It’s weird how some plans you have never come to play. Case in point: Mark Rydell’s The River, a drama film from 1984 starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek.

The first time I heard anything about the flick was in 1992, when my dad bought me a CD compiling several movie tracks. I recognised the majority of the movies, even if k hadn’t seen them. The River, however, was a bit of a blank draw.

You see: we didn’t have an IMDb or the like to look up movies, so you heard about films by either TV, cable or word of mouth. John Williams score was intriguing enough, a perfect blend of wide eyed wonder with wistful sadness. It opens with a grandiose overture, soaring in that classic Williams style of hopefulness. Then, an easy going part, straight to the home and heart of it all, the plentiful life. And then, it’s the moment of loss. It’s mournful, almost like a dirge. A hymnal ending that gave me an idea of film that perhaps doesn’t exist.

The poster was intriguing too, with Gibson and Spacek up to their waists with flood water, uncertainty being their fate.

Every time I had to traverse flooded roads or underpasses during rain season, I’d think of the movie, noting that I would watch it one day. Thirty years on, I still haven’t. Best laid plans.

-Sam J. Valdés López