Watch The Mountain Men For Free

Just perfect...

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Released in 1980, "The Mountain Men" chronicles the adventures of two mountain men in 1838 played by Charlton Heston and Brian Keith. They're bickering, cussing, fun-loving best friends who haven't seen each other for a couple of winters and the former is disheartened to discover that the market for beaver pelts has gone sour. Together they trap, fight Natives and party at a mountain rendezvous. When Tyler (Heston) acquires a Native woman named Running Moon (Victoria Racimo) her ex, a ruthless Blackfoot warrior named Heavy Eagle (Stephen Macht), wants her back and will kill to get her.This movie has a bad reputation with critics, but is generally praised by Western fans. Due to its subject matter it's not a conventional Western. There are no saloons, quaint Western towns, Sheriffs, Marshals, cavalries, cattle drives or quick-draw shootouts. "The Mountain Men" takes the topic of 1972's "Jeremiah Johnson" and mixes it with the tone of 1953's "Hondo" and, more so, 1977's "Grayeagle." It's mostly like the latter two in the way the Native Americans are depicted -- wild and savage. Their portrayal, albeit somewhat cartoony, is neither politically correct nor politically incorrect. It's basically just the way it was. They were either peaceable or brutally hostile depending on the people with whom they were dealing. For instance, the Crow Natives are friendly toward the mountain men in the movie whereas the Blackfoot are hostile. In any case, if you favor the aforementioned Westerns, you'll probably appreciate "The Mountain Men."I can understand the criticism of the film in that the first act is weak and tempts the viewer to tune out. The very first scene where one aged mountain man on horseback tackles another just for fun is Exhibit A. There's no way anyone would risk breaking bones in the high country just for kicks, particularly the elderly. Exhibit B is when Tyler fails to immediately go back and apprehend his pack animals, which contained his only possessions on Earth and his very means of survival in a cruel wilderness. If you can get past these flaws, however, the story really picks up when a certain character is savagely scalped at the beginning of the second act. The score is initially a turn-off as well because it's dated and maudlin, but if you persevere, you'll get used to it and there are some surprisingly effective parts (e.g. the percussion piece right before the river duel and the part that plays during the hot springs scene). Once you get into the second act the story becomes compelling and you feel involved in the lives of the characters until the end. While the two protagonists are gruff and unbecoming they have hearts of gold, sort of. Unfortunately, some people are so turned off by their gruffness that they can't look beyond it. I, for one, appreciated the realistic portrayal, as well as the humor, which is in contrast to "Jeremiah Johnson," where the tone was decidedly grim. In addition, Running Moon is a great character and the love she shares with Tyler is a potent story element. Heavy Eagle is also a quality antagonist.I suppose you could say it's a flaw that the principle Native characters speak English too well, but I'm pretty sure the script was written this way to get away from the sometimes laughable broken English that Natives would speak in older Westerns (the screenplay was incidentally written by Heston's son, Fraser). It would've helped if the Indians spoke their native language in the Native sequences, but it's assumed that they ARE speaking their native tongue, just like Germans are speaking German in WWII movies, not English, even though they're shown speaking English.Numerous other things impressed me about "Mountain Men." For instance, the Natives and their encampments look authentic even while one or two of the Indians seemed to act too modern, e.g. Cross Otter. Furthermore, there's a lot of muscular Western action with the mountain men fighting the Natives. One scene in particular is notable: Heavy Eagle tackles Tyler and they land in a rushing river where they continue to (try to) fight. It's a pretty exhilarating outdoors sequence and the waterfall is awesome. Lastly, despite the comic book tone, the movie is adult-oriented and gives a good glimpse of what it must've been like to live in the high country during that era. While "The Mountain Men" starts off weak it gets better as you catch a grip with the characters and the tone of the movie. It's a unique Western and the effort that was put into it is obvious. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Let me put it this way: I'd watch "The Mountain Men" any day before I'd watch the wildly overrated and lagging "The Wild Bunch." The film runs 102 minutes and was shot entirely in Northwestern Wyoming.GRADE: B

I had to review this, if only for the summary.Joking aside, a peculiar movie, don't really know what to make of it. Plays for the most part as harmless family fun accompanied by a playful soundtrack. Very nice scenery to look at, cinematography is pretty good all the way, except lighting on some scenes felt a bit unnatural.Even tho it feels like a family comedy, there are a lot of strong scenes and brutal, bloody violence. May not be that extreme on today's standards, but back in the 80's a scene where a man get's his head chopped off was quite a lot to stomach.The movie has a some real old school stunts, might not be a good idea to watch this if you're easily shocked by western style stunts involving horses. Or dogs, as there is a scene where Heston battles with wolves, nothing dramatic, but the wolves/dogs get hit with a few thrown objects. There's also a couple of stunt scenes where it looks as if the stuntman really gets hurt.Old fashioned, light hearted fun, which sadly is ruined by too much violence. Don't know how accurate it is historically, but as a European, I don't think the movie makes everything quite as black and white as it could. "White men" are not portrayed all flawless. Disagreements seem to be more about horses and women this time.To justify the summary, there is a lot of old men fooling around with young Indian women, which does feel a bit awkward and corny at times. The men also hunt beaver, so there you have it. Pun intended.

Rowdy trappers Charleton Heston and Brian Keith take a little time off from trapping beaver and arguing amongst themselves, in order to fight off a hostile tribe of Blackfoot, that takes a special disliking to them after Heston makes off with the war-chief's wife.A crude, action-packed movie, the two leads wear massive helmets of fake hair under even bigger fur hats and seem to be having a lot of fun, spouting hilariously vulgar lines, while they drink, brawl, and shoot their flintlock rifles in an orgy of excessively macho violence.Though not very subtle at all, Heston and Keith's enthusiasm is pretty damn infectious, making this well worth checking out for fans of muscular action yarns.Production values, cinematography, and beautiful Wyoming locations are all first-rate. Also great is the performance by Brian Keith, who easily steals the movie away from top-billed Charleton Heston!

This belated attempt at a Western adventure is a curious anomaly: the script is, on the one hand, terribly old-fashioned and cliché-ridden and yet equally replete with such 'modern' elements as four-letter words and bouts of violence. Charlton Heston hams it up like never before as a beaver-trapper reluctant to make way for progress and accept the fact that his precious trade is being supplanted by finer materials like silk; Brian Keith provides the brightest spot in the film as Heston's foul-mouthed partner, along with Michel Legrand's beautiful score and the desolate snowy landscapes. The plot, also involving Indian ambushes, the abduction of a squaw (who, of course, falls for Heston at his hairiest!) and rival trappers (notably Seymour Cassel playing a Canadian), renders the film just about watchable but in no way memorable.