Challenge to Be Free

"Challenge to be Free" was one of the first films I saw as a child. It was also one of the first VHS tapes that I owned. I hadn't seen the movie in years, so yesterday I decided to stick the tape in and watch it. Wow. The story is as powerful now as it was the first time I saw it. I think now that I am older I can better apreciate the values that are implanted in the movie. (Self-reliance, The value of Freedom, and the love of nature) It is a "B" movie, to be sure, but it's one that you'll remember for years, especially if you see it as a child.

About as good as you'd expect a low-budget film of this type from the 70s to be - that is, not good at all.

There was a lot of promise here but gets squandered by its "cheapness" and ridiculous scenes, questionable acting.

It had a Jeremiah Johnson feel to it at first, which drew me in. I enjoyed the way this Trapper bloke was towards animals - handfeeding chipmunks, becoming friends with wolf cubs, playing games with bears. It made me smile and laugh.

But then things go downhill. Way too much animal cruelty takes place and this god damn awful fake laugh of Mike Mazurki's takes over. It goes from weird Disney-esque 70s documentary, to poorly made manhunt movie in the wilderness.

Dead dogs, brutalised mountain goats, suffering wolves and an annoying main character all helped destroy things and make me question why I bothered giving this a go.

Just read the true story instead.

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.

I recently watched Charles Bronson's "Death Hunt". I wanted to see if any other movie was made on the subject. There were two. One I couldn't find and the other was "Challenge to be Free". (I found this movie on Freevee.) The two movies tell the same true story but from two totally different angles. "Death Hunt" is a Charles Bronson/Lee Marvin action movie. A pretty good one at that. "Challenge to be Free" is a low budget family wilderness movie that often plays like a wilderness Dr Dolittle. They're definitely worth watching. "Challenge to be Free" is filled with good action and beautiful locations.

This is an excellent true story, one of the gems of mountain man folklore, set in 1930's Northern Canada. The story of Canada's most famous northern manhunt, the Mad Trapper of Rat River and his running gun battle with the R.C.M.P. in the winter of 1931-32.

The Mad Trapper was thought to be named Albert Johnson, complaints were received about Johnson tampering with people's traps. When the Mounties were sent to investigate one was shot and wounded in an exchange of fire. They withdrew for help and later returned to the isolated cabin with a nine man posse and 20 pounds of dynamite. Meanwhile Johnston had reinforced the cabin and dug a pit under the floor. When the Mounties threw the dynamite at the cabin it blew the cabin apart, but when they went in expecting to find a dead or wounded Johnston he fought them off.

The Mounties withdrew again, and later when they returned to the cabin they found it abandoned. After a long search of the area, they ran into Johnston again, but one of the Mounties was shot dead in the exchange and Johnston managed to slip away.

The Mounties could not catch Johnston so they called in aerial surveillance. The plane picked up Johnstons trail and directed the Mounties to his location. The outcome of the ensuing gunfight was left a mystery, did he get away. Nobody knows.

This Mike Mazurki version is a rather sterile version, of the story. Made in a style akin to an early Walt Disney movie.

It's still a passable enough version of the mystery of the "Mad Trapper". Though maybe it dwells a bit much on the large animal cast.

It definitely invites a remake. It was called Death Hunt (1981).