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.

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.

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.

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).

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.