THE RIVER WILD, as in ‘Yes, Meryl Streep Can Do Anything!’  Queen Chameleon, master mistress of accents: if holdouts to her astonishing ability to transform herself weren’t won over by her belting the song that concludes Postcards In The Edge with as much passion, power and precision as a music legend, in this 1994 adventure thriller she displayed physical bravura and stamina sufficient to shame a kickboxer, let alone a 34-year old mother of two. No accent required.

Home life in Boston is fraying for ‘Gail Hartman’ (Streep) and architect husband ‘Tom’ (David Strathairn, 44); his involvement with work is alienating her and their young son. For a think-it-over escape, Gail takes ‘Roarke’ (Joseph Mazzello, 10) and their dog to Idaho for a rafting trip down the Salmon River, where Gail once was a guide. Tom unexpectedly joins them, hoping to repair damage. Fixing family fractures turns into something requiring more immediate attention and cooperation after the Hartman’s encounter a couple of dudes taking their own watery excursion. ‘Wade’ (Kevin Bacon, 35) and ‘Terry’ (John C. Reilly, 28) are ‘friendly’, but Tom senses something rotten in Idaho (are they near Hayden Lake?), especially with Wade smirk-flirting with Gail (who appears more receptive than is wise). There is that feeling that whispers “Uh, let’s just leave, as in, like..now.” What if it’s raising your hackles on a fast-flowing river in the hind end of the wilderness and your morose pup/kid takes a shine to the new alpha wolf? Do those glasses you’re wearing make you smart? Or a target?  Time to postpone debating the 2nd Amendment…

It’s intended as an adrenaline sparking exercise with fine actors, exciting action and knockout scenery, so shelve quibbles over some of the formulaic setup and logic whirlpools in Denis O’Neal’s script and relax (edge-of-seat version) into the rest of the gifts in the package. Directed by Curtis Hanson in between his movers & shakers The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and L.A. Confidential, like the water-powered setting it flows with accumulating energy, starting with the tension in the cast dynamics. Mazzello was a smart pick as the boy, his confidence built by sharp work in Jurassic Park and Shadowlands; he’s a cute kid precisely because he doesn’t try to “act cute”. Reilly was on the way up, following the ‘hulking guy’ track laid down by the likes of George Kennedy, moving between parts that presented him as either a genial lug or a brutish threat. Strathairn is expert at etching calmness under duress, perceived hesitancy disguising reserves of steel. Still fresh on the scene, Benjamin Bratt, 29, shows up for two brief scenes as a likable Forest Service officer; he was about to start a 14-year stretch on Law And Order. Bacon excels as the faux-bro Wade, his easy smile cover for an amoral creep, sort of a Eddie Haskell-streamlined-by-prison type of hornet. Streep morphed into the role with her hallmark conviction and assurance, and worked out enough that she could handle a craft with dexterity, enough to perform some of the less-risky stuntwork. The crazier stuff was handled by Kelley Kalafatich, 33, her stunt double and a river rafting veteran. *

Shooting took place in Montana (the Kootenai River and the Middle Fork of the Flathead) and Oregon (the Upper Rogue River), manning the cinematography was Robert Elswit (Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Mission Impossible–Rogue Nation), the editing done by David Brenner (The Doors, Independence Day, Avatar: The Way Of Water) and John Hutshing (JFK, Almost Famous, W).  A round of applause is due for the sound department, rafting and stunt personnel and the helicopter crews. Jerry Goldsmith provides the music score, so that’s a lock. Wonder what it’s like to run white water rapids but aren’t able to do it yourselves? This is as close as you can get to the experience: perhaps while watching have someone violently rock the couch, wrench your arms and douse you in the face with buckets of cold water. **

Rowed for $45,000,000, landed with $46,816,000 domestically (29th spot) and $47,400,000 more in other countries.

* The cost of daring—it wasn’t the water, but something in it. For Kelley Kalafatich, her three decades of river running included a four-year stretch living in Africa (she trained Zambian locals as river guides to run the Zambezi below Victoria Falls: I was blessed make the Level 5 run with them in 1994, ‘exciting’ hardly suffices). Years after working on this show (and Dante’s Peak) Kelley went to Ethiopia to challenge a piece of the Blue Nile. In calm waters, she encountered a waterborne parasite that lay dormant in her system for three years before exploding as Transverse Myelitis, paralyzing her from the waist down.  https://checkonkk.blogspot.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIlHxjj36vA

** Going on an adventure? Pack along some Goldsmith––Rio Conchos, Our Man Flint, The Sand Pebbles, Planet Of The Apes, 100 Rifles, Papillon, The Wind And The Lion, Logan’s Run, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Caboblanco, Under Fire, Congo, The Ghost And The Darkness, The 13th Warrior—-for starters.