With Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet.
Written by Paul Osborn. Directed by Elia Kazan.
“We aim to tame this whole river.”
“I like things runnin’ wild. Like nature meant. There's already enough dams lockin' things up, tamin' ‘em, makin' 'em go against their natural wants and needs. I'm against dams of any kind."
Chuck Glover has the confidence of a man on a noble mission, backed up by a big government. It’s the height of the Great Depression, and he’s been sent to a way-back-in-the-hills community to persuade the elderly matriarch of a dirt-poor family to do what’s good for her, and the people around her. Namely, to evacuate their tiny island homestead in the middle of the Tennessee River before a new government-built dam floods it and the surrounding area.
Glover works for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which sees what many locals do not – that a series of dams along the river can save countless lives and curtail the terrible damage done by the natural floods that roll over the land each year. The government is offering a fair price and a new home to those forced to leave their property.
Not everyone likes the deal, and officials are particularly frustrated by the stubborn immobility of one old woman, Ella Garth, whose husband laid claim to their island most of a century before. The self-sufficient head of a household of lazy middle-aged sons and the dozens of black families who work her land, she is someone for whom time has largely stood still, up to now. She cherishes the old ways, and doesn’t recognize anyone’s authority to order, bribe, or cajole her off her property.
Glover tries all of those things, to no avail. He knows the old woman doesn’t understand what she’s up against, that what he’s offering her is the best she can hope for. But he also finds a wily wisdom in her arguments. He wants to spare her the rougher methods that will be inflicted if he fails, and he wants to honor her dignity.
He sees hope for both with Carol, Ms. Garth’s beloved granddaughter. Widowed, lonely, trapped, the young woman longs for love and escape. Glover thinks she may be able to reach a place in her grandmother’s soul that he cannot. What he doesn’t anticipate is the whirl of emotions she unleashes in him, nor the violent repercussions his northern intrusions will stir in this southern community.
Like Ms. Garth, he doesn’t know all that he’s up against. A bureaucrat’s lot is not a happy one … if the bureaucrat has a soul.
“You know,” Glover says wearily, at a crucial moment, “I wish some day I could win maybe one fight.” In fact, he’ll win two – one of them with himself. But it may not be the victories he remembers.
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