The River Rat

I was lucky to be able to watch a lot of the production of River Rat. Several scenes were filmed on the Ohio River at Smithland, Ky, where I lived and also operated the local ambulance service. My Father was a Deputy Sheriff and became very friendly with Tommy Lee Jones during the filming. I also had the honor of having breakfast with Mr. Jones.

Smithland was also the location of most of the "Rivers" segments of the classic movie " How The West was Won ". I still have cast photos and autographs from Jimmy Stewart, Agnes Morehead, George Peppard and Debbie Reynolds from that movie. " The River Rat " was and in my opinion is a great movie.

"The River Rat" is too good a movie to lie in a corner without comment. Good grief, this was Martha Plimpton's first major role. For that reason alone it has a place in motion picture history. What a terrific talent, and what great contributions she has made to the art in roles both small and large. In this movie she combines with such recognized stars as Tommy Lee Jones and Brian Dennehy, and takes a back seat to neither. Her father-daughter scenes with Mr. Jones are warm and real. The depth all three of the lead actors brought to their characters was truly remarkable. In sum, the beautiful background of the mighty Mississippi River, an interesting story, some great acting turns, and, of course, Martha Plimpton make "The River Rat" a must-see picture.

Since this movie listing seems to be missing a plot / synopsis of the movie i'm commenting one :

An entertaining tale of a father (Tommy Lee Jones) and daughter (Martha Plimpton) who run a bait/fishing shop on a river. They build a fishing boat together and is christened "The River Rat". The father is meanwhile harassed by his parole officer for information due to the father being the only survivor of a childhood crime involving a large sum of lost money. The father served time but the money was never recovered. After some history and character building has taken place, the movie transforms into a coming of age story combined with a competitive treasure hunt.

Three people intentionally rob a house. A murder occurs during the robbery. Tons of money is stolen. One of the three later dies, and the other two deny responsibility.

One of the remaining two decides to dig up the stolen money, all the while denying any responsibility. Even after confessing to his daughter, he continues to deny. Luckily, his daughter is also psycho, and she joins in with the denial.

For no apparent reason, the underage actors get nekkid in various scenes.

Along the way, the innocent murderer encounters people who are much worse than he is. You know they are worse then him because they also want the money that he got from his robbery/murder.

Eventually, the innocent murderer becomes a grave robber because way back when he didn't do anything wrong, he hid the money in a casket.

Overall, a heartwarming story of innocent people who aren't responsible for the murders, death, robberies and other crimes that they committed.

"The River Rat" is very much like a ghost story - not too much depth, but plenty of adventure and cheap thrills to keep you interested. The acting is generally good. Tommy Lee Jones and Brian Dennehy are reliable as ever, if Dennehy's character is a good bit too over-the-top. It was interesting to see Martha Plimpton so young, playing a role very much reminiscent of one she did three years later in "Shy People".

This is the only film both written and directed by Thomas Rickman. It's easy to see why. Not to say that the script is necessarily bad - the dialogue is clever, and the characters are fleshed out for the most part. The main weakness is the schizophrenic overall quality of the story he's trying to tell. When he sticks to real life and family drama, it works. When he tries to turn it into a thriller, everything comes crashing down. In theory, Rickman could have filmed it in a way that brought things together, but he tends to direct in a very unrestrained sort of way, lacking the ingenuity to really pull it off.

I liked "The River Rat" mainly for it's nice visual feel, and the occasional sense of reality that pushed through the lazier aspects of production. There's a lot of ways it could have been improved, but it makes for good low expectation entertainment. A fun little movie.