IFish Fishing Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

The River Why? (movie)

1 reading
Jump to Latest
9.8K views 22 replies 17 participants last post by  boilerbay  
#1 Ā·
I wasn't planning on this thing going to #1 at the box office but I know that it's been made, right? I can't find it anywhere... Netflix has a description on it but they don't have it available to rent, not for sale on eBay... anybody got info?
 
#4 Ā·
The River Why is a 1983 novel about a 20 year old flyfishermen growing up and finding the love of his life on Oregon coastal streams. It is a spiritual journey. The author, David James Duncan, went on to become a political advocate for salmon, and especially the breaching of the Snake River Dams.

He is one of my favorite writers, and The River Why ranks up there with A River Runs Through It in angling literature.

His later Books, notably River Teeth and My Story as Told By Water, are excellent.
 
K
#16 Ā·
We did have to cut a couple of much loved scenes because of length, but well before we went to film festivals. If you go to our website, you'll see the festivals in which the film has played. It has been a successful run. The DVD,VOD, Bluray come out on Nov 8. We'll be taking preorders soon.
 
K
#15 Ā·
Hi,
It's always good to know both sides of the story. Here's our version. No matter what, David is a good man and a great writer. I hope people read his books and come see our movie.

Response to Author Dispute and ā€œThe River Whyā€

Disputes between filmmakers and authors are, unfortunately, not unusual in the film business. PJ Travers was never happy with Disneyā€™s interpretation of ā€œMary Poppinsā€. Ken Kesey wasnā€™t happy with Michael Douglasā€™ interpretation of ā€œOne Flew Over the Cuckooā€™s Nestā€. Those are just two well known examples. There are many more.

Perhaps it will help if you have some background on the making of ā€œThe River Whyā€ from the producer of the film.

After the film rights had been shopped around Hollywood without success, my husband, Tom Cohen secured them in the mid-1980s. He offered David the opportunity to write the script. David was appreciative of the offer, gave it a shot, but then acknowledged he did not have ā€œthe Zen beginnerā€™s mindā€ to do so, so Tom then hired John Osborn (author of The Paper Chase) to co-write the script with him. David indicated he wanted to take another stab at writing the script about a year later, but it was too late as the script was already in process. David read an early draft of the script in 1984, but has not read one since. Tom planned to direct, but the recession of the late 1980sā€™s forced him to put the project on the back burner and he became a lawyer.

We always planned to shoot the film in Oregon, even going so far as to scout locations on our honeymoon there in 1987. We had occasional inquiries regarding the rights throughout the 1990s, but no serious interest. So, in 2004, following the success of my documentary, ā€œVertical Frontierā€, I decided to give The River Why one more shot and produce it myself.

We filmed in Oregon in 2008. What motivated us to shoot that summer was not the threats of Davidā€™s lawsuits (I did ask him to join me in the effort to make the film in 2004 and again later, but he wasnā€™t interested). First, two of our principle actors ā€“ William Hurt and Zach Gilford ā€“ only had small windows in which to work that year because of their other projects ā€“ William on ā€œDamagesā€ and Zach on ā€œFriday Night Lightsā€ ; secondly, the outdoor shooting season is short in Oregon and we couldnā€™t shoot in January when Zach would be available again. Zach Gilford is an avid outdoorsman who still leads wilderness trips for kids when his schedule allows and we wanted him in the role. Thirdly, because of the threat of the SAG strike that summer and the slow down in production, we were able to work with some of Oregonā€™s finest film crews.

I hope our movie is successful for many reasons, but I can outline two here. Part of the film has been funded by what I call ā€œsocially responsible film investingā€. About one-third of the money was donated. This amount will be ā€œre-giftedā€ to non-profits that support rivers and fish. If the movie is successful, that amount will grow. It is my hope we will be supporting some of the very issues David has written about so brilliantly in his other books.

As David says on his website, ā€œI was awarded a settlementā€. He was also paid for the rights to make the film. He cashed the checks from the 1980ā€™s agreement and again from the settlement in 2008. The last I heard, he has never seen the finished film. He also says ā€œPeaceā€. We both want that. I wish him all the best and hope the movie will encourage even more people to read the book.
 
#11 Ā·
Saw the movie last night on Showtime.
Overall I thought it was pretty good, the fishing shots were better than usual for a movie.
Not as good as the book but definitely worth watching and over all well done.:applause:
 
S
#13 Ā·
That movie was filmed all over Oregon, AND at The World Forestry center ( where I work) It was pretty cool being there for the day of filming, The part where H2O? is doing a book signing and hooks Gus was shot inside the museum. I have been waiting to hear about it. Guess I should do some looking.
 
#20 Ā·
It was an OK movie. I felt the acting left a lot to be desired:twocents::twocents:
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
C
#22 Ā·
The thing that I feel was missing was the philosophical dialog that could have been added to the long extended silences of the film. There seemed to be a lot of places where the main character was walking along a river with out any kind of voice over dialog.

The film missed the main feel from the book. But in their defence the book is a very complex story and would be very hard to translate to film...

Andrew
 
IFish Fishing Forum
posts
7.1M
members
90K
Since
2000
A forum community dedicated to anglers and fishing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about safety, gear, tackle, tips, tricks, reviews, reports, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
šŸŽ£ Ifish Fishing Life in General Ifish Hunting The Salty Dogs Boat and Motor Tech