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| The Mountain Men | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Richard Lang |
| Written by | Fraser Clarke Heston |
| Produced by | Martin Shafer Andrew Scheinman |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Brian Keith Stephen Macht |
| Cinematography | Michel Hugo |
| Edited by | Eva Ruggiero |
| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | Polyc International BV |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $6 million[1] |
The Mountain Men is a 1980 AmericanadventureWestern film directed by Richard Lang and starringCharlton Heston andBrian Keith. Heston's son,Fraser Clarke Heston, wrote the screenplay.[2]
Bill Tyler (Heston) is an argumentative, curmudgeonlymountain man. Henry Frapp (Keith) is Tyler's good friend and fellow trapper. Together, they trapbeaver, fight Native Americans, and drink at a mountain man rendezvous while trying to sell their "plews", or beaver skins, to a cutthroat French trader named Fontenelle.
Tyler looks for a legendary valley, inBlackfoot territory, "so full of beaver that they just jump in the traps." Running Moon leaves her abusive husband, a ruthless Blackfoot warrior named Heavy Eagle, and comes across the two trappers in the dying days of the fur trapping era. While at first Bill only wants to take her to safety at the rendezvous, she refuses to leave and eventually becomes his woman. While trapping, Bill and Henry are attacked by Blackfeet and Henry is scalped by Heavy Eagle in front of Bill. Tyler runs back to camp and he and Running Moon flee only to be caught. Later, Tyler (thinking Running Moon has also been killed) is given a chance to run for his life (similar to the real life event ofJohn Colter) and is chased by warriors whom he initially eludes by hiding in a beaver den. They pursue him until he and Heavy Eagle fall into a raging river. Heavy Eagle makes it to shore and Bill goes over a waterfall. Heavy Eagle returns to his camp and tries to make Running Moon his woman again, raping her, but she refuses to submit to him. He knows Bill Tyler survived and will come for her, just as he had done.
On his survival trek, Bill comes across Henry who had survived the scalping and eventually learns that Running Moon is still alive. He and Henry set out to rescue her while they are followed by another pair of trappers, Le Bont and Walters, who are also looking for the valley of beavers. After Le Bont and Walters are killed by Heavy Eagle and his warriors, Henry is shot in the chest with an arrow and dies in Tyler's arms. Tyler then sneaks into the Blackfoot camp and finds Running Moon, but before they can escape, Heavy Eagle arrives. Tyler and Heavy Eagle engage in hand-to-hand combat, and just as Heavy Eagle is about to kill Tyler with a knife, Running Moon shoots him with a musket, killing him. Tyler constructs a traditional Blackfoot sky burial platform next to a river and places Henry's corpse on it, before he and Running Moon ride away for the high country, in search of the beaver valley.
The film was shot inWyoming atBridger-Teton National Forest,Grand Teton National Park,Shoshone National Forest andYellowstone National Park.
The film received mixed reviews with Michael Blowen ofThe Boston Globe writing that the picture "is, quite simply, the worst film of the year".[3]Variety assessed the film as "loaded with vulgarities, bloody, and takes ages to drag from one plot development to another".[4] BothGene Siskel andRoger Ebert gave the film negative reviews, selecting it as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode ofSneak Previews. Siskel added, "Heston has simply failed to grow up, this is a 1950s movie in its look, its comedy and in its racist attitude towards Indians. It portrays them in some battle scenes as shuffling freaks inredface."[5] In hisannual publication,Leonard Maltin rated the film "BOMB" and described it as "crude, bloody and tiresome good-guys-vs-Indians western".[6]
Linda Gross of theLos Angeles Times gave a partially favorable review, writing that "for the most part, the film...is an enjoyable yarn".[7] Marylynn Uricchio echoed the same assessment inThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.[8] InThe New York Times,Janet Maslin praised the Wyoming scenery.[9]
Heston later said, "...the film that you saw was not the film that we conceived or shot. We compromised. My son's script was much darker. It emphasized the sort of autumnal recognition that they earned as trappers. I confess that I miss that aspect bitterly. My son found it difficult to swallow. He poured everything into the script and he resented the changes. But all artists compromise. Every one of my films could have been better. Every one of them. My son learned that the people who put up the money control the film. When we saw the final cut, he was heartbroken.... I could have walked out. I could have put everything on the line but I don't like to do that. It was the director's (Richard Lang) first feature and I don't like to throw my weight around. But maybe I should have. Maybe I made a mistake."[10]
