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'A River Runs Through It' (1992) -

Set in and around Missoula, Montana, this Robert Redford-directed drama sees a young Brad Pitt testing his fly-fishing skills on the Blackfoot and Gallatin rivers.

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'The River Wild' (1994) -

This adventure thriller was primarily filmed on the the Kootenai River in Montana. Additional scenes were shot on the Ruby Horsethief section of the Colorado River, the Rogue River in southern Oregon, and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, back in Montana. Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly, and Joseph Mazzello brave the rapids.

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'Deliverance' (1972) -

Four out-of-towners decide to take a canoe trip down a river in the remote northern Georgia wilderness unaware of dangerous rapids and the threat imposed by a bunch of murderous locals. The canoe scenes were filmed in the Tallulah Gorge southeast of Clayton, and on the Chattooga River.

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'Apocalypse Now' (1979) -

Loosely based on the 1899 novella 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad, Francis Ford Coppola's epic Vietnam War saga was filmed in the Philippines and uses the Bumbungan River as the waterway Willard (Martin Sheen) travels up in order to confront Kurtz (Marlon Brando).

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'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957) -

One of the most celebrated war films ever made, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' was shot in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The bridge in the film stood on the Kelani River, near the small town of Kitulgala.

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'African Queen' (1951) -

A great movie from Hollywood's golden era, 'African Queen' pairs Humphrey Bogart with Katharine Hepburn and was filmed on location in Uganda and the Congo in Africa. The scenes in which the two stars are seen in the water, however, were all shot in studio tanks at Isleworth Studios in Middlesex, England, as they were deemed too dangerous to shoot in Africa.

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'Into the Wild' (2007) -

This biographical adventure drama is directed by Sean Penn and is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, who hiked across North America into the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1990s. At one point he takes to a canoe to paddle the Colorado River.

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'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' (1972) -

Locations for Werner Herzog's historical drama included the Amazon River tributaries of the Ucayali region in Peru. Klaus Kinski stars as Aguirre, who leads a group of conquistadores down the Amazon River in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. Herzog and Kinski would reunite in the region 10 years later to make 'Fitzcarraldo.'

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'Fitzcarraldo' (1982) -

Werner Herzog's astonishing tale about a steamship transported over a steep hill to access the Amazon Basin was filmed in Brazil and Peru, notably on and around an isthmus between the Urubamba and the Camisea rivers. Klaus Kinski stars as the title character.

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'Mud' (2012) -

Mud (Matthew McConaughey) is a fugitive hiding on a small island in the middle of the Mississippi River, in Arkansas. Other locations included the Arkansas Delta Lowlands Area and the White River.

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'Show Boat' (1936) -

'Show Boat' takes place along the Mississippi River and is noted for Paul Robeson's wonderfully mellow rendition of 'Ol' Man River,' among other memorable Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical numbers.

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'The River' (1984) -

The Holsten River in Tennessee served as the backdrop for this drama starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek. They portray a married farming couple struggling from going under in the face of bank foreclosures and floods while providing for their family.

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'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' (2011) -

Ouarzazate in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains stood in for Yemen in this light-hearted drama about a fisheries expert (Ewan MacGregor) tasked by a sheik to bring the sport of fly fishing to the desert. Emily Blunt costars.

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'Cape Fear' (1991) -

The frightening climax to Martin Scorsese's remake of the 1962 film of the same name takes place on a houseboat along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis all try and keep their heads above water.

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'Sometimes a Great Notion' (1971) -

Paul Newman directs and stars in this movie about a family of Oregon loggers struggling to make ends meet in an ever-changing economic climate. Filming locations included those along the Siletz River, as well as Yaquina Bay and the Yaquina River.

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'White Water Summer' (1987) -

Though set in the United States and partly filmed in America and Canada, the white-water footage appearing in this survival drama was actually shot in New Zealand because the filmmakers were unable to find a river satisfactorily wild and cinematic enough in North America. Kevin Bacon is one of the paddlers in difficulty.

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'River of No Return' (1954) -

Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe are pictured in scene from 'River of No Return.' The body of water used in the production was the Salmon River in Idaho, which is actually known as the "River of No Return."

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'Anaconda' (1997) -

'Anaconda' stars Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Ice Cube, and Owen Wilson, and takes place in Amazonas state, Brazil, where in fact filming took place, along the Amazon River.

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'Wild River' (1960) -

French director Jean Renoir assisted by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray made this romantic drama on location in India, with much of the action taking place on or near the Ganges River.

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'Striking Distance' (1993) -

Pittsburgh, which is set at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, forming the Ohio River, is the location for 'Striking Distance,' a crime drama starring Bruce Willis as River Rescue Squad cop Tommy Hardy. The film costars Sarah Jessica Parker and was originally titled 'Three Rivers.'

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'Jungle' (2017) -

In 1981, Israeli adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg trekked into the Amazon rainforest with two other travelers. All underestimated the dangers the deep jungle can pose, and ended up journeying downriver on a makeshift raft in order to try and sail out of trouble. The movie was shot in Bolivia and stars Daniel Radcliffe as the hapless Ghinsberg.

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'White River' (1960) -

Filmed in the Tennessee Valley on the Hiwassee River, 'White River' stars Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick in a tale about the clearing of the valley in preparation for the construction of a new dam. Elia Kazan directs.

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'Pocahontas' (1995) -

Disney's delightful animated take on the life of the Powhatan woman Pocahontas includes several scenes where she takes to the water in a dugout canoe with Meeko, her pet raccoon.

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'Red River' (1948) -

Howard Hawks' fictional tale of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail stars John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. The "red river" is in fact San Pedro River in Arizona.

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'A Goofy Movie' (1995) -

There's a scene in this musical-comedy where Goofy takes his son, Max Goof, with whom he has a tense relationship, on a fishing expedition. The pair end up floating down a river in a cathartic father-son moment. The underlining message is that there's something about a river that brings families closer together.

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'Vacation' (2015) -

Okay, so not strictly set on a river, but 'Vacation,' starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, and Chevy Chase, does feature a scene filmed at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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'Creature from the Black Lagoon' (1954) -

Filmmaker Jack Arnold, whose credits also include 'It Came from Outer Space' (1953), used Rice Creek near Palatka, Florida, and Wakulla Springs, also in Florida, to film much of the on-water scenes during the making of this classic monster-horror picture.

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'Spirited Away' (2001) -

This highly acclaimed Japanese animated fantasy film features a "stink spirit," a spirit of a polluted river who yearns to be cleaned. The underlining environmental message is as clear as daylight.

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'Up the Creek' (1984) -

Centered on a collegiate raft race where everybody, it seems, is out to cheat in order to win, 'Up the Creek' takes place in Bend, Oregon, on—and often under—the Deschutes River.

Sources: (The New York Times) (NPR) (StrangeOutdoors)

See also: The longest rivers on Earth

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