Find Movies & TV
Home
Live TV
On Demand
Explore
Movies & TV Shows
Most Popular
Leaving Soon
Categories
Action
Animation
Comedy
Crime
Descriptive Audio
Documentary
Drama
En Español
Horror
Music
Romance
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Western
Explore
Browse Channels
Featured Channels
NFL Channel
Ion Mystery
CBS Sports HQ
Categories
Hit TV
Crime
Reality
News
Sports
Game Shows
History & Science
Sci-Fi & Action
Movies
Chills & Thrills
Classic TV
Nature & Travel
Comedy
Black Entertainment
Cooking
Home
Kids & Family
Sporting
En Español
International
Gaming & Anime
Lifestyle
Music
Sign In
The River
Directed by
Mark Rydell
1985
2h 2m
PG
Drama
6.3
24%
49%
Add to Watchlist
A farming family battles severe storms, while taking a valiant stand against a bank foreclosure and a powerful land grabber.
More
Watch from these locations
Netflix
Subscription
Netflix Basic with Ads
Subscription
Amazon Video
Buy $14.69
Rent $3.79
+5 more
Cast of The River
Mel Gibson
Tom Garvey
Sissy Spacek
Mae Garvey
Scott Glenn
Joe Wade
Billy Green Bush
Harve Stanley
Shane Bailey
Lewis Garvey
Becky Jo Lynch
Beth Garvey
Don Hood
Senator Neiswinder
James Tolkan
Howard Simpson
Bob W. Douglas
Hal Richardson
Andy Stahl
Dave Birkin
Lisa Sloan
Judy Birkin
Larry D. Ferrell
Rod Tessley
Susie Toomey
Sally Tessley
Kelly Toomey
Lisa Tessley
Frank Hoyt Taylor
Zemke
Amy Rydell
Betty Gaumer
Samuel Scott Osborne
Billy Gaumer
Charles Robinson
Truck
The River Reviews
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The crucial flaw in the movie's plot is that [Scott] Glenn's ideas, which are supposed to make him the bad guy, sound like simple common sense.
EmanuelLevy.Com
Emanuel Levy
Starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek, The River is one of three films dealing with the plight of American farmers which came out in the same year, 1984.
Filmcritic.com
Christopher Null
Sissy and Mel face off against a raging river -- and plenty more -- in this chest-thumping melodrama from On Golden Pond director Mark Rydell.
Chicago Tribune
Gene Siskel
The River is nothing more than a conventional, albeit pretty, melodrama.
TV Guide
TV Guide Staff
A good film for the viewer who isn't interested in being entertained but is willing to be thrown into the muck of the problems facing hard-working American farmers.
Film Frenzy
Matt Brunson
Of the three "save the farm" films that all appeared on the scene in 1984, The River places a distant third behind the superb Places in the Heart and the solid Country.
Associated Press
Bob Thomas
Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson suffer admirably as the farm couple, but their roles have no real dimension.
New York Times
Vincent Canby
[The River] has a meticulously detailed physical production and, from time to time, is acted with passion by its cast. Yet its ideas are so profoundly muddled that the film must run mainly on sentimentality.
TIME Magazine
Richard Corliss
The Hallmark glow is appropriate, for this River is no Depression documentary; it is a fantasy of domestic integrity, where the spirit of Walker Evans surrenders to the sentiment of Walt Disney.
Chicago Reader
Dave Kehr
Are there more farmer movies now than farmers?
Washington Post
Paul Attanasio
Rydell shoots the movie as if it had been commissioned by the Department of Agriculture. His scenes have such brute intentionality, they never come to life -- they're instant, airless cliches.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Candice Russell
The difficulty in seeing The River lies in part with its ill-timed release so soon after Places in the Heart and Country... Similarities aside, The River is the best of the three.
People Magazine
People Staff
This dull agribomb will soon be forgotten anyway, even if Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek aren't.
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Most of The River is dry and familiar.
Watch The River Videos
The River
The River
Trailer
Take Plex everywhere
Watch free anytime, anywhere, on almost any device.
See the full list of supported devices
Home
Live TV
On Demand
