The Mountain Men (1980)

You won't be disappointed!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I have watched this movie many times over the years and it gets no better or worse. The scenery stills the show while no one believes for one moment these two old men could run over fifty yards and then fight someone half their age. The language is not for children or in my case, old people. This movie, like most westerns, raises one my pet peeves,how can everyone have such perfect teeth!

Another movie where a relation of the star wrote the screenplay. No screen writing credentials equals poor movie. Rated as one of the worst movies of the 1980's for good reason. A poor attempt to profit from, and bear similarities to, Jeremiah Johnson fame. Heston ends up with an unwanted Indian girl 17 minutes into the movie. Like many of the "Indians" in this movie she was more like a Mexican than an Indian. Why can't we get one or two real Indians? In one scene Indians approach their camp. The Indian sounds like a Mexican trying to talk in broken English like an Indian. Minutes later Indians attack. Laughing and hilarity throughout the battle. Just another fun day in the mountains. One of the guys is standing and is hit in the chest by an arrow. His concern would be on the level of someone who stepped into a puddle of mud with freshly polished shoes. So Heston nonchalantly stands up beside him. I guess he wanted to be a good target for the Indians. Heston pulls it out of his chest like he's dusting dirt off the guy's sleeve. The next day the guy is running around with no problem. In another scene here is Heston stumbling through the woods. You're wondering where his walker is. He's attacked by half a dozen young Indian braves. Of course, the old codger bests them in hand to hand combat. A poor sight at best. He arrives back at the camp and Keith sees he was attacked. And they were joking about it. You'd think he just got back from the 7-Eleven and spilled an ICEE. Throughout this movie I was never sure if it was supposed to be a serious movie or a comedy. Either way it flopped.

A Great Movie with Two Excellent Actors and a Great Supporting Cast. The Scenes are all colorful and interesting. It is a Movie you will want to see over and over again. Bill Tyler and Henry Frap make you feel like your there watching them in person. Chief Iron Belly is another unforgettable character. The scenery is fantastic. I also was very impressed with the Native American Costumes. An American Adventure Movie with Two of Hollywoods Greatest Stars. Charlton Heston and Brien Keith should be remembered in the History Books for this Movie as one of their Best. Humor in this film along with Bitter reality. I wish that more movies like this one were being produced today.

Maligned upon its release for its vivid violence, course language and questionable script, this film plays a bit better a quarter of a century later (now that vivid violence, course language and questionable scripts are almost all Hollywood has to offer!) Heston and Keith play feisty, rowdy, rugged trappers, swathed from head to toe in pelts and eking out a living selling their wares once a year or so to other frontiersmen. The action takes place in land occupied by warring Crow and Blackfoot Indians. When an enslaved Indian woman (Racimo) unsuccessfully tries to kill Heston and he brings her injured body back to his camp, a chain of events is kicked off that causes the deaths of dozens of people. Her captor, Blackfoot warrior Macht, wants his possession returned to him, more as a matter of pride than anything, and will stop at nothing to retrieve her. A variety of other characters turn up along the way including frontier newcomer Glover, old Indian friend Ackroyd and French Canadian trapper Cassel. Ultimately, Heston must go mano a mano with the ever-disgruntled Macht for the rights to Racimo. The rather cut-and-dried story is played out on a vast canvas of stunning Wyoming locations. The scenery is one of the chief attributes of the film. There is also a lovely score by Michel Legrand. Heston (along with many other people in the movie) has to contend with a horrendous fright wig - worse than his usual toupee! - a thick beard and a ton of heavy fur costuming. He gives a slightly more raucous portrayal than audiences may be used to but remains the granite-jawed, monument-like hero more often than not. Keith is wondrous. He completely abandons any and all refinement and sinks himself into his rough-and-tumble, foul-mouthed, earthy role. He and Heston share a significant amount of chemistry and the tale is almost more about their mutual affection than it is about the fight over Racimo. Surprisingly, for 1980, almost every Indian is portrayed by a white actor. Some are more successful than others. Jory and Ackroyd come across pretty authentically. Though he gives an intense portrayal, Macht brings all of the Native American sensibility, nuance and detail to his role as, say, a New York City writer moonlighting as a cab driver. He gives his role a far too contemporary and angst-ridden spin. Someone should have shown him Henry Brandon's work in "The Searchers" for inspiration. He also has an unintentionally amusing Snidley Whiplash moustache painted on his face for the bulk of the time. There's a raft of anachronistic-sounding vulgarity in the film, but it does aid in presenting the title characters as unsophisticated roughhousers. The violence is mostly very effective and gripping except for one really badly-handled beheading. Though fans of traditional (Randolph Scott?) westerns may balk at the film, it does offer some decent acting, action and cinematography. It also provides a vivid and rare glimpse into the world of the 19th century trappers. One quibble: Why do characters (often on foot!) keep running into each other in this expansive wilderness with the same frequency (or greater) than what would occur in Danville, Illinois??