Desafío para la libertad

This story has held a special place in my heart for the last thirty-one years. As a boy, I enjoyed stories of mountain men and the wilderness. Books like "Call of the Wild", "White Fang", "The Frontiersman" and "My Side Of the Mountain", influenced me tremendously. I wanted so much to live like a mountain man, but nothing inspired me more to do so, than when I saw this movie on television in 1975. I wanted to be just like "Trapper". However, as I got older I found I was just too domesticated to live like that. Nonetheless, I still romanticize about living that kind of life. I agree with some other reviews of this movie that the storyline has the simplicity that is quite prevalent in "Disneyisque" type movies, but if you can look past the mechanics in which it was made and see the heart of the story, the true themes, then I think you find yourself pleasantly touched. I make it a point to watch this movie once a year. After thirty-one years, I still get a chill running through me when I see torrent of snow rushing down the mountainside and hear the echoing, haunting laugh of the Trapper.

-Good luck old-timer and stay free-

PS If you want to read more about the true story, I found this link on the Mad Trapper of Rat River:

http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/NWT/madtrapper.htm

Director: Tay Garnett, Ford Beebe, Cast: Mike Mazurki, Vic Christy, Fritz Ford, Tay Garnett.

Based on the number of comments I see on IMDb, this seems to be a forgotten movie. This seems rather ironic to me because it is actually one of the first movies that I remember. My mom took me and my little brother to see this film at The Garland theater in Spokane when it first came out in the mid 1970's and I still remember it.

I am going by memory here but I believe this move is about a trapper who was accused of a crime which he did not commit and the law goes after him. I believe it to be set in 1800's Alaska. A narrator tells the story of the trapper played by Mike Mazurki. Really, this is a very good film with a great setting. It could be compared to the 1981 film Death Hunt with Charles Bronson. The two films have a very similar story line. The main difference between the two is Death Hunt is an adult orientated film whereas Challenge is a family friendly film.

Mike Mazurki and Tay Garnett were both rather old when this movie was made which I find rather impressive when one considers that this movie was filmed on location in the wilds of Alaska. This was the last film made by Tay Garnett before he died which was just a few years later. They both had been around since the silent era.

Like a lot of reviewers here I saw this as a boy. I was sick from school for about a week & watched this on HBO probably 50 times that week. I loved it and always wondered if it was a true story. This movie is mostly narration with a lot of animal interaction. It does have a Disney feel to it. Now at 42 years old (I saw this when I was about 11) it is a little dated but my wife & I were looking for movie on Encore and I saw this. She had never seen it and enjoyed it as much as me and felt sorry for Trapper & Old Timer. It had been 30 yrs since I saw this & the theme song has always been in my mind (even if its outdated by today's standards). Not sure if our kids would like this or not. I'm going to burn it to DVD since this movie is not available. For those interested in the real story look up The Mad Trapper on wiki. Glad to be reacquainted with this movie, Trapper & Old Timer.

I really enjoyed this film when I saw it at the Saturday matinée during its release, and remember that experience vividly, but watching it now nearly 40 years later, I can appreciate that it has not aged well at all. This was clearly re-packaged to capitalize on the mountain adventure movies of the time, and to that end it has some gorgeous photography, but the story-- and especially the ham-fisted narration-- are just too hackneyed to bear. Even if it's based on truth, which the film clearly asks you to question, especially with its grossly fake documentary stylings, I can't imagine kids today would enjoy its slow pacing, stiff acting, and real animals. If you want to study it as an artifact of truly typical fare for the '70s, it does have its curiosities-- and for that matter, you could look at the "Benji" films too. But there's a reason why the "Benji" films are not considered classics, which is that they were simply bad. So is this.

There are far better films from the era to enjoy, even for children.

After reading the description I thought this is a movie I have to see.I searched it on the internet & found out it was based on the same story Death Hunt was based on which made me want to see it even more.Let me tell you straight away, if you're expecting another Death Hunt, forget about it.This movie version is the complete opposite of what Death Hunt was.After watching it or what I was able to watch of it, I'd say skip this movie & watch Death Hunt instead.Challenge To Be Free reminded me of some of the Disney movies I was forced to watch as a kid (I don't know why but at the time I HATED Disney movies) I watched about 35 minutes & after nodding off a bunch of times,I gave up & let sleep take over.Normally I'd fight sleep but this time I just did not care.If you want to watch the family friendly version of the story, watch Challenge To Be Free.If you want to watch the adult version, watch Death Hunt.I don't know about you but I prefer Death Hunt myself