An American adventure film. A story set in 1830 about two Kentucky frontiersmen who, along with a band of trappers, decided to pioneer the Indian territories. This is a coming-of-age tale about brotherhood and of an American past rich in courage and adventure. Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin have rapport as the pioneer partners. Arthur Hunnicutt sums up the travails of a "Mountain Man" of the period and is Oscar nominated for his fine effort. Also Oscar nominated was the cinematographer Russell Harlan, who beautifully captured the majestic sweep of rivers, mountains, passes and woods of Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The film plods from sequence to sequence in the middle and its characters lack the psychological urges and motivations which drove the real pioneers to the northwest (captured in the the novel) but, all in all, it is a visually satisfying film.
Review of The Big Sky
