Incredible Rocky Mountain Race

In the 1970s, the Schick Sunn Classic studio was best known for its popular pseudo-documentaries like "In Search Of Noah's Ark", but they also dabbled in fiction productions like this made for television effort. I've seen other S.S.C. fiction productions, and "The Incredible Rocky Mountain Race" is no improvement. It goes wrong in a number of ways, but I think the biggest mistake is that it doesn't make the characters of Mark Twain and Mike Fink to be all that likable. They bring so much misery to people around them that you won't care which one of them wins the race at the end of the movie. These unlikable characters may be why director James Conway seems to be unable to bring any passion or energy throughout the movie because of those two louts chaining him down. It also doesn't help that Conway was obviously saddled with a low budget; the whole movie feels real cheap, not helped by Conway shooting on unspectacular locations in the wilderness. The frequent juvenile slapstick scenes may tickle the very young, but if you are older, the only incredible thing about the movie is how it got made and aired on network television.

I first saw this movie aged four, then again aged seven. It captured my imagination with its understated humour and quirky characters, while the adventure-laden plot remains sparklingly original. Until a few months ago I didn't even realise this was a TV movie due to the lovingly crafted scenes and entertaining dialogue. The characters of Mark Twain and Mike Fink have stuck with me ever since, particularly the final scene where the boy is given Twain's eagle feather as a momento of the tale. Incredible Rocky Mountain Race is a worthy movie by any standard