With two of the most popular actors of the time in the leads, this seems like a surefire hit but perhaps the rural setting and more than just the two other farm films out collecting award recognition, this probably wasn't the ideal Christmas release. By this time, audiences were used to Sissy Spacek in issue pictures, yet she was still quite popular, and Mel Gibson, as a rising action heartthrob, so it should have at least broken even. It's a very difficult film to watch because you really root for the couple of Tom and Mae Garvey to get through their issues. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, starting with floods that have impacted their crop output, then there's the realization of Gibson that the job he's taking in a factory is crossing a picket line, and the last thing he wants to be known as is a scab.
It's a very trying moment when Spacek, running the farm on her own, gets her arm caught in the machinery and can't get it out, utilizing an angry bull to help pry her loose. It seems like she stuck there forever, and you can feel her pain as you look at the blood, later taken to the hospital by neighbor Scott Glenn who is out to build a dam and trying to buy other local farmers out, including the Garvey's. It's certainly not a shocking revelation that they once went out with each other which seems to get under Gibson's craw every time he sees Glenn. At least they have two loving children and a decent marriage, and if Gibson's character is extremely strong-willed and often a bit too stubborn, for me at least it was realistic considering their situation. The reaction he gives when a woman with a child spits on him as he leaves the factory is both understanding and forgiving, the complete opposite of the culprit.
It's taken me nearly 30 years to get to the three "farm films" of 1984 (even if there were other movies made around the same time with country settings), and "The River" is a very realistic view of the harshness of this life which is a joy when everything is going well. But, there are so many obstacles that they face, and considering the time period that this takes place in, it was all the more important as a way of showing the world what day had to deal with. A scene where a deer finds its way into the factory and they contemplate barbecuing it has a touching resolution. Spacek, in a part that requires a lot of acting without speaking, makes every moment count. I guarantee if I had seen this when it first came out, I would have had a great deal more respect and understanding at the time for the plight of farmers when I went to the grocery store, and certainly feel that way years later. Having lived in a farming community for several years as a child and recalling similar situations also helped make me understand these issues with more profoundness.
It's a very trying moment when Spacek, running the farm on her own, gets her arm caught in the machinery and can't get it out, utilizing an angry bull to help pry her loose. It seems like she stuck there forever, and you can feel her pain as you look at the blood, later taken to the hospital by neighbor Scott Glenn who is out to build a dam and trying to buy other local farmers out, including the Garvey's. It's certainly not a shocking revelation that they once went out with each other which seems to get under Gibson's craw every time he sees Glenn. At least they have two loving children and a decent marriage, and if Gibson's character is extremely strong-willed and often a bit too stubborn, for me at least it was realistic considering their situation. The reaction he gives when a woman with a child spits on him as he leaves the factory is both understanding and forgiving, the complete opposite of the culprit.
It's taken me nearly 30 years to get to the three "farm films" of 1984 (even if there were other movies made around the same time with country settings), and "The River" is a very realistic view of the harshness of this life which is a joy when everything is going well. But, there are so many obstacles that they face, and considering the time period that this takes place in, it was all the more important as a way of showing the world what day had to deal with. A scene where a deer finds its way into the factory and they contemplate barbecuing it has a touching resolution. Spacek, in a part that requires a lot of acting without speaking, makes every moment count. I guarantee if I had seen this when it first came out, I would have had a great deal more respect and understanding at the time for the plight of farmers when I went to the grocery store, and certainly feel that way years later. Having lived in a farming community for several years as a child and recalling similar situations also helped make me understand these issues with more profoundness.