Mud on the Stars: How Hollywood Changed a Tennessee Town

Tonight launches "Visions of the South," The Belcourt's long-awaited 23-film retrospective surveying depictions of Southern life in the movies. There's no better place to start than with Elia Kazan's rarely shown 1960 drama Wild River — a terrific Depression-era character study with Montgomery Clift as a TVA supervisor in conflict with an elderly homesteader (Jo Van Fleet) who must make way for a coming dam.

Featuring a cast that includes Lee Remick, the movie was shot on location by Kazan in the small East Tennessee town of Charleston, where the locals last year held a 50th anniversary celebration for the film. Among those present was Allison Inman, who has directed a documentary called Mud on the Stars about Wild River and its impact on the town. We've posted the trailer above.

Inman hosts the 7 p.m. screening tonight, which also includes an appearance by one of the film's cast members: Judy Harris Spurgeon, who played Lee Remick's daughter. I'd love to know whether all the townspeople were happy to be hosting a pro-TVA production: when I was growing up in Rutherford County, there was still some resentment over situations precisely like those in the movie.

UPDATE: Here's a sweet reminiscence from Mark Lee Taylor, who grew up in the area and recalls the filming — including his own casting session with Elia Kazan.