Friday, January 22, 2010

Help Me Identify a Movie

The last two weeks have seen me playing in my hexcrawl sandbox--mapping, stocking, planting trees--and it has put me in a frontier frame of mind. So much so that I paid a visit to my local independent video store to rent a few "man vs. the wilderness" films to inspire me. There is one that is escaping me, however, because I've only seen a few minutes of it and have no clue as to who's in it or what the title might be. I'm looking to fix that situation because the few moments that I did see of the unnamed film have stuck with me. A search of the web has left me without the slightest clue to go one so I'm hoping it might be recognizable to one of my readers.

All I can say about this film is that it involves a group of trappers/explorers hauling a fairly large boat across the plains of either America or Canada. I seem to remember them being in the company of some natives as well.This might be but a short moment of the film or a sizable plot point--I'm uncertain. I suspect the movie probably dates from the early to mid 1990s if only because of the film stock, but again, I can't be certain.

I do know that it wasn't Northwest Passage or Fitzcarraldo. It might even be some small independent film. Quite frankly, my inability to ID the film has been driving me a little mad; hopefully one of you can point me in the right direction. Anyone have any idea what it was that I saw?

UPDATE: It was A Man in the Wilderness. I just finished watching it and, although not a great movie, the images of a mule team dragging a boat across all sorts of terrain does tend to stick with you.

12 comments:

Adam Thornton said...

Sure sounds like a documentary about the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Ken Burns made one in 1997:
http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-Clark-Journey-Corps-Discovery/dp/0780618831

Might this be it?

Michael Curtis said...

I'm fairly certain it wasn't a documentary and Ken Burns' has a distinctive style that rules it right out of the running.

I do think I'll have to check out his take on Lewis and Clark though now that you've brought it to my attention.

Restless said...

Could it be Man In the Wilderness?

Anonymous said...

Probably wrong, but the description brought to mind "Black Robe"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Robe_(film)

Anonymous said...

I second Man in the Wilderness, I vaguely remember this movie.

Michael Curtis said...

Could it be Man In the Wilderness?

This has potential. According to Wikipedia: "The expedition is notable in the movie for bringing a large boat with them, borne on wheels."

The movie's year doesn't quite jibe with what I thought, but that could be cloudy memory. I'll have to track down a copy and see if this is indeed the one. Thanks Restless and Stuart.

Probably wrong, but the description brought to mind "Black Robe"

I'm waiting on a copy of this film right now. I don't think it is the one I'm searching for but I've heard good things about the film and wanted to see it for myself.

nextautumn said...

It may not be a Burns documentary, but it sounds a lot like a movie about Lewis and Clark that I saw once. Alas, I cannot remember the title:(

Restless said...

You can see some screenshots from the movie here to see if they solidify your memory a bit.

Anonymous said...

You might have been watching "Last of the Mohicans"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/

David The Archmage said...

I have no idea what the movie was, but if you're in that frame of mind you should check out Frontier House http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/

JDJarvis said...

Pretty sure the film in mind is "Man in the Wilderness" certainly not "Black Robe" that's about a Jesuit priest in the wilderness of 17th century Canada.

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

for you wilderfix try Cabeza de Vaca. spain comes to america, messed up mayhem occurs, then Cabeza is alone in Florida with the natives. its a mess. the real story is even crazier than this movie, but parts of this film touches on The Holy Mountain in terms of strange extremeness.