In THE RIVER WILD, Gail (Meryl Streep), a former river guide, plans a white-water rafting trip to celebrate her son Roarke's (Joseph Mazzello) birthday and patch up her troubled marriage to her workaholic husband, Tom (David Strathairn). As the family begins their river adventure, they meet Wade (Kevin Bacon), a novice rafter with a magnetic personality. When the family finds Wade and his friend, Terry (John C. Reilly), stranded and abandoned by their guide, Gail and Tom decide to help them navigate the rapids. However, family fun turns to terror when Wade and Terry show their true colors--they're really criminals trying to evade the police following a major heist. To make matters worse, their escape route requires that they run the Gauntlet, deadly rapids where three rivers converge in violently tumultuous waters. This taut thriller from director Curtis Hanson (BAD INFLUENCE, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) features Streep in her first role as an action-adventure heroine, while Bacon is truly menacing as the psychotic Wade, a desperate criminal in over his head.

In this tense action thriller, a couple take their son on a white-water rafting trip in hopes that they can patch up their troubled marriage. While on the trip, the family is hijacked by a pair of criminals who need the wife's rafting expertise to get them down the river.

Theatrical release date: September 1994.

Filmed in Montana, Oregon, and Massachusetts.

The MCA/Universal video release included a 90-second public service announcement about protecting America's rivers.

DVD Features:

Region 1 Encoding
Snap Case
Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 - English
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 - French, Spanish
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes

Meryl Streep: American Actress
Kevin Bacon: Omnipresent American actor, FOOTLOOSE/MYSTIC RIVER
David Strathairn: American stage/film actor, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Joseph Mazzello: Child Actor
John C. Reilly: American Supporting Actor

Curtis Hanson: Director/Screenwriter

David Foster: Producer, began in early '70s, THE GETAWAY (1972) and (1994)

David Brenner: Oscar Winning Editor, began in late '80s, Oliver Stone films

"...[Bacon] makes a fine counterpoint to [Streep]..." - Recommended
"...A pulse-pounding thrill ride....Streep is strong, sassy and looser than she has ever been onscreen..."
"...[Hanson] has the makings of a lean, mean thriller....[Streep] captures both Gail's terror and her exhilaration..."
"...Awe-inspiring white water thrills..." -- Rating: B
"...THE RIVER WILD takes your breath away two times over....Streep has taken this opportunity to once again rewrite the rules..."