Monday, August 31, 2009

Monday Movies: The Great Outdoors

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon a relatively new weekly meme, Monday Movie Meme. I meant to do it last week, but forgot all about it. I did think of it earlier today, but didn't get a chance to see what today's theme was until late this evening. And this week's topic is . . . THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Skipping the most obvious title to include in such a list, here are other movies set in the great outdoors that came to mind:

* Iron Will
* Never Cry Wolf (read it, haven't seen it)
* A River Runs Through It (fly fishing anyone?)
* Father Goose
* Swiss Family Robinson
* My Side of the Mountain
* Dances With Wolves
* On Golden Pond
* Romancing the Stone
* Mosquito Coast
* The Jungle Book
* The Bear
* The African Queen

There are two other movies I would love to include here but, alas, I cannot remember their titles. One is a sort of 1970's Americanized version of Swiss Family Robinson, where a family moves to a cabin in the Rockies. The other is a wilderness movie from the 1980's that my sisters and I watched many times on HBO. I have been trying to think of the title of this one for years now, to no avail. I only remember that the main character was a young man who ends up on his own out in the wild frontier. He is injured and saved by a Native American girl about the same age.


8 comments:

The Bumbles said...

I am soooo glad someone mentioned The Mosquito Coast. I cannot believe I left that off our list. Kicking myself actually. I cannot tell you how much I love that movie!

I'm not familiar with the other 2 that you can't remember the names of. The second one sounds similar to the book Thirteen Moons by the guy that wrote Cold Mountain - but that is new and I don't believe there was ever a movie. But you might like the book! Then there was the movie Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman - another goodie.

Heather said...

I haven't seen MC in a while, but happy I thought of it. Now I'm wanting to hunt it down so I can watch it again.

Sorry I didn't get back to your blog last night to post my link, but glad you found me! *g*

Alice Audrey said...

Never Cry Wolf; the book made me laugh until I cried. I loved it. The movie made me squirm until I walked. It probably had the funny stuff too, but I didn't sit still for it very long.

CarolynPrescott said...

Stumbled across your blog and I just had to comment...the Swiss Family Robinson-type flick you're talking about is The Adventures of the Wilderness Family starring Robert Logan. My sister and I LOVED that movie when we were kids. HBO used to play it religiously in the early 80s and I believe there was even a sequel. :)

Heather said...

Alice - When I was in HS, friends and I used to hang out in the forensic coach's office during our free periods. Sometimes he would put us to work helping younger students with forensic presentations, or grading papers for his classes. Then one day my friend Suni and I walked in and he greeted us with a gleam in his eye and a tape recorder. "I have a special assignment for you two," he said, practically rubbing his hands together a la evil sorceror.

This was back before books on tape, and it seems one of the science teachers had approached him and asked if he knew anyone who would be willing to record the book "Never Cry Wolf," so that his anatomy class could follow along with the tape. Don't ask me why anatomy was reading this book. So, for the next month, we got to lock ourselves in a room with the book adn recorder and take turns reading aloud. Do you know how many takes some of those scenes took?? The recipe for souris a la creme proved especially difficult to get through. Could not do it with a straight face! Ah, the memories... ggg

Heather said...

Carolyn - Yes, that's it! Thank you! My mom took my sisters and I to see that at the mall cinema, and we then saw it several times later on TV. And is it just me, or do others wish HBO (or any other channel for that matter) would run some of the movies they used to show in the 80s? Not just this one, but movies like "Anna to the Infinite Power" and "All Summer in a Day."

Now if I could only recall that other movie, which was another frequently shown on HBO...

Latesha said...

Finally! I can say I've seen 3 movies on the list. On Golden Pond, Romancing the Stone(love it), and The Jungle Book (cartoon version, right?)

Heather said...

Latesha - Of course I meant the Disney version. Is there any other worth mentioning? *VBG*