THE RIVER RAT
US, 1984, 88 minutes, Colour.
Martha Plimpton, Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Dennehy.
Directed by Tom Rickman.
The River Rat is an interesting and entertaining film, one of those small pieces of Americana that does not do well at the box office but which many audiences would enjoy. While under the aegis of Paramount Pictures, the film was made in association with the Sundance Institute and local help in Kentucky and Tennessee. Photography is very attractive with the locations on the Mississippi. The film is also able to create the atmosphere of Kentucky and Tennessee and the way of life of these outback places in the '80s.
The plot of the film is quite recognisable - an ex-convict is paroled and returns home to meet the daughter he has never seen. The film turns melodramatic when the parole officer turns up and emerges as the villain of the piece. There is quite an amount of action in the second half of the film.
Tommy Lee Jones does well in the central role of the convict. Brian Dennehy, effective in so many films of the '80s, is the villainous parole officer. Martha Plimpton is introduced and is excellent as Jonsy, Billy's daughter.
A piece of Americana but nevertheless a film of attractive human values.
1. The film as a piece of Americana? Interest? Enjoyment? Small budget? humane? Impact tor American audiences? overseas?
2. Production in Tennessee and Kentucky? McCain's inlet, the house, the town, school, the junkyard? The contrast with the river and its breadth, beauty, dangers? The canals and the barges? The city of Memphis? Atmosphere? Special effects - especially with the burning barge?
3. The title and its reference to the boat, ionsy's building the boat and her attachment to it, her father building the boat with her? Billy also as the river rat?
4. The plot with its familiar lines? A blend of the strong and the gentle, the action twists, emotional changes, eventual melodrama?
5. The picture of the South and its lifestyle? Contemporary '80s? Jonesy as the Huckleberry Finn type of the '80s? Her surprising her father with her frank and open questions and talk? The contrast with her wary father? The contrasts with sophisticated style and the rural style?. Relationships between black and white? Criminals and the police?
6. The opening of the film establishing Jonesy as a character: age, growing up, building the boat, tomboy? Her love for her grandmother? Wanting to get the engine from Poley? Friendship with the little black boy Wexell? Going to school, worldly wide? Gawky but knowing? The news about Billy, going to meet him? Her not being shy, her talk, her questions to her father about prison life e.g. brutality, rapes etc.? Her saying she saw things like this on television? His surprise? Fishing, selling at the shop? The building of the boat? Her asking Billy to help her build it? The growing bonds between father and daughter? The story of Joyce and her running away, her being young when she gave birth to Jonesy? The desire to build the boat and go to Memphis? Her hopes, joy? The clashes with Mexell - And her consoling him with his father's death? The visit to Joyce and her seeing her mother, her stepsister? Her understanding the situation? Her tolerance? Her antagonism towards Doc? Her first disbelieving her father? Her wanting Doc to drown in the river? Trusting Billy, the dangers on the river, the danger with the burning barge and the lightning? The cemetery? The ending and her telling the truth? A credible and interesting character?
7. Billy and his not contacting his family for 13 years, never having seen his daughter? The return, the parole conditions? The sequences with his mother, her grief, her having lost her son, Billy angry with the Elvis record and dashing his mother's mementoes? His awkwardness with Jonesy, surprise at her frankness? His surprise at her swimming nude in the river? His helping her with the boat? The arrival of Doc, the long shots with the clash between the two, his getting rid of the car? Audience judging him - wrongly? The boat trip, the escape? Wexell hiding on board? Seeking out Joyce, his trying to relive the past, catch up with it? The importance of the flashbacks - telling Jonesy the story? Playing games, their being kids and mischievous, their going to the house, finding the old lady and the money, her cats, Whitey shooting her? (The blend of Miss Haversham, in Great Expectations and Huckleberry Finn.) The car ride, the burning car? The later flashback with the truth about the chase to the cemetery, the hiding the money in the coffin? Doc controlling the trip, Jonesy learning to dance from her father at Memphis? The mistrust of the police, of Doc? The clash between the two men? Billy saving him from the river? The cemetery tight? Prison? The satisfying resolution?
8. The portrait of the grandmother, her strength, relationship with her son, hurt at his absence of 13 years and no contact, Joyce's leaving, bringing up Jonesy? The local police and friendliness?
9. Poley and his junkyard, ugliness, greed, curiosity - getting the worst of him and his being murdered by Doc? The Elvis trinket and the identity of the murderer? The irony of the poison ivy?
10. Doc and his background, audience judging him as kindly, his arrival, decent man, the trip on the boat, the clash with Billy, the fight and his going overboard, his not dying? The encounter with Poley and saving him, offering Poley money, killing him and framing Billy? The irony of the poison ivy to identity him? The-chase, finding them in Memphis, kindliness towards Wexell, his almost drowning, Billy saying him, the scene on the shore with the tent and the barge, the growing infection of the ivy? hitch-hiking, the cemetery, the fight? The irony of his being caught? A portrait of southern greed, abuse of justice?
11. The flashbacks and the portrait of the kids, Whitey seeing the adventurers again, Joyce so young? Her testifying against Billy? Joyce later, her men friends, her daughter?
12. An old story but told with freshness and vivid characters? Basic human values?
