A Cry in the Wilderness

Rating:
Summary: A Cry in the Wilderness
Review: This is a hokey, dated, low-budget quasi-drama which crumbles despite a potentially interesting premise: a possibly rabid man ties himself to a post. Unfortunately, high jinx ensue, and whatever drama could have existed is obscured by child anti-star Gus' stereotypically bad acting and shaggy (anti)haircut. My favorite scenes are when Gus brings blankets (for no apparent reason) and gets socked in the kisser. The hallucinatory scene where the guy gets attacked by a Davy Crockett hat takes the cake though. Truly one of the funniest bits ever captured on film. Inconsequential sideplots abound, naturally... and what a conclusion!

Rating:
Summary: Unintentionally hilarious
Review: This is a hokey, dated, low-budget quasi-drama which crumbles despite a potentially interesting premise: a possibly rabid man ties himself to a post. Unfortunately, high jinx ensue, and whatever drama could have existed is obscured by child anti-star Gus' stereotypically bad acting and shaggy (anti)haircut. My favorite scenes are when Gus brings blankets (for no apparent reason) and gets socked in the kisser. The hallucinatory scene where the guy gets attacked by a Davy Crockett hat takes the cake though. Truly one of the funniest bits ever captured on film. Inconsequential sideplots abound, naturally... and what a conclusion!

Rating:
Summary: A Cry in the Wilderness
Review: This TV movie first aired in 1974, but it is not in the least bit dated. It's the story of a family of three who have just moved from their comfortable life in Chicago to a run-down farm in the wilds of Oregon. When the father, played by George Kennedy, is bitten by a rabid skunk, he chains himself to a post in the barn and sends his wife (Joanna Pettet) in the pickup truck to bring back a doctor...if it's not already too late! In the meantime, young son Gus (Lee H. Montgomery) is charged with keeping up the chores and bringing food to Dad in the barn. Mom has all sorts of problems getting to a doctor, and it's in this part of the story that we meet a range of secondary characters, mostly bad guys, and it seems like she will never make it. Not helping things any is the fact that heavy rains are building up a huge volume of water behind a tangle of trees and rocks upstream from the farm, putting Dad and Gus in mortal danger. But Gus has previously been told in no uncertain terms not to believe anything his chained up father says to him because of the possibility of madness brought on by the rabies, and so Gus doesn't believe his father about the flood danger.

This is a typical TV movie -- entertaining but not a great classic. You can tell it's made for TV by the periodic fade outs for commercial breaks. These do not detract from enjoyment of the DVD. Best thing about this DVD is the superb picture quality. It's full frame, and that's the way it was photographed, so you get lots of nice sharp detail and excellent color. Anyone who is a fan of George Kennedy, Joanna Pettet, or Lee H. Montgomery will love this DVD.