The River Rat

When convicted felon Billy McCain gets paroled from the big house, his troubles are far from over. A sinister man wants to get his hands on the stash that Billy supposedly hid away before doing his stint in the gray bar hotel. Is the money there or was it destroyed before Billy ever got caught? Can Billy and his daughter escape the clutches of this evil person and live happily ever after? Will Mighty Mouse never come!!?? To find out go see this excellent film which shows the power of love, the ugliness of greed, and the joy of repentance.

"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.

I was only 2 years old when this movie was made but I watched a few years later then I understood it, probably the reason I like this movie because it was made here in my home state of Kentucky, but thats not the main reason I like this movie, I also like it because its got action and Drama in it, I love action and drama movies. If any of you are big fans of Tommy Lee Jones then you should see this movie because it is one of his best.

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.

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.