There aren't that many movies about the period and place in which "The Mountain Men" is set. Sure, Hollywood made a bazillion westerns...but very few set this early and in such a wild and wide open place. One of the few I can recall is the terrific Clark Gable film "Across the Wide Missouri" and another is "Jeremiah Johnson", so it's nice to see another film set here with "The Mountain Men".

The story is set at about 1838 more or less and was filmed throughout Wyoming. Very, very few white men lived there during this period and those who did were French and American fur trappers. The film is about two of them, Bill and Henry (Charlton Heston and Brian Keith) and their adventures. Most of the time, these two oldsters seem to be dodging hostile Indian tribes or looking for beaver. Along the way, Bill picks up an Indian wife (Victoria Racimo)....one who initially hates him but who comes to love him over time.

Unlike "Across the Wide Missouri", "Jeremiah Johnson", and the mini-series "Centennial", this is a new, cruder look at these rough and tumble fellows. Their vocabularies are rather colorful compared to other portrayals, that's for sure! There also is a LOT more fighting and killing. Both surprised me a bit....and I am not necessarily criticizing the crudeness of some of the characters nor the violence.... I am pretty sure the trappers were a rather motley lot!

So is this any good? Well, anything about this period is worth seeing. And, the location shooting is lovely....as is the music. On the other hand, it was disappointing to see that most of the Crow and Blackfeet parts were not played by natives but white actors....which is a bit unusual for 1980. I would have expected this in older films. Still, overall, a satisfying movie worth your time.

By the way, in the film they talk about a place called 'Popo Agie'. Well, that's a real place in Wyoming.

It's always good to have a movie star father and young Fraser Clarke Heston was able to get father Charlton to star in a film adaptation of his script about The Mountain Men. Of course Dad was able to get friend Brian Keith into the film as well, they had worked together previously on a western called Arrowhead back in the salad days of both of them.

Charlton Heston has always been generous with praise of his colleagues so I don't think he begrudged Brian Keith a bit for totally stealing this film away from the Heston clan. Keith's portrayal of the rollicking, hard drinking, hard cussing, mountain man pal of Charlton Heston is the highlight of the film. It's the main reason to see The Mountain Men.

Another reason is the grand location cinematography in the Grand Teton mountains in Wyoming where this was filmed. This in fact is where the Kit Carsons, Jim Bridgers, Thomas Fitzpatricks and the rest of that hardy breed of men worked at their lonely occupation of trapping beaver pelts for sale.

They were indeed a hardy bunch. Unlike the post Civil War west these guys were in fact outnumbered by the Indians who with their bows and arrows were actually possessing weapon superiority to the muzzle loading single shot muskets the trappers had. You learned Indian ways and skills of all kinds or you did not survive.

The plot of this film has Heston rescuing an Indian princess, Victoria Racimo, a Crow away from her Blackfeet captors and earning the undying hatred of Stephen Macht, a chief among the Blackfeet. Very similar to the plot of Robert Redford's Jeremiah Johnson where Redford was also an object of Indian vengeance.

This film marked the farewell performance of that grand character actor Victor Jory. Jory plays a Crow chief who may look old but seems to have found Viagara long before the FDA approved it.

Unfortunately for The Mountain Men it got caught up in the wake of the approval for Jeremiah Johnson. It suffers unfairly in comparison to the Robert Redford film.

Yet The Mountain Men can definitely stand on its own critically and every other way. And Jeremiah does not have the fabulous Brian Keith in it.

THE MOUNTAIN MEN is a typical wilderness-style western with an outlandish performance from Charlton Heston in the lead role. He plays a guy who goes native and becomes involved in a battle between warring Indian factions. After mistakenly attacking an indigenous girl he finds himself harried and pursued by a vengeful Indian chief played by Stephen Macht. A lot of this film is made up of broad performances and broader comedy, which was written by Heston's own son. It's well shot, with fine Wyoming locations, but appears to be lacking something; more heart along the lines of JEREMIAH JOHNSON would have worked a treat.