STREEPS OF FIRE: THE MERYL WILD W/SPECIAL GUEST ERIK

The Good, The Pod and The Ugly

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STREEPS OF FIRE: THE RIVER WILD (1994) WITH BLOOD AND POPCORN'S ERIK!
Following Streep's break from heavy roles after 1988's A CRY IN THE DARK, 4 out of 5 of Streep's next movies were sharp-ish turns to comedy (SHE-DEVIL, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE & DEATH BECOMES HER), with one prestige drama (THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS) before she decided it was time for becoming an... action hero?
We are still in the midst of Streep's most fascinating period (she would next romance Clint Eastwood in the brilliant BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY). Curtis Hanson (director of LA CONFIDENTIAL) was a master of the mid-budget studio thriller at the time of The River Wild. Once Streep was on board with Hanson, a crack cast around her quickly followed (Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly, David Strathairn, that one kid from Jurassic Park, a heroic dog, and Benjamin Bratt). It all makes for a relatively satisfying early 90s mid-budget studio thriller about a couple of convicts taking a river guide (Streep) and her family hostage on a river-bound getaway through some gnarly rapids she has a deadly history with. It IS a ridiculous premise but Hanson, to his credit, along with Streep giving more than a script like this deserves, make it work.
The River Wild was filmed in a few different location but most of the sedate or passable rapid river scenes were shot in Southern Oregon on the wild and scenic portion of the Rogue River. Co-host Ken and special guest Erik (of the pod Blood and Popcorn) lived in the area at the time and discuss both the river and working at a movie theater when the film was being made AND having most of the stars come through at one point or another. It is always a peculiar thing when Hollywood invades a small town.
There is also a quiz about the movie!
Usually we do two movies in an episode but we didn't have any Streep-as-action-hero movies to pair this with. We all eagerly await Streep to show up as Commander Azmatron Eleven (first introduced in the classic Kree-Skrull War, Avengers Annual #6 to be exact) in the MCU so she can be in another action movie and we can have a Streep action figure!*
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096
*there is no such character and we all pray Streep never steps into a green closet to shoot a cameo in a shitty superhero movie, It would tarnish her crown