"Actor: Becky Jo Lynch"

• The River | DVD | (23/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Starring Mel Gibson in his second Hollywood film, The River celebrates traditional American values through the Garvey family's determination to hold onto their farm against all odds. The drama opens with the threat of flooding from the river that adjoins the Garvey's land, then depicts their struggles through ailing livestock, accident and risk of crop failure. Add to these a local businessman, Scott Glenn, planning to turn the valley into a dam, a subplot echoing Deliverance (1972), also filmed in Eastern Tennessee, and all the elements are in place for an emotional triumph-over-adversity movie. Much of The River has a realistic tone, unflinchingly depicting numerous hardships, especially when Gibson has to earn extra money as a strike-breaking hired hand in a steel mill. Against this, and a surprisingly left-wing tone advocating cooperation over competition, the more upbeat moments resort to feel-good cliché with John Williams' lilting score seemingly wandered in from a Spielberg fantasy. Nevertheless the cast, including Sissy Spacek as Gibson's wife, deliver first-rate performances and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond expertly captures the harshness and the beauty of the land. The River was one of a trio of major US farming movies in 1984, the others being Country and Places in the Heart. On the DVD: The 1.85:1 anamorphically enhanced image is virtually flawless, capturing the many subtle effects of light on water throughout the film. Released theatrically in stereo, the opening and closing sequences demonstrate the power of a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix in generating atmosphere through natural sound. Elsewhere the audio is less striking, but always clean and powerful. Extras are routine: the US trailer, four brief biographies, and interesting though short production notes. --Gary S. Dalkin

• The River | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £11.72   |  Saving you £-5.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This emotionally-charged film celebrates the triumph of a young rural couple as they face nature's greatest ravages the threat of poverty and a wrenching separation. Sissy Spacek Mel Gibson and Scott Glenn star in this moving tribute to love faith determination and the vanishing America of the independent farm family. Tom and Mae Garvey (Gibson and Spacek) are struggling to keep their homestead safe from the local power authority who wants to flood their land. When Mae's former beau John Wade (Glenn) turns out to be in charge of the plan to acquire the property tensions run high climaxing in a devastating confrontation on the flooded river banks. Directed by On Golden Pond's Mark Rydell 'The River' features magnificent location photography by Vilmos Zsigmond and an outstanding score by John Williams.