Wild River (1960)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Paul Osborn (screenplay)
William Bradford Huie (based on the novels by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A young field administrator for the TVA comes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River...

Plot Keywords:

Tennessee | River | Eviction | Dam | Island

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Montgomery Clift	...	Chuck Glover
Lee Remick	...	Carol Garth Baldwin
Jo Van Fleet	...	Ella Garth
Albert Salmi	...	Hank Bailey
Jay C. Flippen	...	Hamilton Garth (as J.C. Flippen)
James Westerfield	...	Cal Garth
Barbara Loden	...	Betty Jackson
Frank Overton	...	Walter Clark
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Sy Moore
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mark Anthony	...	Night Clerk (uncredited)
Ross Apperson	...	Attorney Armstrong (uncredited)
Big Jeff Bess	...	Joe John Garth (uncredited)
James Campbell	...	Small Role (uncredited)
Donna Carnegie	...	Small Role (uncredited)
Bruce Dern	...	Jack Roper (uncredited)
Mike Dodd	...	Sheriff Hogue (uncredited)
John Dudley	...	Todd (uncredited)
David Ferrell	...	Small Role (uncredited)
James Hampton	...	Small Role (uncredited)
Judy Harris	...	Barbara Baldwin (uncredited)
Pat Hingle	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Robert Earl Jones	...	Sam Johnson (uncredited)
Jim Menard	...	Jim Baldwin Jr. (uncredited)
Mark Menson	...	Winters (uncredited)
Patricia Perry	...	Mattie (uncredited)
Alfred E. Smith	...	Thompson (uncredited)
Edna Snapp	...	Wife of Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
Jim Steakley	...	Mayor Tom Maynard (uncredited)
Earl Williamson	...	Small Role (uncredited)
C.C.L. Wray	...	Justice of the Peace (uncredited)

Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits
Paul Osborn		(screenplay)
William Bradford Huie		(based on the novels by) and
Borden Deal		(based on the novels by)

Produced by
Elia Kazan	....	producer

Original Music by
Kenyon Hopkins

Cinematography by
Ellsworth Fredericks		(director of photography) (as Ellsworth Fredricks)

Film Editing by
William Reynolds		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Herman A. Blumenthal		(art direction)
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Joseph Kish		(set decorations)
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Anna Hill Johnstone		(costumes designed by)

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles H. Maguire	....	assistant director (as Charles Maguire)

Art Department
Don B. Greenwood	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Eugene Grossman	....	sound
Dick Vorisek	....	sound (as Richard Vorisek)

Camera and Electrical Department
Clyde Taylor	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Haskell Wexler	....	additional photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant

Music Department
Kenyon Hopkins	....	conductor

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox) (A CinemaScope Picture)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (released by)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1964) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere) (pan/scan)
• Optimum Home Entertainment (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Media Cooperation One (MC-One) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2006) (UK) (TV) (BBC2)
• VellaVisión (2006) (Spain) (DVD)

Other Companies

• NovaStar Digital  post-production sound services (uncredited)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation  CinemaScope is the registered trademark of

Also Known As:

Runtime:

110 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2004) | Germany:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #19552)

Filming Locations:

Cleveland, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Lee Remick picked out two local Charleston kids to play her children. She chose the little girl because she looked like Lee at age 7. She chose the little boy because he loved hugging and kissing Lee.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Chuck drives the black workers to their new TVA-built homes, a white car can be seen parked in the distance which appears to be a 1949 or 1950 Ford, but which in any case is plainly not a vehicle that would have existed in 1933, when the film is set.

Quotes:

Carol Garth Baldwin:When you go... take me with you. One day soon, you're gonna come to me and say, "Carol, I have to go." There won't be time to talk or to think of anything. And there'll be a car waitin', and then a plane, and you'll say "Carol, honey, I have to go..." Isn't that right?
Chuck Glover:[Softly] Yes, that is right.
Carol Garth Baldwin:[Pleading] Take me with you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "American Masters: A Letter to Elia (#24.6)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

In the Garden

my forty-year search rewarded

There is little to add to the eloquent appreciations of Wild River by other users. Still, I want to pay my tribute. My father took me to see the film when I was a little girl and it made such an impression on me I have been searching for it for years. Odd, since I remembered nothing of the plot, retaining only fleeting images of autumn colours, Lee Remick's autumnal hair, the old ferry, an indelible impression of Montgomery Clift's face, the old woman surrounded by still 'figures in a landscape'. And the creation of a unique atmosphere so tangible, so lyrical, so elegiac it stayed with me for 40+ years. I've been wanting to know why it clung to me so. And wondering why it seemed to have disappeared without trace. This Christmas, in the fullness of time, my niece presented me with the DVD and I have at last seen it again. Why did it affect me so profoundly? That one's easy. Why had the film disappeared. That one's complex, as you know. What I hadn't expected was that stunning performance from the incomparable Jo Van Fleet. No Oscar? Were they mad? It is intensely interesting and sobering to reflect how politics can hold art hostage.