A feature film about the world on the river bottom; in other words, twenty-four hours from the life of a musician, deserted children, junkies and other homeless people.River Bottom starts at dawn: the start of another day of struggle for the homeless. Marcus Reed (a role played by the 70-year-old jazz-saxophonist Teddy Edwards) messes with acid from a battery and injures himself. That morning two children go in search of someone to help the old musician. Marcus dreams of a second career in jazz and have saved and has saved some money to buy a saxophone from a pawnbroker. The junkies Leo and Derk rob Marcus of his savings and his dreams. The young doctor Alex Norfolk runs off the road in his car and ends up among the inhabitants of the river bottom. The homeless people make him perform an amputation on Marcus. Evening falls. Some won’t see the dawn. Alicia and Daniel’s prayers remain unanswered. A new dawn. Alex leads the funeral march. He is no longer the smoothy for whom life and suffering on the river bottom are unimportant.River Bottom is the first full-length feature film by Robert LeRoy and has its world première in Rotterdam.
