THE MOUNTAIN MEN
US, 1979, 105 minutes, Colour.
Charlton Heston, Brian Keith, Victoria Racimo, Stephen Macht,
John Glover, Seymour Cassell, David Aykroyd, Victor Jory.
Directed by Richard Lang.
The Mountain Men were the west's tough breed, veteran lone trappers who battled nature and Indians. Gnarled and grizzled Charlton Heston and Brian Keith portray two friends who wander, trade and drink in the raucous rendezvous camps. They also befriend and fight infighting Indians. Conventional material, rough and tumble style, until Heston becomes a fugitive man in the wilderness - with a final contest to the death. The ageing stars, with their friendship, memories and tall stories and capacity for survival over so many years, highlight the themes of the changing ways of the American frontier. Spectacular Wyoming scenery, Michel Legrand's score, screenplay by Heston's son, Fraser Clarke Heston.
Direction is by Richard Lang who made the Shirley MacLaine? vehicle A Change of Seasons about the same time.
1. An enjoyable satisfying western? The rarity of westerns made during the late 1970s? The age-old popularity? The main ingredients: action, the heritage, Indians, the characters of the west, the formation of American society?
2. The re-creation of period: the 1830s, Wyoming and its beauty, the mountains, the world of the trappers, the trading centres, the world of the Indians? The quality of the colour Panavision photography? Michel Legrand's score?
3. The title and the themes of age, a passing era, changing heroes? The highlighting of the changes in the 19th. century on the American frontier, the influences in American society?
4. The world of the trappers: alone, tough and gnarled men, their knowledge and feel for the countryside, their growing old and isolated in their life? Coming into the trading posts, uncomfortable with the outside world? The work of the trappers with the traders? The traders and their paths to the west? Pioneers? The background of Indian friendship and hostility? The Crows and the Blackfoot? Coexistence, clash? The Indians in the trading posts and influenced by white ways, drinking?
5. Bill Tyler and Charlton Heston's rugged performance? His work as a trapper, age, experience? The work with Wyeth? The clash with the Indians? His long friendship with Henry Frapp? The encounter with Running Moon and saving her? Taking her to the trading post? The scenes of relaxation at the trading post, drinking, dancing, friendship? The pioneer background? The visit to Iron Belly and the vision of the beaver ground? His roaming the mountains, the encounter with the Indians, the hostility of the Blackfoot? Surviving the attacks? Frapp and his being scalped? Running Moon and Heavy Eagle's hostility? The capturing of Tyler? The running of the gauntlet? His wily escape? Hiding in the water, the encounter with the beaver? Meeting up with the trappers, the reuniting with Frapp? The siege and the deaths? Frapp's death? Running Moon alone in the village? The finale of the duel with Heavy Eagle? His death and lying in state? An elegy for the rugged men of the west? A typical Charlton Heston role?
6. The contrast with Henry Frapp and his talkative wiliness? His skill, companionship? Reminiscences about the old days? Drinking, women? Working with the traders? Helping Tyler, his being scalped? His surprise reappearance? The seeming indestructibility of the mountain men? His help in the final confrontation? The manner of his death and the sentiment for the audience?
7. The portrait of the traders, their work with the trappers, the trading posts, the Oregon Trail?
8. The picture of the Indians in the 1830s? Iron Belly and his living in the white trading post, the passing of Indian traditions, the fading vision? Drinking, women? His friendship with Billy? The Crows and the Blackfoot and their friendship? Their clashes with each other?
9. Heavy Eagle as villain? his brutality towards Running Water, the chase and pursuit of the white men? Fighting, hostility, his braves chasing the whites? Scalping Henry Frapp? The vengefulness in the capture of Tyler, torture, running the gauntlet, the final duel and his death?
10. Running Moon as heroine - outcast and exiled? Indian dignity? Peaceful relationships with the whites? Her love for Tyler? Her capture? His finding her again? Her mourning him?
11. The reality of the west and the myths and interpretation? The mountain men as symbols of the old west? The American heritage?
