Mustang Country (1976)

This has been described as a Western but I tend to disagree feeling it has more of an affinity with the "wilderness"movies and TV series that were being made around the same time ,such as Adventures of the Wilderness Family and Grizzly Adams.It is a simple tale of an ex-rodeo star turned rancher (Joel McCrea)who ,joined by a young native American boy (Nika Mina)sets out to capture the last wild mustang in Montana ,during the 1920's .There are only two other roles -a brief one scene appearance from Robert Fuller (ex of the Laramie TV show)and Patrick Wayne.The movie is pleasant but inconsequential offering little drama or character interaction but beguiling the eye with some attractive scenery and I suspect its main appeal will be to those seeking undisturbing family entertainment . It was to be Joel McCrea's last movie and he brought to it his usual rock solid professionalism The movie uses clips from earlier McCrea movies to illustrate the psst life of his character in this movie ..It would have been more fitting if he had ended his career with what turned out to be his penultimate movie Ride the High Country -that wonderfully elegy and tribute to a passing breed of men .As it was he left with this movie -pleasant ,untroubling but a bit too soft focused to be really aimed at adultsIts nice and its amiable -nothing more.

My daughter loves horses and is 6 years old. She and I watched this movie and were delighted the entire time. This is one of the very few G rated movies that is actually made in such a way that no parts were too intense for a young child. The scenery was lovely. The nature scenes were wonderful. The dialogue was simple, but very real, and laced with kindness that is rare these days. I loved the subtle wisdom of Dan, and the way the boy was refreshed by his influence. An overall winner in my book. One funny detail was that a pure-bred rottweiler dog was in the film, and when the owner was asked what kind of dog it was, he replied, "You name it, he's got it!"

Joel McCrea came out of retirement to do this, and one can only wonder why. It seems likely it was either the chance to spend a lot of time on horseback in astonishing mountain countryside (which one would imagine he'd done plenty of times before this), or he was too nice to turn down a friend. The story is basic and unadorned by nuance or insight. Old cowboy wants wild mustang. Orphaned kid with spunk helps him. Adventures follow. There's no conflict in the story beyond whether the pair will capture the horse. The only two other actors in the movie are nice guys who disappear after one scene. And of the two main actors, Joel McCrea is the only one who can act. (He's not given anything remotely complex to act, though.) The kid is out-acted by McCrea's dog. In fact, the kid is out-acted by McCrea's hat. But it's wonderful to see McCrea in his twilight years, still a consummate pro, still a splendid rider, still a movie star. And the scenery is worth four of the five points I voted the movie.

I can't get over it. I thought "The Earthling" would never receive a decent competitor, but here it is. "The Earthling" takes place in another UK-founded country, Australia. And the boy is an orphaned son of a couple of tourists. Here, in "Mustang Country", the boy is a runaway Native American teen and the old man is an aficionado of horses since earlier than 1925. (The film starts as the two meet in a meadow while the old man is licking his chops to snare a black stallion.) Canada and its neighbor, Montana, are the venues in this one. But those are basically the only differences. Both stories tell of an old salt who decides to take a wayward young man in the wilderness under his arm. In each story, the old salt teaches the youth how to survive in the wilderness while teaching him essential characteristics of getting along well in life. Hmmm. Am I the only one who sees a tie-in to our contemporary "Challenger Program", where adults take real-life youths into the wilderness for the same purpose? The scenery would be like a National Geographic travelogue, if it weren't for the grand way the producers have brought together two great Thespians for the roles. (The Native American youth reminds me a lot of my 9-year-old grandson, as we visit the wilderness together in Utah.) I'm here to tell you, the teenagers and pre-teens are as clever and co-operative as the youth was in this film. As I have already indicated, I give it 10 of 10. Having taught in schoolrooms before I retired, I would suggest it as a three-day section of any middle-school or junior high school wilderness course. And, yes, we do offer those courses in Utah's secondary schools.