Charlton Heston and Westerns should have been a match made in heaven. They were a popular genre during the first half of his acting career, even if they went into something of a decline during the second half. He excelled in playing men of action and rugged outdoors types, combining toughness with the decency and integrity which were the hallmarks of the Western hero. He was a good horseman and knew how to handle a gun. (He was in later life to attract controversy because of his membership of the National Rifle Association and his strident advocacy of their pro-gun policies).
And yet, when I look at my list of favourite Westerns, I find that Heston only features in one of them, "The Big Country", and even there he only plays a supporting role, the star part going to Gregory Peck. "Will Penny" is a decent enough film, but fell some way short of being a great one, and "The Far Horizons" fell even further short. "Major Dundee" contained the seeds of greatness, but ended up shapeless and disorganised, largely due to the erratic behaviour of its director Sam Peckinpah.
"The Mountain Men" is another Heston Western which will never rank among my favourites. The action takes place during the 1830s, a period when few white people had yet colonised the West. The few Europeans in the area were not the settlers and farmers who were to come later but traders, hunters and trappers. Heston's character Bill Tyler is a trapper who is on an expedition with his friend and partner Henry Frapp in search of beaver. At one time beaver pelts (or "plews") were much sought after because the fur was used for men's hats, but at the time when the film is set the fur trapping business is in decline. Changes in fashion mean that silk is now the desirable material for hats and plews no longer fetch the high prices they once did. The story involves Tyler and Frapp searching for a legendary valley "so full of beaver that they just jump in the traps". While doing so they get involved in a feud between two Native American tribes, the Crow and the Blackfoot, and Tyler becomes the lover of a Crow maiden named Running Moon who is escaping from her abusive Blackfoot husband. (Heston also played the lover of a Native American girl in "The Far Horizons").
The film was made in 1980 at a time when the decline of the Western had already begun. That year was also to see Michael Cimino's notorious "Heaven's Gate", the commercial failure of which was to accelerate that decline. It would, however, be unfair to put all the blame onto Cimino's shoulders. Another reason for the decline lay in the fact that so many Westerns had been made that it was becoming increasingly difficult to use the genre to say anything new, and this was one of the problems with "The Mountain Men". It found little favour with the critics; Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert described it as one of their "dogs of the year" for 1980, and although the dog may be man's best friend that expression did not imply friendly feelings towards the film or those involved in making it.
Moreover, the film did not find much favour with its star either. The original story was written by Heston's son Fraser, although according to Heston senior the studio monkeyed with the plot to such an extent that the finished film bears little resemblance to what Heston junior had actually written. Both father and son were allegedly "heartbroken" by the final cut, Heston senior acidly commenting that "the people who put up the money control the film". We cannot, of course, know what the film would have been like had it been more faithful to Fraser Heston's vision, but the film we have is a mess, a Western of the dull, derivative seen-it-all-before school of filmmaking. The photography of the mountain scenery is attractive, but the acting is mediocre with Heston far from his best, the plot predictable and the pacing far too slow. About its only distinguishing feature is a greater amount of profanity than is common in run-of-the-mill Westerns. The people who put up the money should really have expected a bit more for their dollars. 4/10
And yet, when I look at my list of favourite Westerns, I find that Heston only features in one of them, "The Big Country", and even there he only plays a supporting role, the star part going to Gregory Peck. "Will Penny" is a decent enough film, but fell some way short of being a great one, and "The Far Horizons" fell even further short. "Major Dundee" contained the seeds of greatness, but ended up shapeless and disorganised, largely due to the erratic behaviour of its director Sam Peckinpah.
"The Mountain Men" is another Heston Western which will never rank among my favourites. The action takes place during the 1830s, a period when few white people had yet colonised the West. The few Europeans in the area were not the settlers and farmers who were to come later but traders, hunters and trappers. Heston's character Bill Tyler is a trapper who is on an expedition with his friend and partner Henry Frapp in search of beaver. At one time beaver pelts (or "plews") were much sought after because the fur was used for men's hats, but at the time when the film is set the fur trapping business is in decline. Changes in fashion mean that silk is now the desirable material for hats and plews no longer fetch the high prices they once did. The story involves Tyler and Frapp searching for a legendary valley "so full of beaver that they just jump in the traps". While doing so they get involved in a feud between two Native American tribes, the Crow and the Blackfoot, and Tyler becomes the lover of a Crow maiden named Running Moon who is escaping from her abusive Blackfoot husband. (Heston also played the lover of a Native American girl in "The Far Horizons").
The film was made in 1980 at a time when the decline of the Western had already begun. That year was also to see Michael Cimino's notorious "Heaven's Gate", the commercial failure of which was to accelerate that decline. It would, however, be unfair to put all the blame onto Cimino's shoulders. Another reason for the decline lay in the fact that so many Westerns had been made that it was becoming increasingly difficult to use the genre to say anything new, and this was one of the problems with "The Mountain Men". It found little favour with the critics; Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert described it as one of their "dogs of the year" for 1980, and although the dog may be man's best friend that expression did not imply friendly feelings towards the film or those involved in making it.
Moreover, the film did not find much favour with its star either. The original story was written by Heston's son Fraser, although according to Heston senior the studio monkeyed with the plot to such an extent that the finished film bears little resemblance to what Heston junior had actually written. Both father and son were allegedly "heartbroken" by the final cut, Heston senior acidly commenting that "the people who put up the money control the film". We cannot, of course, know what the film would have been like had it been more faithful to Fraser Heston's vision, but the film we have is a mess, a Western of the dull, derivative seen-it-all-before school of filmmaking. The photography of the mountain scenery is attractive, but the acting is mediocre with Heston far from his best, the plot predictable and the pacing far too slow. About its only distinguishing feature is a greater amount of profanity than is common in run-of-the-mill Westerns. The people who put up the money should really have expected a bit more for their dollars. 4/10