Monty @ 100: Forgotten gem "Wild River"
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 10:42PM by Nathaniel R
Clift arrives in Tennessee, a Federal employee who the locals will not take well to.
When speaking about new movies, we often discuss the vagaries of film distribution and studio support both in terms of audience outreach and awards campaign. These things often effect how movies are received, for better and worse. Less discussed, probably because interest is always more niche when it comes to older films, is how important both continued availability and awards play, are to an enduring reputation, once a movie is "old". Some films are forgotten for a reason, but there are plenty that would be better regarded if they had remained readily available to the public. Such I'd argue is the case with Elia Kazan's Wild River...
Though Clift's road back to the movies following the long break after From Here to Eternity was psychologically fraught and physically painful it's worth noting though it's rarely acknowledged, that the majority of the movies at the start of the second act of Clift's career were actually successful upon release! Raintree County sold lots of tickets (though its gargantuan budget prevented a profit), The Young Lions was financially, if not artistically, successful and Suddenly Last Summer was a truly major hit (Liz didn't need it but Hepburn and Clift sure did at the time). And then comes Wild River, which one assumes wasn't a hit as it's so rarely discussed and the Academy totally ignored it (though the bulk of Clift's movies did receive Oscar nominations of some kind).
The story takes place in the early 1930s.
We learn in a short documentary-prologue that the Federal government in the form of a new outfit called the TVA, is trying to stem disastrous amounts of death and destruction in Tennessee due to the river. They aim to both tame the titular body of water with dams and harness it for electricity to bring progess to the State. Naturally progress is a dirty word to some.
Ma Garth (Jo Van Fleet, sensational) is a landowner who has refused all relocation and buyout deals from the government. Her small island in the middle of the wild river, is home to her extended family including granddaughter Carol (Lee Remick) and all of their black farm hands and their extended families. That's a lot of people who will die as the river rises. TVA bigwig Chuck Glover (Monty Clift) is sent in to save the day and talk some sense into the old woman, preferrably without using orce to drag her out. At first Chuck is all philosophical and cheerful about it, but he doesn't yet realize how hard his job is going to be.
That is the American way of life. Rugged individualism is our heritage. 3,000 people sell, and Ella Garth won't sell. We applaud that spirit. We admire it. We believe in it. But we've got to get her the hell out of there.
Multiple visists to Ma Garth don't go well and things get increasingly complicated (and dangerous) for the government man.
laborers about to get a huge raise
local racists who can't believe their cheap labor is quitting
Chuck realizing he's about to get a beat down with racist thugs visiting him at home.
One of the modern appeals of Wild River is that it's racially progressive. Chuck comes in direct conflict with racist authorities in Tennessee who are mortified that someone is stealing their cheap labor and offering them the exact same pay as white workers. Even better, Chuck isn't portrayed as some kind of white savior by doing this... he's just a smart guy making a savvy (if risky) move that will both save lives and remove one obstacle to his end goal (getting Ma Garth off her land). Clift also doesn't clumsily underline his character's heroism -- so many modern films are so self-congratulatory about their activism -- but just evokes a basic sense of decency and fairness in his character instead.
But mostly Wild River is a wonderful watch because the story is compelling and the performances are all totally on point (it's an Elia Kazan picture, natch). Some of the common Clift persona beats are trotted out again -- he's an outsider who makes people uncomfortable, he gets physically battered epeatedly but refuses to budge an inch, and he has a compellingly believable sexual relationship that's not quite a traditional romance -- but the happy news is that Clift is terrific in the picture, rising to the challenge.
Lee Remick is fascinating as Carol, a young widow, who is trying to work her way into the heart of a man she doesn't understand... and who she fears doesn't actually love her. One of the best scenes is pretty frank shaming from her grandmother about her sexual dalliance with Clift. Clift's reactions to Remick are often impenetrable but it fits the character who is perpetually indecisive about this widow even though he's quite believably drawn to her nonetheless. Clift had always been wonderful at evoking confused but passionate romantic feeling and is again here.
Ma Garth: [referring to Chuck] Walter, you'd better take this lunatic home!
Chuck: [missing the insult, drunk] I'll take him home in a minute. But there's something I want to say first.
Jo Van Fleet steals every scene she's in except one, when Chuck visits her while shit-faced. Clift is loose and funny in the scene and walks away with it. That unexpected sense of humor and flummoxed quality with both Garth women pays off in his scenes with Remick, too.
I wish someday I could win maybe one fight.
Curiously despite its then-very-popular director, Elia Kazan and the fact that it's in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," Wild River is all but forgotten today even though it's easily one of the best films in the back half of Clift's filmography. It received zero Oscar nominations despite three strong performances, a good script, and evocative cinematography and production design.
Wild River also holds the distinction of being one of Montgomery Clift's only color films (the others are Raintree County and his final film The Defector which we'll get to in a few days)
Color pictures began in the 1930s but somehow Clift made it all the way to 1957 without appearing in one. Maybe the visual shift interrupts direct comparisons to the jaw-dropping black and white beauty of his youth, but Clift suddenly looks like a bonafide movie star again. Or maybe the famously troubled actor was having a good few months? Or maybe he was learning to work around his new limitations as an actor due to nerve damage in his face? Whatever the cause this classic star is handsome and vital onscreen again, and looser physically too. He no longer recedes in the face of showy co-stars as he'd done in his early post-accident pictures but carries a movie with ease. Happily, it's a good one, too.
Next: The Misfits (1961) starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Thelma Ritter, and Clift
Reader Comments (17)
I friggin love this. Have it on Blu-Ray, have seen it a three time.s
1960 was a stacked year for best actor, without a doubt, but I think I would have snuck him in there anyway.
Loving this series.
Wait—Raintree County came out in 1957 and was in color
Jo Van Fleet is my choice for Best Supporting Actress of 1960 for this very performance. Hard to believe she wasn't even nominated considering the actual line up was fairly weak.
Nathaniel, I'm so glad you liked Wild River! This is the Monty movie that, for me, encapsulates what was lost when we lost him so young. He and Remick are so good in this, and if it weren't for Janet Leigh, Jo Van Fleet would be my supporting actress pick for 1960.
Raintree's also color, Nathaniel, but I understand you repressing it.
I do love this movie, even more on rewatch. Like in Lonelyhearts, MC looks pretty terrific, all things considered, and he shows more vitality and wit here than in his last picture. The supporting cast is excellent as well. Pretty incredible that Jo Van Fleet, only five years older than MC, is completely convincing as an 80-something grandmother (similar to her Oscar win five years earlier playing James Dean's mother).
And there's that rainy prelude to a love scene, reminiscent of A Place in the Sun.
This is a lovely picture. Monty must have felt so too since he is energized in a way that he hadn't been since before Raintree County. Some of that may be due to the fact that for the entirety of the shoot he was off the booze, a promise Kazan extracted before filming began and which Monty with the help and support of Van Fleet and Lee Remick was able to stick to. That may also be why he looks better in the film than he had in years.
The film's profile has risen somewhat in the last few years since 20th has started to put it in rotation of their cable FX station.
This was Lee Remick's favorite of all her films.
Scott & Working -- UGH. you're so right whoops. corrected the post.
I only first saw this a year or two ago, and like many here, I found it pretty engaging -- which surprised me, given its low profile historically.
The thing I couldn't get over was how much it echoes where we are today -- rural areas defiantly resisting being told what to do by educated sorts. It's only become more on point since I watched it: if the film were shot now, Van Fleet would be refusing to wear a mask, and Clift would be a Dr. Fauci character.
I really liked this one. I think one of my all-time favorite Clift moments ever is when he’s about to fall off his chair. There’s a nicer breeze to his performance here than his other post-accident photos, and having it in color really adds to it. Literally in his previous film, Taylor commented how gorgeous his blue eyes were, and for a moment I wondered how they were so it was nice to see them on display here. The supporting cast is all very strong here, and I was surprised by the social commentary.
Excellent film. So glad it's receiving kudos here. Clift's best later-career performance. He modulates the performance well with the material and rest of the cast.
I saw this film two or three times. Thought he was so handsome in this. Perhaps the one where he is closest to his classic pre-accident beauty. And Lee Remick, this talented actress, needs to be talked about more. Just like her movies.
Kazan’s political holdout drama is charged with his deep humanism and a terrific cast spearheaded by Lee Remick and Jo Van Fleet, as much as I love Monty, he is fairly overshadowed here.
Van Fleet absolutely should have at least been nominated for this, it's a brilliant performance. And I think even if he's not quite capable of dominating the way he was was pre-accident, this is Monty' best post-accident performance. Whatever tension there is works as part of the characterization and he seems comfortable on camera and with Remick in a way he wouldn't again.
I cosign with Gwen....Lee Remick and her films need to be talked about much more than either she or they are!!
Yes, Lee Remick was one of my favorite actresses of the late Studio era. Gorgeous, unfussy actress. Died too young.
I've never seen this movie, in fact I don't think I've even heard of it, but it sounds very promising. Looking at the clips and photos of MC, he looks like the handsomest middle aged father at the PTA meeting, and that's not too bad. And maybe working with a serious actress like Jo Van Fleet who clearly wanted to act and didn't care about vanity might have helped him a bit. I wish he could have had more interactions like that.
Oh, and since it looks like they spent maybe ten bucks on that hideous movie poster, Nathaniel is no doubt right that the ball was dropped as far as promoting this movie is concerned. What a shame.
I love Wild River! Maybe one of the best looking movies that no one ever talks about, which is ironic considering it was my introduction to Montgomery Clift. It definitely made me want to see more of his work, but Lee Remick and Jo Van Fleet (always playing way older than she was) were my favorite parts of the movie. Both actresses deserve to be more widely recognized.