source: The Mountain Men

This was something outta the 30s or 40s, ramped up in the violence and four letter word content. Terrific Grand Tetons scenary, good action, stunt work, passable acting by Heston and Keith, less so by Macht, Cassel and co. Racimo was a cutie. I thought the characters were pretty stereotyped, the plot derivative but overall, its a decent watch. Just don't go expecting to see a documentary or PC 'Dancing with Wolves' kinda deal and you will be fine. **1/2 outta ****....

Mountain Men, The (1980) * 1/2 (out of 4) Charlton Heston and Brian Keith play beaver hunters in the early 1800s who battle Indians and eventually take one of the females (Victoria Racimo) with them. The hunters then learn of a secret place with an unlimited amount of furs. This film has a pretty notorious history behind it as it was attacked when first released and continues to be attacked as being one of the worst films of the decade. Both Siskel and Ebert picked it as the worst film of 1980 and most movie books you read won't give this anything over a BOMB rating. I certainly agree that this is an incredibly bad film but I'd go as far to say it's one of the greatest bad movies ever made. The screenplay, written by Heston's son, is among the worst ever written as it's never clear what the film is trying to do or say. It seems like this would be a spoof of the genre because of all the stupid situations in it but sadly the film tries to play it straight and fails horribly. You get really embarrassing scenes of Indians mooning one another, mountain men flicking them off and the childish nature continues and I have to wonder why no one questioned this stuff before the movie was filmed. You also have Heston and Keith constantly fighting and cussing one another in what seems like a major influence on something like Grumpy Old Men. As for Heston, he certainly doesn't give a good performance here but it's campy enough to be entertaining. The entire film is very bad but at the same time it's never boring due to how bad it is. The film has plenty of unintentional laughs and in the end I had somewhat of a good time watching this but your entertainment level will certain depend on whether you can enjoy campy, bad films.

I wanted to like this movie, but it was awful! It was poorly written and poorly acted. Probably the only reason it got made was that Charleton Heston agreed to act in it. And probably the only reason he agreed to act in it, was because his son wrote it. There are some historical accuracies since it was drawn from the book of the same name which is considered an accurate account of that time. If you want a historically accurate story from that time, read the book called Morning River and its sequel, Coyote Summer by W. Michael Gear. Too bad those books have not been made into a movie. This movie was embarrassingly bad!!!

I bought this movie for $5 before I even seen it...I like westerns so it wasn't that big of a risk for me. Although this movie has a few lame parts here and there, it is a quite entertaining story about furtrapping, friendship, and even a little romance. There aren't enough movies out there about furtrappers or this extremely adventurous era of our country's history. Brian Keith's character(Frapp)in the movie was the best part. He is a rough and tough "Injun" fighter who loves whiskey and cuss words. He provides some comic relief and is the most memorable character in the movie. Heston does an okay job as well. My favorite line in the movie is after the Crow Indian says "You give us gifts and we go in peace." and Frapp says "You can go in dog s***!"

Charlton Heston and Brian Keith, while first-rate in this film, came in second to the stupendous scenery of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park in this story of two crotchety, fiercely individualistic fur trappers in the mid-18th century who fight the elements, Indians, and occasionally each other. The two stars work extremely well together, and Keith especially seems to be having the time of his life. He played a similar role in a very good TV movie of the same period, "The Quest," but here he is given the opportunity to run with it, and he does a grand job. At first Heston looks somewhat stiff and uncomfortable in his mountain man getup--mainly varying types of animal pelts, with a huge Davey Crockett-type fur cap--but before long he seems right at home. The action scenes are extremely well done and quite intense, actually--especially when Keith and Heston are ambushed by an Indian war party at their camp--and there is a rollicking scene at a large meadow where the annual trappers' gathering (a sort of swap meet) is held. Heston seems to be enjoying himself, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, and this is one of the most enjoyable, and better-made, westerns to come out of the early '80s. Recommended.

The Grand Tetons are unmatched for grandeur and are in the background through much of this flick. The plot is thin in places but it's a realistic look at the mountain man way of life. Well worth a view. I rated it 7.

What sustains my memory of this movie most is Brian Keith's explanation of why he's never lost in the wilderness... certainly the best delivered line of his career. Heston and Keith play grizzled trappers who accept the chore of shepherding a young, green, ex-military type to Rendezvous. Along the way they face numerous challenges to their morality... (the usual river fordings, mountainous pass traversing, Indian raid sorts of things). One technical note: this movie contains one of the first weapon's eye viewpoints I recall ... seeing the forest and targets from the head of an Indian spear. The Indians... ahhhh, the Indians are mostly European, at least the ones with speaking parts (thinking here of Victory Jory and Stephen Macht, not the devastating Victoria Racimo). Much of the scenery mirrors the earlier Jeremiah Johnson (1972), but, sadly, the emphasis of this film seemed to be the enjoyment of the actors, rather than advancement of plot, historical accuracy, and numerous other niggling little details. I like this movie very much... It makes me laugh, without fail, and leaves me feeling better for seeing it.

Looks like it takes place in the 1840s or 50s since it's flintlock rifles that are being used. Most of the film deals with a Blackfoot Indian, Heavy Eagle (soap-opera star, David Ackroyd) and his warriors going after mountain man, Bill Tyler (Charlton Heston) for 'stealing' his squaw, Running Moon (Victoria Racimo). Doesn't matter that Running Moon wants to be with Tyler. Heavy Eagle has to preserve his honor. There's a side plot about the shortage of beaver that Tyler and his partner/sidekick Henry Frapp (Brian Keith) have to deal with, but this is mostly a pursuit film with Heston being chased all over Wyoming and engaging in lots of hand-to-hand combat with the Blackfoot. And speaking of Wyoming, there is some excellent scenery up there. Beautiful country! Lots of swearing, some blood being spilled and plot that moves pretty fast, so there's little time is being wasted. I don't know who edited this film but some of the scene transitions seem a little too abrupt to me. The film also has plenty of lame juvenile dialog, but if you can get past that, then it's worth a look. I'm going to give it an above average rating more for the scenery and a beautiful score by Michael Legrand, than anything. 6 out of 10

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.