Review of Wild River (1960) by David B — 24 Oct 2009

In "Wild River," to curb deadly flooding along the Tennessee River and create jobs during the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration creates the Tennessee Valley Authority to build dams to control the flow of the river. By 1934, all but one landowner has sold their property, the exception being eighty-year old matriarch Ella Garth(Jo Van Fleet). Chuck Glover(Montgomery Clift) is the third man sent to persuade, not force, her, her family and sharecroppers to vacate before the island is flooded by the closing of the dam's gates.

Directed by Elia Kazan, "Wild River" is a well-photographed, if obvious, movie that succeeds by capturing a time and a place without being consdescending towards the rural inhabitants, especially in its use of unadorned faces(Hey, isn't that Bruce Dern?), while also having meaning for the present day. As shown by the opening footage, a documentary approach would have definitely been the way to go. The underlying theme is progress and Glover sometimes forgets exactly where he is in helping not only the white people of the valley who dominate the social structure, but also the blacks who he attempts to hire at the same wages against the wishes of racist businessmen, bringing electricity to all, regardless. He also has to combat Ella and her plantation mentality. She is another force of nature that progress is meant to curb. Without any doubt this is Jo Van Fleet's movie and it suffers badly when she is offscreen which is often, ceding much of the story to a romantic subplot.