Gail Hartman

Gail Hartman is the heroine of the 1994 adventure thriller, ''The River Wild. ''She has played by Meryl Streep.

A teacher from Boston, who is preparing a vacation to The Salmon River, with her son, and having problems with her workaholic husband and hero. When they get to The Salmon River, they meet Wade, bad criminal and main villain, and his partner in crime and villain, Terry. After Wade orders Terry to kill Frank, a criminal and villain, because he's of no more use to him, he manipulates Gail and her son.

She realizes that there is something unsavory, fishy about Wade and Terry, when he tries to give their son $200 and watches her swimming naked. She and her husband try to get away from them and try to get their son but Wade catches them and reveals his true, mean self, and force them to take them through The Gauntlet, which is a very dangerous part of the river. Tom escapes and is able to fake his own death and set in motion a trap for the bad guys. Later Wade coldly shoots and kills a cop, who has a history with Gail, because he refuses to allow them to cross The Gauntlet and fly them out of there.

She, her son, and the villains go through The Gauntlet and manage to get through unhurt and fine. The bad guys get themselves into the trap and then Gail aims Wade's gun at him and he cowardly begs for his life and she spares him fires an empty round. Then Wade orders Terry to kill them all, but Gail shows and says to him there's a round with a bullet and fires and kills him. She saves the fam and calls the cops, who arrest Terry, and kisses her husband at the end.