The River Rat

Inquisitive teen Jonsy (Martha Plimpton) and her grandma live in a riverside bait shop. Her father Billy (Tommy Lee Jones) is newly released from prison and presumed to be the only one who knows the location of a stolen loot. She has never met him. She is rebuilding a river boat called River Rat. Prison psychiatrist Doc Cole (Brian Dennehy) controls Billy's release.

This is Martha Plimpton's first lead role in a theatrical release. She has her intrinsic powerful voice. It is a bit raw, but it is undeniable. She also has some great co-stars. Jones is being the grumpy silent type. Dennehy is a villain walking the line between sinister and cartoonish. Thomas Rickman is using the southern allure of the river like Huckleberry Finn. He even uses creole in the last act. As the director, he does struggle to take it to the next level. It feels very 80's and his cinematic style is quite there.

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.

Three people intentionally rob a house. A murder occurs during the robbery. Tons of money is stolen. One of the three later dies, and the other two deny responsibility.

One of the remaining two decides to dig up the stolen money, all the while denying any responsibility. Even after confessing to his daughter, he continues to deny. Luckily, his daughter is also psycho, and she joins in with the denial.

For no apparent reason, the underage actors get nekkid in various scenes.

Along the way, the innocent murderer encounters people who are much worse than he is. You know they are worse then him because they also want the money that he got from his robbery/murder.

Eventually, the innocent murderer becomes a grave robber because way back when he didn't do anything wrong, he hid the money in a casket.

Overall, a heartwarming story of innocent people who aren't responsible for the murders, death, robberies and other crimes that they committed.

Tender story about a father and daughter. I wish TLJ would go back to making these quiet little movies instead of barking his way through mainstream action flix. Martha Plimpton is wonderful; it's too bad she doesn't do anything anymore.

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.