The Timber Tramps

An article in the Dec 19, 1977 issue of Box office magazine suggests that "The Timber Tramps" was not all that old at the time. There's no mention of Howco Intl. being a distributor, or former distributor. "Chuck D. Keen, founder of Alaska Films, has based his company in his hometown of Juneau, Alaska...the feature was made on a $500,000 budget....Keen already has another feature for release. 'Claws' also stars Leon Ames, who, Keen said, will be 'in all of my pictures until he decides to retire.'"

"All of the shooting on 'Claws' was done in Alaska. The film nows is in test runs in Montana. "The Timber Tramps" is scheduled for release in January and is due shortly for test runs in Little Rock, Ark. Both films are to be released by Arizona General, a relatively new distribution company formed three years ago. "

This issue of Box office has an ad for "Timber Tramps" on the cover, and the article confirms an association between Keen and John Wayne - they did a Vietnam

documentary together where Wayne served as a host/narrator. Did all those people want a vacation in Alaska? That's quite a cast in "The Timber Tramps."

Itinerant logger Claude Akins and buddy Leon Ames head up to Alaska to help Akins' first love, Eve Brent, fill a contract with partners Joseph Cotten and Cesar Romero, and to put some spine into Miss Brent's son, Mike Hagerty.

It's written, produced, shot and co-directed by Chuck Keen; more interestingly, it's co-directed by Tay Garnett, which helps to explain the wealth of old-time performers who show up. I'm not sure who was in charge of which sequences, but it's not shot for beauty, and the dialogue has too much of people saying things to other characters that they already know. On top of it, Ames has a voice-over commenting on almost every scene which is annoying and useless. In between it's strictly B-movie material, stretched out with incidents and sub-plots which would have benefited from a stronger man in the editing booth. With Tab Hunter, Stanley Clements, Patricia Medina -- her last movie -- Shug Fisher, Noble Chissell, Stubby Kaye, and Rosie Grier.

This dog was filmed in Juneau, Alaska. It struck me, at the time, as odd that such a collection of has beens would be cast in this loser. The cast resided on John Wayne's Yacht, The Wild Goose (as I recall its name), anchored in Gasteneau Channel, while filming. Claud Akins behaved just as disgracefully in town as his character did in the movie. I believe that the studio or producer used this project as some sort of tax dodge while simultaneously compensating the actors for past (almost) glories or just to throw a party and write it off. That approach to movie making may also explain the making of "Ishtar". I resided in Juneau at that time and saw the "preview" of this monstrosity at a local theater there. The processing of the film was so poor that the color palate changed drastically from reel to reel. By the way, Chuck Keen lived in Juneau and, over several years, made several unsuccessful attempts to set up tourist attractions there. He mostly tried to promote his image as a "talent" "connected" in the movie industry.

Considering that this movie was made in 1975, and considering the time, this was a fun movie. There are lots of popular stars of the time in this picture, and plenty of drinking fist fights, and action.

People need to remember that times were different back then, it was more old fashioned. How easy it is to sound smooth and sarcastic and mocking of such a film, but these people weren't there and I was. I was born in Alaska, and the old days were fun, adventurous, and exciting.

No current movie could capture the spirit of old timed Alaska like this one. And it never will. So people, take this movie for what it's worth--a low budget comedy action movie made in Alaska when life was rough and tumble, and people really lived like this! I ought to know, I was born here in Alaska 57 years ago.

Watch this movie and enjoy it for a fun, slapstick peek into the past, when Alaska was wild, adventurous, and fun!

Claude Akins is a drunken, hurtful, abusive lumberjack who leads a pathetic, migratory life and socializes exclusively with miserable losers like himself. He's the hero (?) of this movie, which has the look of an el cheapo made-for-TV quickie. Hoyt Curtain, who did the music for dozens of Hanna Barbera cartoons, supplies the totally inappropriate background score. The cast includes such luminaries as Tab Hunter and Rosie Grier, but it's mostly about Claude Akins drinking, cutting down trees, getting into fights, and just generally being a disgusting slob. You'll cherish the scene in which Claude tells a hippie to get a haircut. No, really, you *will* cherish it.