Wild River

Even after 50 years, memories of the movie stars and Hollywood coming to Charleston and Cleveland still light up the faces of those who were around during the making of the 20^th Century Fox motion picture Wild River.

Wild River was the first major motion picture filmed entirely in Tennessee and was mostly filmed in Charleston on the Hiwassee River.  More than 40 local residents were chosen for speaking roles in the movie and more than 100 were extras involved in some way.  Almost everyone around Bradley County in 1959 has a story about Hollywood coming to their hometown.

Wild River was filmed in 1959 and released to the public May 26, 1960. Locals could catch the movie and a glimpse of hometown stars at the Star Vue Drive-in. Since then, the movie has been shown several times at the Museum Center at 5ive Points, but is not available on video or DVD. 

Local author David Swafford has been gathering information and collecting stories and memorabilia over the past few years.  Swafford is writing a book featuring stories from the movie set and the impact of Hollywood coming to the small communities of Charleston and Cleveland.

“It was a big deal to have movie stars and a famous director in our town,” said Swafford. “I have heard so many funny and interesting stories about the filming that I knew I had to write them down and preserve them in some way. The more I talked about it, the more people I found who are interested in the movie too.”

Swafford has done extensive research locally as well as traveling to the National Archives in Atlanta and to University of Wesleyan University in Middleton, CT, where Kazan’s professional documents, photographs and memorabilia are archived in a special collection. He has talked with hundreds of people, collecting photographs and stories and he has given presentations on his findings to several local groups.