The River

The River follows Tom and Mae Garvey, a farming couple in Tennessee struggling to hold on to their land. Their livelihood is threatened from several directions at once: a land developer and a local corporation want the property, partly to make way for a dam and reservoir project, while the river itself keeps rising and flooding their fields. Money grows short, and Tom takes outside work at a steel mill to keep the farm afloat. Joe Wade, a wealthy man from Mae's past, is among those pressing the Garveys to sell, and the dispute comes to a head at the water's edge during a flood. Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek play Tom and Mae, with Scott Glenn as Joe Wade; Billy Green Bush, Shane Bailey and Becky Jo Lynch are also in the cast.

Mark Rydell directed the film, which he made between On Golden Pond and Intersection, working from a screenplay by Robert Dillon and Julian Barry. Edward Lewis and Robert Cortes produced it for Universal Pictures, and it runs 122 minutes. Released in December 1984, it had a budget of 18 million dollars and took in about 12 million worldwide, so it did not recover its cost at the box office.

Audience scores are moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 8,400 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 out of 10 from roughly 140 votes. Both point to a film that drew a limited but not hostile response.