The River Wild (1994) - photo copyright © Universal Pictures

Role: Tom
U.S. Release: 1994
Director: Curtis Hanson

Synopsis: Gail is a suburban mom and former white-water rafting guide who is taking her family on a raft trip for summer vacation. But overworked Dad (Tom) is not thrilled about the trip, and with Gail and Tom's marriage on the rocks, Gail hopes to make the family trip an amends. However, killers on the run (Wade and Terry) abduct the family and force Gail to take them down the most dangerous stretch of river to elude the cops.

Cast:
Meryl Streep .... Gail
Kevin Bacon .... Wade
David Strathairn .... Tom
Joseph Mazzello .... Roarke
John C. Reilly .... Terry
Benjamin Bratt .... Ranger Johnny
Elizabeth Hoffman .... Gail's Mother
Victor Galloway .... Gail's Father
William Lucking .... Frank
Stephanie Sawyer .... Willa

Favorite Quotes:
• Wade: "I want to thank you, Tom. You saved my life."
Tom: "Oh, don't worry about it."
Wade: "You didn't have to hit me though."
Tom: "...Yes, I did."

• "Gail, it's not about that. You set such high standards for yourself, and everybody around you. I'm just trying to come up to your expectations of me; trying to make you proud of me again." - Tom

• Gail: "Are you makin' a pass at me?"
Tom: "I don't know, is that what it's called this far outside of Boston?"
Gail: "This far inside of marriage, you mean."
Tom: "I think we're sufficiently alienated for this to qualify as a pass."

• "If I don't make it, you can still flip the boat..." - Tom

Notes:
• Curtis Hanson, who directed The River Wild, would work with David again on L.A. Confidential in 1997. David would also work again with young co-star Joseph Mazzello in Simon Birch, The Sensation of Sight, and Matters of Life and Death. He also previously worked with Meryl Streep in Silkwood.
• Much of the film was shot on the Rogue River near the city of Grants Pass in Southern Oregon.
• David actually worked with director Curtis Hanson on changing the character of Tom before production started, as he felt Tom's change throughout the film was too drastic and "Rambo-like" to be convincing. Hanson agreed, and David changed the character to how he appears onscreen.
• Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon both received Golden Globe nominations for their work in The River Wild. Streep also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for her performance.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "Meryl Streep and David Strathairn are well-respected actors who have done some incredible work in the past. As was true of Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro in Scorsese's Cape Fear, the presence of two extremely capable performers lifts The River Wild more than a notch." -James Berardinelli, Colossus Movie Reviews

• "...electrified by Streep and Strathairn..." -Mark Dawidziak, Akron Beacon Journal

• "It is a blessed relief not to wait in fear of blood and bombs and exploding flesh. This violence comes in familiar clothes, a classic good guy/bad guy face-off. It's not 'Who did it?' but 'Who's going to make it?' There's not a New Age weapon in sight, just good old-fashioned fists, a pistol and David Strathairn playing the John Wayne we hope is buried just inside all our husbands." -Joan Ellis, Illusion

• "But the trip is really an apparently futile attempt to salvage her marriage to workaholic architect Tom (played by the terrific character actor David Strathairn, of Sneakers, The Firm and many others)... But don't think about it too much. Just enjoy the gorgeous cinematography by Robert Elswit (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), Hanson's incredible positioning of all the action and the confident, rooted performances by Streep, Strathairn and Bacon. They are all terrific." -Chris Hicks, Desert News

• "David Strathairn, an actor so understated but intimate with his characters that we almost don't notice what well-muscled legs and physical agility he has for a corporate slave." -Nick's Flick Picks

(David On His Role:)
• [regarding taking the part of Tom] "And all the pieces were in place, I would have been stupid not to have done it." -David Strathairn, 1995

• [regarding an early draft of the script] "I was gun-shy about the character, because he seemed to go from urban to Rambo really easily--it didn't make sense." -David Strathairn, 1995

• "I was in OK shape to begin with. We all got in pretty good shape as we went along. And I was required to run and fall down a lot, which is something I'm very good at." -David Strathairn, 1995

• "River Wild was maybe not the funnest role but close to everyday being out in the wilderness, rafting and hiking around in Montana and Idaho and Oregon, that was a lot of fun." -David Strathairn, 2006

Related Links:
The TFL-Approved River Wild Fanlisting (off site)
Filming in Montana - The River Wild (off site)