The Mountain Men (1980)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Richard Lang

Writer:

Fraser Clarke Heston (writer)

Release Date:

1 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Western

Plot:

A pair of grizzled frontiersmen fight indians, guzzle liquor, and steal squaws in their search for a...

Plot Keywords:

Beaver | Violence | Murder | Death | Tribe

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Bill Tyler
Brian Keith	...	Henry Frapp
Victoria Racimo	...	Running Moon
Stephen Macht	...	Heavy Eagle
Seymour Cassel	...	La Bont
David Ackroyd	...	Medicine Wolf
Cal Bellini	...	Cross Otter
John Glover	...	Nathan Wyeth
William Lucking	...	Jim Walter (as Bill Lucking)
Ken Ruta	...	Fontenelle
Victor Jory	...	Iron Belly
Danny Zapien	...	Blackfoot Chief
Tim Haldeman	...	Whiskey clerk
Buckley Norris	...	Trapper
Daniel Knapp	...	Trapper

Also Known As:

Wind River (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Norway:102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | USA:R | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Bridger-Teton National Forest, Jackson, Wyoming, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Though it's never explicitly stated in the film, the story takes place during 1838. This is based on the fact that the beaver market was declining and the rendezvous was held on the Popoagie River. The "Era of the Mountain Man" ended two years later.

Quotes:

Henry Frapp: I thought you got lost again.
Nathan Wyeth: Haven't you ever been lost?
Henry Frapp: Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!

One can almost smell the wet fur.

Maligned upon its release for its vivid violence, course language and questionable script, this film plays a bit better a quarter of a century later (now that vivid violence, course language and questionable scripts are almost all Hollywood has to offer!) Heston and Keith play feisty, rowdy, rugged trappers, swathed from head to toe in pelts and eking out a living selling their wares once a year or so to other frontiersmen. The action takes place in land occupied by warring Crow and Blackfoot Indians. When an enslaved Indian woman (Racimo) unsuccessfully tries to kill Heston and he brings her injured body back to his camp, a chain of events is kicked off that causes the deaths of dozens of people. Her captor, Blackfoot warrior Macht, wants his possession returned to him, more as a matter of pride than anything, and will stop at nothing to retrieve her. A variety of other characters turn up along the way including frontier newcomer Glover, old Indian friend Ackroyd and French Canadian trapper Cassel. Ultimately, Heston must go mano a mano with the ever-disgruntled Macht for the rights to Racimo. The rather cut-and-dried story is played out on a vast canvas of stunning Wyoming locations. The scenery is one of the chief attributes of the film. There is also a lovely score by Michel Legrand. Heston (along with many other people in the movie) has to contend with a horrendous fright wig - worse than his usual toupee! - a thick beard and a ton of heavy fur costuming. He gives a slightly more raucous portrayal than audiences may be used to but remains the granite-jawed, monument-like hero more often than not. Keith is wondrous. He completely abandons any and all refinement and sinks himself into his rough-and-tumble, foul-mouthed, earthy role. He and Heston share a significant amount of chemistry and the tale is almost more about their mutual affection than it is about the fight over Racimo. Surprisingly, for 1980, almost every Indian is portrayed by a white actor. Some are more successful than others. Jory and Ackroyd come across pretty authentically. Though he gives an intense portrayal, Macht brings all of the Native American sensibility, nuance and detail to his role as, say, a New York City writer moonlighting as a cab driver. He gives his role a far too contemporary and angst-ridden spin. Someone should have shown him Henry Brandon's work in "The Searchers" for inspiration. He also has an unintentionally amusing Snidley Whiplash moustache painted on his face for the bulk of the time. There's a raft of anachronistic-sounding vulgarity in the film, but it does aid in presenting the title characters as unsophisticated roughhousers. The violence is mostly very effective and gripping except for one really badly-handled beheading. Though fans of traditional (Randolph Scott?) westerns may balk at the film, it does offer some decent acting, action and cinematography. It also provides a vivid and rare glimpse into the world of the 19th century trappers. One quibble: Why do characters (often on foot!) keep running into each other in this expansive wilderness with the same frequency (or greater) than what would occur in Danville, Illinois??