Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The River Wild (1994)

Former white water rafting guide Meryl Streep gives her son a memorable 10th birthday present when she takes her family down the river in Curtis Hanson's thriller The River Wild.

The movie establishes that 90's super woman Streep has problems in her marriage (no kidding) when she visits her mom in Montana and confides in her.  She takes her 10 year-old son down to the river showing him how she used to be a white water guide and meets up with Kevin Bacon and a couple other guys who are going down river in a parallel expedition.  Her husband (David Straithairn) shows up in the nick of time so that the family, including their faithful dog, starts down the river together.

You can almost hear the banjos wail as this Deliverance clone gets underway.  But honestly and truly Meryl Streep is not believable heading into territory that took a Burt Reynolds to tame.  An opportune radio broadcast reveals that the guys in the boat just over there (Bacon and company) might be fugitives from justice (no kidding!).

Well, just as you expected the two tenderfeet "lose" their guide (dum dum DUM) and hitch a ride with Streep as you wonder when they are going to do their gun fu on the average family with the super mom.


Bacon does pull his gun and splits up the family forcing Streep to take him down through the Gauntlet, the scary white water place on the river. Straithairn is left for dead but makes a miraculous recovery and gets down to the landing place afoot before the party in the raft, thus setting up the big ending that you knew was coming right from the start.  Streep and the kid are once more reconciled with Straithairn after being mad at him for most of the trip.

Well probably every female that ever saw this movie would cheer at Meryl Streep's perfect super woman and laugh at David Straithairn's doofus putz that finally grows a pair, but it's all been done before and much better besides. The real money performance is from Kevin Bacon who can put on the charm and be nasty as heck besides. But he does not have enough screen time to keep the movie afloat as the studious ACTRESS Meryl dominates the screen showing her acting chops (Look at me, dammit, I'm acting!) (yawn).  Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger's screen career is still safe should he desire to return to Hollywood.

The Universal DVD is presented in color, in 2.35:1 theatrical format with a 112 minute running time.  No extras except subtitles and a couple language choices. This movie is good for one time through so better make it a rental if at all.  



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV