The River

Tom (Mel Gibson) and Mae Garvey (Sissy Spacek) struggle to keep their farm afloat after a devastating flood. Joe Wade (Scott Glenn) has a scheme to build a dam to bring water to his land. To do it, he would need to buy out all the farmers including the Garveys. Tom needs a loan but Joe Wade has lined up the bank and political backers against them.

It is the little guy struggling against the big guy. It is also about Tom's single-mindedness. Tom is not necessarily a sympathetic guy. He is stubborn beyond reason. He has a mean streak in him. This makes the simplistic movie structure of small-guy-makes-good not so simplistic. Sissy Spacek is able to soften him image somewhat. There are a couple of great scenes in the mix. The auction scene is the most memorable and heart breaking. The faces in the crowd says it all. The other is the strike. The ending of which is another great scene for a different reason. This starts out yet another small farmer struggle movie. In fact, it's the last of three big such releases of that year. It turns into a man obsessed against the river.