Challenge to Be Free

I condemn the tone of this film. At every turn, it seems the writers; Anne Bosworth, Chuck D. Keen felt it necessary to drill it into our heads that the pursuit of this gentle man was necessary and warranted. I'm wondering if it escaped any viewer's attention, the fact that Trapper was completely innocent (first shot, which wounded McIntire, was from a misfire from his over-zealous partner's gun. The second shot, which killed the over-zealous cop, was in self-defense). Who, in their right mind, would start firing into a house (or cabin), because of a theft report?

I am appalled that McIntire was hired to narrate the story, and was actually paid to recount the murder of an innocent man. In the context of the slew of shooting deaths by police, recently, in many areas of the U.S., Trapper's story is a warning of what could happen if we do not change our priorities, and restore our rights as citizens.

Shooting someone in the back is NEVER legal...ESPECIALLY when it is done by those who are sworn to serve and protect. This film is a story of a travesty, sugar-coated to seem legitimate. Mr. McIntire should be ashamed of himself.., and should be arrested.

It was great to see Mazurki as Trapper, though. Trapper seemed a righteous man.

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

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.