Nicolas Cage (like Meryl Streep in the later The River Wild) really looks the part of a top oarsman in this decently done true story of a Canadian backwoods boy who rose from bootlegging to world championship glory. Cage charismatically surges his way through the story, making the rest of the acting look even less inspired than it is. And, although the film's Rocky-style structure gives it an impetus all its own, director Charles Jarrott, used to the statelier pace of such films as Anne of the Thousand Days, hardly makes the most of the potentially nail-biting race finale.


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