Le pays sauvage

When I was a child, I caught about the last third of this Disney movie on television, and it made a real impression on me. For decades afterwards, I wondered what the title was, but I couldn't remember it. But just the other day, I caught the entire package on Turner Classic Movies, and I was delighted to finally identify the movie. Seeing the entire thing as an adult, I think I can sum it up by saying that with the movie being an early 1970s movie from the Disney company involving a big city family in the late 1800s moving to the countryside, you can probably predict how most of it will play out. That's not to say that the movie isn't enjoyable, but you should probably be willing to put up with a number of familiar plot turns and characters. Those who do will find some nice scenery, pacing more leisurely than the hyperkinetic family movies made today, and some good messages about working hard and never giving up. It's not a Disney classic, but it's likable enough if this kind of thing is what you want. A word of warning, however: While the movie got a "G" rating back in 1970, there is some surprisingly harsh violence and intense situations that would unquestionably earn the movie a "PG" rating today.

Steve Forrest and Vera Miles star in The Wild Country about a family named Tanner with their two sons Ron and Clint Howard who homestead west from Pennsylvania to Wyoming territory to work a piece of farm land they've bought. At a dirt cheap price I might add.

Of course the reason it came cheap was because a very mean and nasty neighbor played by Morgan Woodward regulates the water flow. The Tanners struggle with Woodward is the main plot line.

Other than that The Wild Country shows a lot of problems that pioneer folk went through in settling the west. Among the many trials they endure is a tornado, admittedly not as well staged as in Twister, but I won't complain.

There are a couple of nice performances from Jack Elam and Frank DeKova as a pair of rustic characters with DeKova once again an Indian who help the Tanners out.

The Wild Country is a nice family product from the Disney Studio.

All Cast and crew members were exceptional. Making a film takes team work. The crew on this film were the best of the best. Location Manager Austin Jewell & Auditor Nick Humphrey provided support and financial know how that made this an easy film to work on. Bob Totten, Director was a genius. Jack Elam was so good that you could almost smell him . Steve Forrest & Vera Miles turned in great acting performances. The Jackson Hole location with the Grand Teton mountains were a big hit with all, made the movie real. Rate this movie a 10 plus. Bob Clatworthy, Art director provided a artistic touch that rates at the top of the list. When we arrived in Jackson Hole in August 1969 and the Grand Teton mountains still had snow on them that lasted until we left. The town people of Jackson Hole were very nice and would help were ever they could. Many were hired as extras and rented vehicles and equipment to the production.

Steve Forrest and Vera Miles leave Pittsburgh with their sons, Ron and Clint Howard and move to Jackson Hole to farm. However, despite friendly Mountain Men, the big rancher won't let them have any water, and their farm starts to dry up.

It's an agreeable movie to spend a couple of hours with, with some spectacular scenery shot on actual location, but despite the competence of everyone, it looks like they were striving for something and missed it. Was it director Robert Totten, the man whose the previous year's DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER was the birth of Alan Smithee? Cinematographer Frank Phillips, who compositions show so much baby-blue sky that you don't see the people? The Howard brothers, who performances are monotonous? The post-Walt habit Disney had of reducing everything to blandly heartwarming? I'm not sure, but miscalculations like that turn what could have been a fine movie into one that is good.

This is a good Disney family film about the Tanner family: Jim the father (Steve Forrest), Kate the mother (Vera Miles), Virgil the older boy (Ron Howard) and Andrew the younger boy (Clint Howard). They take on farming in the West in the late 19th Century or early 20th Century. There is a tornado in the movie. There is a fight over irrigation water, and it seems the father got killed in it. The Wild Country is based on the book "Little Britches" by Ralph Moody. Ralph Moody's parents lived in New England and moved to the Littleton, Colorado, area, where there was an irrigation fight and Ralph's father died of bad health. Ralph wrote a number of books about his life, including "Horse of a Different Color," which tells about his experiences in the cattle feeding business in the McCook, Nebraska-Oberlin, Kansas area.