Mountain men in popular culture

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silenthunterstudios

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Remember the movie Death Hunt, and the story of the Mad Trapper. I liked the movie Death Hunt, my favorite Charles Bronson film. However, according to such reliable sites as Wikipedia :rolleyes:, the Mad Trapper/Albert Johnson, was different from Bronson's character. Sort of a merging of Bronson's character Albert Johnson, and the villain, the Mad Trapper, in the movie. The true life story is just as fast paced as the movie was. The real Johnson actually shot and killed Lee Marvins character, the real Edgar Millen, and reportedly laughed after doing so.

Jeremiah Johnson never existed, but Liver Eatin' Johnson did. Liver Eatin' Johnson was a helluva lot more dangerous than Robert Redford trying to stare down the camera. Jeremiah Johnson is another of my favorite movies, and would probably not be as beloved my America if they stayed true to Liver Eatin' Johnsons true story.

Can you think of any other "mountain men stories" that Hollywood or television took a lot of poetic license with? I never saw Grizzly Adams, been called Grizzly Adams before :D, but read about the real person.

What kind of movie would they make about Wild Bill Moreland?:D
 
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I just watched Death Hunt last week; it was a lot better movie than I expected. I just got it to try out Netflix new free Wii movie service and was surprised how much I liked it.

Now I think I'm going to read the book,The Mad Trapper of Rat River: A True Story of Canada's Biggest Manhunt to get a little better idea of the truth.

As far as your question, the only other movie that comes to mind is the movie: "Mountain Men" with Charleton Heston and Brian Keith, but I don't think its based on any real mountain men. I'd love to see a movie based on Jim Bridger or Jedidiah Smith, that's for sure.
 
According to the movie at least Jeramiah Johnson started killing indians after they killed his wife.
There is a similar story from an earlier time in the NE PA area .Tom Quick started killing Indians too after they killed his wife. There is a Tom Quick Inn in Milford PA and you can find people with the Quick family name in the phone book.
 
mete said:
According to the movie at least Jeramiah Johnson started killing indians after they killed his wife.
There is a similar story from an earlier time in the NE PA area .Tom Quick started killing Indians too after they killed his wife. There is a Tom Quick Inn in Milford PA and you can find people with the Quick family name in the phone book.
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Is that the one with sports bar downstairs? The one on Rts. 6 & 209, right?
 
Not to hijack the thread but I just picked up this book which seemed relevant to the topic:

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http://www.amazon.com/Firearms-Trap...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278115340&sr=1-6

Chock full of history, stories (written by a former Yosemite National Park superintendent) and pictures of the "gear" used by mountain men. Including a full chapter just on knives :D
 

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Mountain Men with Brian Keith (Henry Frapp) and Charlton Heston (Bill Tyler) is one of my all time favorites. The script was written by Fraser Clarke Heston, Charlton's son, and it is a fair rendition of the time period (besides excellent cinamatography of the Tetons). The story line is a historical fiction which weaves a lot of historical charactors and facts into the storyline. The fur trade era was rather short, fifty years more or less, from the Lewis and Clark exploration (John Colter was from that expedition and stayed on to trap the Yellowstone) until circa 1840 when the market for beaver crashed. Having studied the era for years before the movie came out in 1980, I saw many different actual historical incidents transposed into the two main charactor's adventures. Surviving a scalping was one of those. The ongoing wars between the Blackfoot and Crow tribes was another as was hiding inside a beaver lodge to evade Indians. Likewise, the fur trade was a story of cutthroat rivalry between the various American fur companies and the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Fortunes were made and lost. Astor made his fortune and retired. Many of the trappers went on to be scouts for the U.S. military and for pioneers pushing west. Others tried with varying success to establish their own trading posts in the West, and even along the then Mexican territories of the Southwest.

Several scenes in the movie show wilderness survival skills such as fire making. I don't know who the historical advisor on the set was, but he did a good job for the most part.
 
BenchmadeBoy said:
Not to hijack the thread but I just picked up this book which seemed relevant to the topic:

attachment.php


http://www.amazon.com/Firearms-Trap...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278115340&sr=1-6

Chock full of history, stories (written by a former Yosemite National Park superintendent) and pictures of the "gear" used by mountain men. Including a full chapter just on knives :D
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Thanks for that recommendation. I collect books on the Mt. Men, both fiction and non-fiction, but I hadn't come across this one. I'll add it to my collection soon.:thumbup:
 
The old mini-series Centennial did a pretty good job of staying fairly realistic. Death Hunt is good, and under-rated.
 
Centennial, for sure. It was filmed up here I grew up- Northern Colorado, and it is pretty spot on. When I was a kid there was a restaurant called "Potato Brumbaughs". If you've seen the movie or read the book you know who that is.
 
I've reread "Lord Grizzly" many times, the paperback was yellowed and the pages falling out of the binding last time I read it.
Hugh Glass was with a group of men when he was attacked by a grizz and left by his companions. The story is about his survival.
 
coniferwoodsman said:
Centennial, for sure. It was filmed up here I grew up- Northern Colorado, and it is pretty spot on. When I was a kid there was a restaurant called "Potato Brumbaughs". If you've seen the movie or read the book you know who that is.
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Darn you. I just ordered the Centinnial DVD set. All 12 installments of the miniseries, 1256 Minutes of run time on six discs. Thankfully it has subtitles available. Lip-reading that much gets tedious and gives me a headache.

I remember when it came out in 1978. It was huge! And good acting to boot.
 
Codger_64 said:
Darn you. I just ordered the Centinnial DVD set. All 12 installments of the miniseries, 1256 Minutes of run time on six discs. Thankfully it has subtitles available. Lip-reading that much gets tedious and gives me a headache.

I remember when it came out in 1978. It was huge! And good acting to boot.
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I just put all 6 discs of Centennial at the top of my list on Netflix. I figured I'd watch it before I buy it.

Can you explain the lip-reading comment?
 
Read "Crow Killer". The story of Liver Eating Johnson. That was one of the toughest dudes ever. Period.
 
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