Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503090020
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
What's a serious artiste doing in a mere adventure film? She was, of course, trying to make a popular movie, just like everybody else in the business. But beyond that simple truth, her appearance in that kind of film, due on tape March 14, shows how the roles for women are changing. But change doesn't always mean better.
For those who might have missed its theatrical run, "The River Wild" is essentially an updated "Deliverance." Meryl Streep plays a whitewater rafter turned wife and mother who's forced to help bad guy Kevin Bacon and his cohort escape the police. As he proved in "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," director Curtis Hanson knows how to turn a formula story into engrossing entertainment and he does it again here. He got a lot of help from two women - Meryl Streep, of course, and Kelley Kalafatich, whose name appears deep in the closing credits.
Kelley Kalafatich is a real river guide from Alaska. She was a technical adviser on the film and Meryl Streep's stunt double. That's her with the cap pulled down in front of her face in the really dangerous scenes. More importantly, though, she was also one of the film's creators. In an interview last year, Hanson credited her with one of the key moments.
"One day when the river was running particularly high," he said, "Kelley took me to a place where normally there was a little stream running over this high shelf of rocks. She said if the water got a little higher [she] could take a raft down this narrow gorge. I looked at it and thought how would a raft even fit down it.
"She said, the worst that would happen is that the oars might hit the rocks and break off, but she'd be able to control it. ... Anyway, we kept our eyes on the spot. The river kept rising and one day Kelley said, `I can do it.' "
So they set up the cameras and off she went. "As it happened, one oar did hit the rock wall, and it didn't break but it bounced out of the oarlock. We then did a shot of Meryl grabbing the oar and jamming it back in the oarlock."
In the film, it's a seamless bit of business, one of those little accidents that slips into the screen action perfectly. Watching it a second time on video, I was impressed by how neatly the moment punches up the big finish. And, by the way, "The River Wild" is a wide screen movie that loses surprisingly little on tape, particularly if you watch it with stereo Surround Sound. It adds immeasurably to the big whitewater scenes.
Still, for every step forward that women make in the entertainment business, there are some steps back. To wit: "A Passion to Kill."
In many ways, it's nothing more than a standard psychological mystery; modestly budgeted, competently produced formula entertainment.
Psychologist David Lawson (Scott Bakula) doesn't know how to react when his best friend Jerry (John Getz), a long-time bachelor, suddenly gets married. Before long, Jerry is beginning to sound a little weird, and his new wife, Diana (Chelsea Field), is making advances to David. Adding the next necessary level of complication is an old flame, Beth Faraday (Shiela Kelly), of uncertain motives. Then someone kills Jerry; stabs him.
About now, you're saying to yourself that this sounds like "The Postman Always Rings Twice" by way of "Color of Night," and you're not far from wrong. What makes this one different is an introduction strongly suggesting - though not showing - that Diana was physically abused by her first husband and fought back by stabbing him.
Given the often contentious state of affairs between men and women these days, not to mention the specifics of the nasty Bobbitt business, that's a timely premise for a thriller. It touches a lot of buttons. But when they have to sort things through, writer William Delligan and director Rick King chicken out. In the last reel, they make the plot jump through needless hoops, as if the idea of a woman defending herself against a man is unthinkable. At best, the ending has the stench of a committee decision.
All right, perhaps they weren't trying to make anything more ambitious than another "killer babe" imitation. But storytellers can be held accountable, and when they blatantly cheat, they should be called on it.
It would be really interesting to see how a woman - Penelope Spheeris or Kathryn Bigelow - might have handled the same story. Maybe next time.
New release this week:
Milk Money * 1/2
Starring Ed Harris, Melanie Harris. Directed by Richard Benjamin. Paramount. 107 min. Rated PG-13 for subject matter, a little strong language and mild violence.
This "Pretty Woman" wannabe recycles a handful of cliches. It's formula filmmaking at its most predictable with the widowed dad (Harris), his son (Michael Patrick Collins) who wants a mom and the traditional hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold (Griffith). If it weren't for a bit of strong language and sexual talk, this one could have been a movie-of-the week, or perhaps even an after-school special. You've seen it all before.
THE ESSENTIALS:
The River Wild *** MCA/Universal. 108 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, strong language.
A Passion to Kill * 1/2 A-Pix. 93 min. Rated R for subject matter, brief nudity, strong language, violence.
by CNB