River Wild

A thriller filmed on location in the stunning wilds of Oregon and Montana.

To celebrate her son's tenth birthday, Gail, a former rafting guide played by Meryl Streep, takes her son, husband and dog rafting.

On the river, they meet three fishermen, one of them played by Kevin Bacon, who become interested in Gail's knowledge of the river. They turn out to be robbers who have also killed two men. With Gail's help, they hope to pass the river's most difficult rapids to escape the police and kidnap the family so Gail can steer their rubber boat. The tension rises as the spectacular rapids approach.

The movie can be perceived as a bit banal, but the acting efforts of mainly Kevin Bacon as the bad guy and Meryl Streep as a housewife with a suppressed sense of adventure combined with incomparable wilderness images make the movie still work.

It should be noted that this is one of Meryl Streep's few action films and that she performed 90% of all stunts in the river herself.