May 28, 2020

River Movies 2

By roads-rus

DSC02377The movies below are, in my opinion, lesser known than 1-5, but their plots do focus on rivers.

dsc04947-16.  A 1960 released film, Wild River had a fine cast and a brilliant performance by Jo Van Fleet.  Her unforgettable acting was ignored by Academy Award nominators.  However, a few years before Wild River, she received a Best Supporting Actress AA, for her work in East of Eden.  Anyone who has lost a house to make way for a new highway, a dam, or a building perceived as necessary by local authorities will relate to this family’s dilemma.

7.  Wind River. This underrated 2017 movie starring Jeremy Renner and filmed in Wyoming seemed to come and go quickly without finding a large audience.  This is unfortunate because its basic mystery and resolution were socially significant and disturbing.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my first visit to the Wind River area influenced future career choices.  I’ll never forget that it was snowing there in the summer.

8.  Frozen River.  This may be my favorite river film.  Melissa Leo was correctly nominated for Best Actress for her stunning performance.  She didn’t win.  However, a few years later she did equally memorable work in The Fighter and won the Best Supporting Actress AA.  Her excellent, young, Native American co-star, Misty Upham,  gave her all in what was to become her only major screen performance.  She died mysteriously in 2014.  The somewhat similar circumstances to the plot of Wind River, to my knowledge, has never been acknowledged.

9.  The Man From Snowy River.  This Australian film should have turned its young star, Tom Burlinson, into a major international star, but it didn’t.  It’s American star, Kirk Douglas, gave one of his best performances in it.  The Snowy Mountains are Australia’s most significant and contain its highest peak, but The Man From Snowy River was filmed further south in this continent’s Victorian Alps. 

DSC0391010.  Hope & Glory.  This much honored British movie dealt with the affects of World War II on England’s children.  I loved the scene filmed in a river that resulted in exploding fish.  This scene might disturb fish lovers, but I found it and the film fantastic.  It received many nominations but few awards, which is unfortunate.  

Hank

About roads-rus

Since the beginning, I've had to avoid writing about the downside of travel in order to sell more than 100 articles. Just because something negative happened doesn't mean your trip was ruined. But tell that to publishers who are into 5-star cruise and tropical beach fantasies. I want to tell what happened on my way to the beach, and it may not have been all that pleasant. My number one rule of the road is...today's disaster is tomorrow's great story. My travel experiences have appeared in about twenty magazines and newspapers. I've been in all 50 states more than once and more than 50 countries. Ruth and I love to travel internationally--Japan, Canada, China, Argentina, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, etc. Within the next 2 years we will have visited all of the European countries. But our favorite destination is Australia. Ruth and I have been there 9 times. I've written a book about Australia's Outback, ALONE NEAR ALICE, which is available through both Amazon & Barnes & Noble. My first fictional work, MOVING FORWARD, GETTING NOWHERE, has recently been posted on Amazon. It's a contemporary, hopefully funny re-telling of The Odyssey. View all posts by roads-rus
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2020 at 6:06 pm and posted in some undervalued movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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