

Joe Wade

Billy Green Bush

Billy Green Bush

Harve Stanley

S

Shane Bailey

Lewis Garvey

B

Becky Jo Lynch

Beth Garvey

Don Hood

Don Hood

Senator Neiswinder

Court is in session

Put The River on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.