The Mountain Men

Rating:
Summary: Mountain Men
Review: This is a great movie for the history and out door enthusiest,
I just wish it was on DVD, because I have worn out my VHS version.

Rating:
Summary: 1940's Technology
Review: This is one of the best under rated movies out there. Charlton Heston and Brian Keith are superb. I have been looking forward to it's release on DVD and how is it released? In fullscreen format. The film opened in widescreen and reverted to full screen at which point I turned it off. The great cinematography has been reduced by two thirds. If I wanted 1940's technology I would only buy films produced before wide screen was available. What is the matter with the studios who ruin good films by eliminating most of the scenery and the action? As I do not watch widescreen format reduced to "fit my TV screen" I intend to return this film, unwatched, to Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Movie
Review: This movie is incredible! The acting, the plot, the scenery, the costumes...it is all outstanding. I just don't understand why anyone would bash this movie. It's a classic mountain man tale, and they hardly come any better.

Oh, and by the way, I just made all that up. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I can think of nothing that was good about this movie. You want a real mountain man movie, see Jeremiah Johnson.

Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining and Instructive....for Muzzleoaders
Review: This movie is very entertaining and very instructive for muzzleloading enthusiasts, who participate in shooting and tomahawk throwing contests at annual rendez-vous. It shows several crucial aspects of that rough life of independent, freedom-loving, beaver trappers, or mountain men. This movie may also help to promote the sale of St. Louis Hawken rifles (Heston = Chairman of the NRA) and to raise the interest in a relatively unknown historical era towards the end of the fur trade, between, say, the Lewis and Clark Expedition by the Corps of Discovery in 1803-06 and the Fall of the Alamo in 1836, a simpler historical period, clearly far before the Civil War and its gutwrenching questions raised by the abolition of slavery, and the following unreal "cowboy" wild west fights between ranchers and settlers, as portrayed by John Wayne. The somewhat flat story of this movie "Mountain Men," of "bad indians" versus "good (white male) beaver trappers," partially fighting about an indian squaw, plays out in the Rocky Mountains near the Grand Tetons (Jackson Hole, Wisconsin), just south of the border between Canada and the USA. Some individual special fights and flights are quite well executed, e.g., a jump from a cliff in a foaming river and the portrayal of very old, but still lascivious "Jim Bridger" in his suit of steel at the rendez-vous is priceless. But, don't go to see the movie for the story, but go to see it for the bawdy and rough life style of these free-spirited mountain men, their muzzleloaders and tomahawks and their acoutrements. That life is far less idyllic and Arcadian than the 1837 drawings of Alfred Miller. See it for the spectacular scenery and vistas of the Rocky Mountain. And, of course, see it for Charleston Heston, as a fairly credible 50-year old "Lion in Winter," who, initially reluctantly, but soon convincingly, hooks up with a "trophy wife" in the form of a pretty indian squaw.

Rating:
Summary: Baudy and Entertaining
Review: This show has a fairly good story line, fine acting and stunning scenery. I saw this show when it was first released and the one aspect of the picture that I think I loved the most is the dialect. This was the first time I ever heard 'Uncle Bill'(Brian Keith)swear! The movie might not be historically accurate, or maybe it is...I don't really know or care. I grew up in Wyoming, and the way Tyler and Frapp carry on as the grumpy, mangy, grizzled old farts that they are just seemed natural to me. The one scene when Tyler happens upon Frapp in the middle of a frozen lake(Tyler has written off Frapp after seeing him 'killed'and subsequently scalped by Indians) and remarks on the scalping "Well, it sure must have smarted some"...Frapp agrees and displays a broad patch missing hair...Take me Bill Tyler..Take me!!! HEH!!!

Rating:
Summary: Baudy and Entertaining
Review: This show has a fairly good story line, fine acting and stunning scenery. I saw this show when it was first released and the one aspect of the picture that I think I loved the most is the dialect. This was the first time I ever heard 'Uncle Bill'(Brian Keith)swear! The movie might not be historically accurate, or maybe it is...I don't really know or care. I grew up in Wyoming, and the way Tyler and Frapp carry on as the grumpy, mangy, grizzled old farts that they are just seemed natural to me. The one scene when Tyler happens upon Frapp in the middle of a frozen lake(Tyler has written off Frapp after seeing him 'killed'and subsequently scalped by Indians) and remarks on the scalping "Well, it sure must have smarted some"...Frapp agrees and displays a broad patch missing hair...Take me Bill Tyler..Take me!!! HEH!!!

Rating:
Summary: WHEN???
Review: When in God's name are they going to relase this fantastic movie on DVD??? Jeremiah Johnson (another excellent mountain man movie) made it onto DVD years ago... whats the deal???

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Performance
Review: While I found the film long and the music tiresome, there was one OUTSTANDING performance - Stephen Macht playing Heavy Eagle! He brought incredible depth and texture to the character - playing against stereotype - fighting for his land and his woman. Macht, though not a Native American, captured the strength and nobility of the Indian nation; yes, there was cruelty and violence in the film, but there was also a deep understanding of the human condition and what it is to be persecuted without end and driven from the land of one's birth.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Performance
Review: While I found the film long and the music tiresome, there was one OUTSTANDING performance - Stephen Macht playing Heavy Eagle! He brought incredible depth and texture to the character - playing against stereotype - fighting for his land and his woman. Macht, though not a Native American, captured the strength and nobility of the Indian nation; yes, there was cruelty and violence in the film, but there was also a deep understanding of the human condition and what it is to be persecuted without end and driven from the land of one's birth.