''River Made to Drown In'' is a 1997 drama film starring

Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Ou ...

Richard Chamberlain George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show '' Dr. Kildare'' (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several TV mini-series, such as ''Shō ...

Ute Lemper Ute Gertrud Lemper (; born 4 July 1963) is a German singer and actress. Her roles in musicals include playing Sally Bowles in the original Paris production of ''Cabaret'', for which she won the 1987 Molière Award for Best Newcomer, and Velm ...

and

James Duval James Edward Duval is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the Gregg Araki ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy—''Totally F***ed Up'', ''The Doom Generation'', and '' Nowhere''. His other notable roles include Miguel in ''Independence ...

. Although directed by

James Merendino James Anthony Merendino (born January 11, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter who is best known for directing the 1998 film ''SLC Punk!''. Life Merendino was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah whe ...

, Merendino had his name removed, and the film is credited to Alan Smithee.Daniel Herbert ''River Made to Drown In'' failed to secure U.S. theatrical distribution, and it was released on DVD and has appeared on

here! Here TV is an American premium television network targeting LGBT audiences. Launched in 2002, Here TV is available nationwide on all major cable systems, fiber optics systems, and Internet TV providers as either a 24/7 premium subscription channe ...

television.

Plot summary

Allen is a struggling artist who had formerly worked as a

male prostitute Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...

. He has left that life behind and is involved with Eva his art dealer. His life is upset by the arrival of Thaddeus, a wealthy lawyer near death from AIDS. Allen had for a time been Thaddeus's "kept boy" and Thaddeus has come to Allen to die. Before he dies, however, he wants Allen to help him find Jaime, another young hustler who had taken Allen's place with Thaddeus. Thaddeus is worried that he's infected Jaime with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and says he wants to care for him financially. The film follows Allen's efforts to fulfil Thaddeus's final wishes while struggling to maintain his relationship with Eva and avoid the temptation of being drawn back into his former life on the streets.

Cast

as Thaddeus MacKenzie *

as Allen Hayden *

as Eva Kline *

as Jaime * Austin Pendleton as Billy *

Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire ( née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress who played roles as Connie Corleone in ''The Godfather'' films and Adrian Balboa in the ''Rocky'' series. For her work in ''The Godfather Part II'' and ''Rocky'', Shir ...

as Jaime's Mother * Mike Starr as Frank *

Richard Riehle Richard Riehle (born May 12, 1948) is an American character actor. He portrayed Walt Finnerty on ''Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005) and The Warden on ''The Young and the Restless'' (2007). He also appeared in over 200 films, including '' Glory' ...

as Heavyset Man * Michael Saucedo as Luis *

James Karen James Karen (born Jacob Karnofsky; November 28, 1923 – October 23, 2018) was an American character actor of Broadway, film and television. Karen is known for his roles in ''Poltergeist'', ''The China Syndrome'', ''Wall Street'', ''The Return ...

as Ray * Michael Kearns as Arthur * Michael O'Hagan as Jack *

Lewis Arquette Lewis Michael Arquette (December 14, 1935 – February 10, 2001) was an American film actor, writer, and producer. Arquette was known for playing J.D. Pickett on the television series ''The Waltons'', on which he worked from 1978 to 1981. Life ...

as Vagabond * Paul Marius as Turk * Jon Powell as Martin

DVD release

''River Made to Drown In'' was released on Region 1 DVD on July 1, 2003.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:River Made To Drown In, A 1997 films 1997 drama films 1997 LGBT-related films American LGBT-related films Films credited to Alan Smithee HIV/AIDS in American films American independent films Films about male prostitution in the United States Films directed by James Merendino Films set in Santa Monica, California 1997 independent films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language independent films