The Mountain Men (1980)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

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:

Many of the extras in the rendezvous scenes are reenactors known as "Buckskinners". These folks had a grand old time making this film. Most of the costumes seen in the rendezvous scenes,including weapons, and many of the horses, were the personal property of the actors wearing them.

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!

Terrific frontier tale

Charlton Heston and Brian Keith, while first-rate in this film, came in second to the stupendous scenery of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park in this story of two crotchety, fiercely individualistic fur trappers in the mid-18th century who fight the elements, Indians, and occasionally each other. The two stars work extremely well together, and Keith especially seems to be having the time of his life. He played a similar role in a very good TV movie of the same period, "The Quest," but here he is given the opportunity to run with it, and he does a grand job. At first Heston looks somewhat stiff and uncomfortable in his mountain man getup--mainly varying types of animal pelts, with a huge Davey Crockett-type fur cap--but before long he seems right at home. The action scenes are extremely well done and quite intense, actually--especially when Keith and Heston are ambushed by an Indian war party at their camp--and there is a rollicking scene at a large meadow where the annual trappers' gathering (a sort of swap meet) is held. Heston seems to be enjoying himself, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, and this is one of the most enjoyable, and better-made, westerns to come out of the early '80s. Recommended.