Rating: 
Summary: MURKY WATERS
Review: "Man will not merely endure:
he will prevail....
....because he has a soul,
a spirit capable of compassion
and sacrifice and endurance."
-William Faulkner-
A RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN is a metaphor for the infamous Santa Monica Boulevard, in Hollywood, California. On these streets, prostitutes, primarily gay, ply their trade - wading out into the murky waters, into darkness ....deeper ....deeper....into the depths of degradation. Allen Hayden, played by the wonderful Michael Imperioli, is a street hustler who uses people, without feeling or involvement. Ute Lemper plays Eva, the wealthy owner of an art gallery. Allen hustles Eva to get his art exhibited, and never tells her of his past. Thaddeus MacKenzie is played brilliantly by Richard Chamberlain. He is a lawyer, who has sold all his worldly belongings, and is dying of Aids. Thaddeus represented young street hustlers when he had a thriving practice, and in the course of his professional services, helped himself to their charms. Jaime is played by the great James Duval.
The story begins with the arrival of the flamboyant Thaddeus, dressed in a designer white suit, requesting to stay with Allen in his seedy apartment. He sends Allen on a search for Jaime, as he claims they are the only two people he has ever loved, and wants them both present when he dies. Jaime and Allen watch their old friend die, and do some serious soul searching...looking at their own values....and come to terms with what is important in life.
The sad thing about this story, is that no one seemed to come to terms with anything LIFE SAVING, for it was a given, that if you stay on the boulevard long enough....it becomes A RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN.....and drown they did! Thaddeus commits suicide, convinced that his "special friends" do not know how to love or care. Jaime, continues to sell himself on the street, even though he is desperately looking to enrich his soul, but cannot find solace in the Buddhism, he is exploring. Allen is incapable of love, and even though he is deeply affected by Thaddeus's death, he stays on the boulevard....stepping back into the murky waters ...pulled down by the power of darkness....forced by the undercurrent of degradation....down....down ....into the depths of destruction. This was a difficult subject matter to deal with, because of the destructive aspects of the life. In the end, Thaddeus, who represents success in life, drowns in the river with everyone else.
YOU CAN WADE INTO THE WATER,
'TIL THE CURRENT PULLS YOU DOWN.
IT'S A RIVER...DEEP...AND MURKY,
MADE TO SWIFTLY MAKE YOU DROWN.
Rating:
Summary: Getting Some Direction in Life
Review: "River Made To Drown In" looks at Allen Hayden (played by Michael Imperioli), an ex-hustler trying to make good as a modern painter. Allen is wooing an encouraging, well-to-do art gallery owner, Eva Kline (played by Ute Lemper). Then along comes Thaddeus MacKenzie (played by Richard Chamberlain), a wealthy lawyer client of Allen's from years back. Thaddeus, closing out his life before he dies from AIDS, asks to stay with Allen and asks Allen to perform one last favor, to find another, current hustler named Jaime (played by James Duval). Thaddeus loved just Allen and Jaime and wants to do well by both of them. Allen resists but takes on the task. What does Eva think of all this? Why does Jaime lead so dangerous life and not cooperate? As events move along, Allen has to figure out who he really is and how he can make a difference. He ends up an ok guy.It is surprising such a movie would have so strong a cast in the key roles. Chamberlain gives Thaddeus a hearty gay-CEO bonhommie, deliberately (and appropriately) trying to bluster and charm his way past others. Michael Imperioli's Allen is a defensive guy in a shell who lashes out when others get too close. James Duval's Jaime is a believably wary hustler and a believably seeking Buddhist. The supporting cast is fair. The concept of Allen's character development was interesting. The script was moderately good. Allen and Jaime have some dreary to mildly kinky discreet sex scenes with clients. Skin shots are primarily and frequently of Allen. Jaime and Thaddeus display considerably less. In this arena, the back cover of the DVD case, the DVD itself, and the menu all contain a hot-looking picture of Jaime and his co-worker Luis (played by Michael Saucedo) in a bathtub. In the movie, there are only a couple of five-second glorified head-shots from this scene. This advertising still/deleted material could have gone into a photo gallery. The end credits announce a "making of" team, but the DVD has no "making of", deleted scenes, interviews, photo gallery, or commentary. The film deserves more.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh! The Horror! (Some spoilers)
Review: A dreadful waste of talent and celluloid. If you get to the end, ask yourself "What was the point." There was none. Thaddeus (Chamberlain), an aging gay man in the final stages of AIDS, sets out to find the two "loves" of his life--2 street hustlers--under the guise of "helping" them by leaving them his non-existent inheritance and imparting his "wisdom" (also non-existent, as far as I could tell). One of the hustlers had apparently gotten his life in order UNTIL the arrival of his former "lover" (Chamberlain); the other hustler, who looked like he would have been about 10 when he was involved with Chamberlain alternates between street hustling and aspiring to be a Buddhist monk. (Huh?) At the end of the film, Chamberlain is dead and BOTH former lovers are back on the street. (Huh?) Dreadful dialogue. "Since we're both [expletive deleted]-up, we might as well be [expletive-deleted]-up together." Seeing a wonderful actor like Richard Chamberlain as an over-the-top effeminate old man was embarrassing and made me cringe.
Rating:
Summary: Love, sex and death in the 90's
Review: For reasons unknown to me, director James Merendino signed this film as Allen Smithee, a usual sign of discomfort with the final product, or meaning a clash between producers and director. Although producer Jon Powell appears twice in an important role, it is still strange because `River Made To Drown In' is a very good film that in its own way conveys the same feeling of despair and love for youth-as-art found in `Death in Venice' but in the 90s. Written by Paul Marius (who plays the owner of a sex club), it is a perceptive look at the relationship between young male prostitutes and their much older clients (`johns'). These are usually men beyond their 60s who still seek quick and impersonal sex among young guys who could care less for their old-age anguish. Richard Chamberlain plays Thaddeus MacKenzie, an old lawyer with AIDS, who wants to spend his last days with the only two persons he loved, two young hustlers. Allen Hayden (Michael Imperioli) has changed his life style and has become an artist. He is having an affair with Eva (Ute Lemper), a wealthy gallery owner who knows nothing about his past. The other one is even younger, Jaime (James Duval), the son of an ex model and a Buddhist monk, who wants to raise enough money to go visit his father. It is interesting that a young man like Marius, has come with an incisive story and some keen dialogues that could have been written by someone older and perhaps `wiser'. What makes the Allen Smithee credit more intriguing is that Merendino is a filmmaker with real talent for directing actors, for composition, and with a good eye for expressing the inherent affective dislocation of the story. He receives good help from cinematographer Thomas Callaway, whose angles, use of cranes, hand-held camera or play with depth of field, convey the distortion of these people's lives. On the other hand, editor Esther P. Russell has made a very good job to suggest the fragmentation of the daily experience of these persons. Her cross-cutting between different scenes transforms dialogues to an extent that they have greater meaning because of her editing: take, for example, the dialogue between Thaddeus and Eva on a bench, while both Allen and Jaime are involved in different places, in unpleasant situations with clients. There is no place for silly sentimentality or gratuitous sex scenes here (unless they have been cut), although the story is about love and sex between men: it is an almost heartless film, as most of the characters are. But even then, Merendino and Marius show real affection for these people, and have made a very rewarding and intelligent feature on the hustler scene.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Dreadful!!!!
Review: I blindly picked up this turkey (without knowing anything about it) from the used rack of a Blockbuster store several months ago. I brought the DVD home and proceeded to get information on it via the internet. Amazon was my first stop and I must admit to nearly crying after reading the terrible reviews of others who had already seen the film - I hate casting money to the wind!!! But, I decided to watch the film anyway and form my own opinion about its quality. Well, this has to be one of the worst scripted, worst edited, worst scored and most poorly acted horrors I've ever seen. Richard Chamberlain's acting was so bad that I couldn't help wonder if he had taken laxatives throughout the production and was overacting because he really, really had to get to a bathroom!! He was abyssmal!! I recommend you rent this dreadful film if you're really intent on seeing it. Please, please don't waste your money buying it.
Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE IS AWFUL!
Review: I rented this movie on .99 cents night and it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the drive to the video store. Ugh!
Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE IS AWFUL!
Review: I rented this movie on .99 cents night and it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the drive to the video store. Ugh!
Rating: 
Summary: A Brave and Artistic Film
Review: RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN has so much going for it that it is a shame it did not enjoy a wider audience when it was released. Perhaps with Richard Chamberlain's new book about his 'coming out' on the bookstore shelves more interest will be created for this well made, well acted, albeit dark film. This is a slice of life in LA that manages to capture an atmosphere that propels the story of a once wealthy lawyer who, dying of AIDS, returns to an ex-lover to 'replay' his former life before dying. Richard Chamberlain is Thaddeus and the 'hustler' to whom he turns is Allen, played to perfection by Michael Imperioli. Allen is still 'hustling' but at this point his target is a female gallery owner (another excellent performance by Ute Lemper). Thaddeus moves in with Allen with the proviso that Allen find Thaddeus' last hustler lover, one Jaime (again played with conviction and subtlely by James Duval)for final goodbyes. In the end all are faced with the emptiness of the 'live life for the moment ethic' of the Hustler and the John and the vacuum created by Thaddeus' death seems to open the door of possible change for those remaining. Though obviously a low budget film, the director makes excellent use of lighting and locations to create the seedy stench of Santa Monica Bovd and the attendant degrading scenes. The music score uses Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and the 'Lacrymosa' from his Requiem to fine effect. In the end it is the quality of performances by Chamberlain, Imperioli (his most sensitive role to date and not at all like his role in The Sopranos), Lemper, and Duval (along with some fine cameo roles from the supporting cast) that makes this a film well worth seeing. Though not for the staunchly homophobic viewer, the general public will gain a better understanding about a segment of life that is usually hidden from view.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave and Artistic Film
Review: RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN has so much going for it that it is a shame it did not enjoy a wider audience when it was released. Perhaps with Richard Chamberlain's new book about his 'coming out' on the bookstore shelves more interest will be created for this well made, well acted, albeit dark film. This is a slice of life in LA that manages to capture an atmosphere that propels the story of a once wealthy lawyer who, dying of AIDS, returns to an ex-lover to 'replay' his former life before dying. Richard Chamberlain is Thaddeus and the 'hustler' to whom he turns is Allen, played to perfection by Michael Imperioli. Allen is still 'hustling' but at this point his target is a female gallery owner (another excellent performance by Ute Lemper). Thaddeus moves in with Allen with the proviso that Allen find Thaddeus' last hustler lover, one Jaime (again played with conviction and subtlely by James Duval)for final goodbyes. In the end all are faced with the emptiness of the 'live life for the moment ethic' of the Hustler and the John and the vacuum created by Thaddeus' death seems to open the door of possible change for those remaining. Though obviously a low budget film, the director makes excellent use of lighting and locations to create the seedy stench of Santa Monica Bovd and the attendant degrading scenes. The music score uses Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and the 'Lacrymosa' from his Requiem to fine effect. In the end it is the quality of performances by Chamberlain, Imperioli (his most sensitive role to date and not at all like his role in The Sopranos), Lemper, and Duval (along with some fine cameo roles from the supporting cast) that makes this a film well worth seeing. Though not for the staunchly homophobic viewer, the general public will gain a better understanding about a segment of life that is usually hidden from view.
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Worst!!!
Review: The pits! Cast as dying attorney in the final throes of AIDS, a way-over-the-top Richard Chamberlain decides to use his last days to make peace (so to speak) with two young male hustlers whom he'd hired ten years earlier. (Never mind that the younger of the two would have been a child at the time!) Needless to say, neither of the hustlers is particularly eager to see this former client agent--and who can blame them? As portrayed by Chamberlain, this annoying old queen (supposedly a top lawyer!) would give Truman Capote a run for his money in the flamboyance department. Talky, with little action, this truly awful movie seems like a feature-length death watch that seems to go on forever. And when Chamberlain finally does expire, the movie takes a turn for the weird, treating audiences to a softcore post-death epilogue--a fast montage of the two hustlers (one of whom has been retired for years) plying their trade in group sex interludes with variety of skanky old geezers. HUH??? (If this sounds interesting, it isn't). No wonder director James Merendino (hiding here under the name "Alan Smithee," a pseudonym synonymous for screen stinkeroos) demanded to have his name removed from the film. If the cast was smart, they'd have demanded the same privilege--and insisted upon having their images digitally erased, to boot.
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