Customer Reviews

White Mile [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Boasting one of Alan Alda's best performances, this HBO made-for-cable film has an intelligent script, strong dialogue, and excellent acting by all cast members. Based on a true incident, the horrific drowning of several members of a corporate sortie to the treacherous Chilko River for white water rafting, the pacing here is flawless. The writer, Michael Butler, and the director, Robert Butler (related?) have fashioned a seamlessly powerful work that hits the viewer right between the eyes.

Alda's character, Dan Cutler, is a callous, ruthless corporate type who, without question, still exists. One of the top honchos at a prestigious ad agency, he is constantly egging on his subordinates to push themselves, to feel life in their gut and their private parts. He organizes the sortie and in essence bullies both ad agency execs and VIPs from two clients into doing the white water rafting which starts off well, then escalates into a terrible set of events.

The rafting footage is absolutely spectacular; tremendous credit should go to the cinematographer here. This makes the story truly believable; you really feel it when things go horribly wrong.

The endpiece, a courtroom trial, is, in a way, tacked on, but still delivers the goods. See this for Alda's amazing performance. One would think after watching this film that Alda actually IS like this in person; his performance is that believable. Peter Gallagher is also excellent, but this is really Alda's show and what a show it is. He is astoundingly good.

Highly recommended.

I was one of the lawyers for the plaintiff in the lawsuit. I saw the movie several years after the trial, and found it to be an accurate depiction of the facts and events that took place. An amazing story and very tragic.

Think Citizen Kane on the river. Solid acting but the whitewater stunts are not the run of the mill Hollywood. Those guys led by Bryan "River Dog" Koelzer, who sat in the middle of the raft without a paddle, really make this movie special. This movie was voted the top 5 whitewater films of all time by Paddler magazine. If you don't own a copy you are will never reach complete enlightenment.

This work relates, speaking in broad terms, a narrative (based upon a true story) of a group of executives that is pressured into taking part in a whitewater raft trip, during which an unfortunate incident occurs. A subsequent lawsuit which addresses the incident completes a good portion of the film. The entire production wants nothing, as all involved perform at a high level. The scenario, by Michael Butler, is stripped neatly to its essence, and immediately engages the viewer with its combination of visceral excitement, suspense, and character development. The direction by the veteran Robert Butler is precise and enhanced by the splendidly balanced casting. Alan Alda gives his finest performance, softly creating a characterization which fascinates as it develops. Among other cast members, Peter Gallagher, Bruce Altman, and Robert Loggia offered nary a flaw in this seamless tale. The scenes immediately leading to, and including, the actual raft trip are enthralling as a test of strength between Alda's character and his companions, a test that reveals varying moral sensibilities. Editing, in a film reflecting issues of larger scope than are commonly seen, provides an important framework; here, a linear structure is created and moves smartly. The cinematography and lighting, under the aegis of Lloyd Ahern II, can be enthusiastically endorsed (with a wide range of scena) as a standard to be envied. The score by Pray For Rain, refreshingly non-DJ, implies applicable emotion neatly and nicely throughout this interesting and beautifully balanced motion picture. An obviously high level of preparation by all involved bring forth one of the finest films of the 90s.

This movie was really good and I'm glad to hear that someone who actually was involved in the case liked it too. I saw this during my business class and I found that it really related well to the whole "win at all costs" idea as well as a business's ethics. Peter Gallagher and Alan Alda did wonderful jobs and are both very convincing. I also liked how they showed in the beginning the making of a commercial and the brainstorming process of making a commericial. Overall, this movie was great. You might be asking me WHY I fell asleep during it. It was because I literally had a sleepless night!

The second unit stunt doubles led by workhorse David "Flipper" Cline really bring this story to life. Some of the best whitewater stunts ever captured on film. This video is worth every penny of its used price.

I am related to one of the victim and from what I read of the trial depositions, a lot of this was true: some refused to go on the trip until they were told they could fish instead of raft, the release wasn't distributed until on the private plane to the site, the agency head discouraged or refused (depending on your perspective) the guide using a second boat to avoid mingling with another group, several on the trip grumbled concerns when they saw they were all going in one boat but due to peer pressure (yes, even at that age) none made a scene about it. One only wishes they had.

I used to work as a guide where this movie was shot (South Fork and Middle Fork of the American River, Placerville, California -- where gold was discovered by John Marshall) and I blame the guide 100%. The court found the individuals partially responsible, as adults who are supposed to have mature judgment, I guess, but I blame the guide. (In the movie the court finds the advertising company who invited the men on the trip 55% responsible and the individuals 45% responsible.)

From the LA Times: To Richard Bangs of Sobek, the accident was "a freak." He praised Ron Thompson, the outfitter--"He's been running Canadian rivers for years and has an excellent reputation." But he was surprised to hear that Thompson had used only one boat. "That's unorthodox . . . For something in a wilderness area, with any challenge at all, it's common practice to have more than one boat."

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The reason you have two rafts, or guides in support kayaking ahead of the raft, or a guide in an oar-boat, carrying the equipment/lunch rowing ahead of the guests' raft, is you can throw a bag rope. The Lava Canyon was steep. You can go to Google Earth and look at it. (The Chilko is about 200 miles north of Vancouver.) If there was no good shoreline to station a person to throw a bag rope, that is all the more reason to have someone stationed downstream in an eddy, in an oar-boat, to throw a bag rope. The rope feeds out of a hole in the bag. The bag and rope float and it creates a line across the river for the person to grab. Also a guide in a kayak can go after a swimmer and assist the person to shore (the kayak has a loop of nylon webbing at the stern). It seems simply insane to me to take 11 guests in one boat. It was probably an 18-foot Avon Pro like they use in the Grand Canyon. I don't know what the capacity of an Avon Pro is because we used smaller rafts, 14-ft. The guide probably did not know about the submerged rock. There was another fatality on the Chilko also from hitting a rock that same year.

From the NY Times:

Five American advertising executives were killed last weekend when their inflatable raft pitched sideways, tossing them into the fast-moving rapids of the Chilko River.

Among the dead was Richard T. O'Reilly, 65 years old, president of the advertising concern that handled President Reagan's 1980 campaign, and Robert V. Goldstein, 50, who was vice president for advertising for Procter & Gamble Company.

Sgt. Ken Williamson, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the raft ''turned sideways in fast water'' Saturday, throwing 11 of the 12 people in it into the churning water about 35 miles west of Alexis Creek.

One person clung to the raft and was rescued, while six others made it out of the river alive, the police said. Two people were hospitalized. The Others Killed

The police identified the others killed as James Fasules, 63, of Glen Ellyn, Ill., a former senior vice president of DDB Needham Worldwide, and Stuart Sharpe, 37, and Gene Yovetich, 41, both Chicago residents and senior vice presidents of account management at DDB Needham.

Among the survivors were Michael Miles, president and chief executive officer of Kraft Inc. in Glenview, Ill., and Al Wolfe of Lake Forest, president of the United States division of DDB Needham.

The cause of the deaths will be determined in autopsies, the police said.

They said 11 Americans and a Canadian guide were traveling on the raft, which was rented by Ron Thompson Guiding of Riske River. Searchers recovered three bodies soon after the midday accident and found the two others after the search resumed Sunday morning.

Robert V. Goldstein

Mr. Goldstein, as vice president for advertising at Procter & Gamble, was one of the most powerful figures in advertising, supervising a national advertising budget of more than $1 billion, the world's largest.

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From the Chicago Tribune:

The gradient is 140 feet per mile, a steep drop by the standards of any white-water river.

Twelve miles of rapids loom ahead. The first step is a roaring mile of boulder-tossed waves, followed by more or less rugged rapids all the way. That first step is called ``The White Mile.``

. . .

``This time the wave (in that vee) hit us very hard and dumped a lot of water into the boat,`` Thompson said. ``It`s always been a tricky passage. Half the time it pushes you to the left, but most of the time not hard enough to get above that rock. There`s normally a cushion of water that helps you ferry past. You rarely contact the rock, maybe 10 percent of the time.

``This time, we hit a slow, sluggish patch of water that brought the boat sideways. Then the wave drove us hard into the side of the rock. The upper part of the boat (away from the rock) was forced down. The other side stood on its side. People on the high side fell out. Those on the low side washed out. ``I was in the middle, steering with the oars, and I must have been one of the first out.

. . .

``I didn`t swim the whole thing,`` Thompson said. ``It put me into an eddy of slower water on the left about 100 yards below the wave, where I was able to reach shore. Three other people were across the river and okay. The rest went downstream.``

Of those remaining eight, two managed to claw their way to safety. A third rode the raft through the canyon, the only one who stayed in.

``It didn`t flip. It fell back right side up,`` Thompson explained.

. . .

``when the raft came back down in the water, (Collins) discovered a man who was thrown was hanging onto the craft. He tried to pull him in, but he was too heavy. The man was able to hang on. Jack held on to the oars to try and keep the raft from spinning around and was eventually able to direct it toward shore. Both he and the man were rescued.``

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Anyway, it sounds to me as though the weight of water plus weight of bodies made the boat go perpendicular on the rock and everybody fell in, and then the people became hypothermic in a long rapid. I don't know why they drowned. Their life vests should have held their heads above water. They must have all been wearing wetsuits. They should have all been wearing helmets.

Usually people drown because they grab snags and get held underwater -- a "snag" is any branch/debris -- middle of the current is safer.

The thing that is most striking about this movie (other than the white water sequences) is how Mr. Goodguy can so turn on a dime and be such a slimey, self-serving, non-sympathetic figure in this movie. While he is like this throughout the movie, bullying his workers to go on this dangerous trip even one who feared for his life but needed his job more, his personae truly comes alive when the widow of one of these men comes to see him and he offers her some amazingly good cheescake....I loved seeing him like this -what an an incredible job of acting. This has to be a universal concept that happens in job situations throughout the world - "You do this or it's your job".....The action scenes are well filmed and acted and an exciting movie all-around. Peter Gallagher is good as the person who tries to do the right thing, Robert Loggia (always good) as someone who should have known better but surprisingly goes along with the rafting trip.