Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Anyone the least bit interested in the Grand Canyon has got to see this bit of cinematography at least once. Further, anyone who appreciates a good adventure story -- or film about critters as well -- has got to see this movie, because it IS a classic. Finally, anyone who likes to know history needs to see this film because it fills in the blanks on prospectors, Teddy Roosevelt, and the wild west in Arizona.

I have personally been to the Grand Canyon many times, and the draw remains there still. I haven't been for about ten years now, but am hungry to return. I also have seen the statue of Brighty at the North Rim, own one of those Breyer Company replicas, and the written story by Margueritte Henry accompanies many horse stories appreciated by my once young daughter.

Those who suggest this movie is boring are the same ones desensitized to a good story. This has lots of plot and character development, but just not enough shoot 'em up action or sex. It's rated G and is a delight to watch.

This movie is a heartwarming story of a lovable burro named Brighty and his high spirited adventure with all his Grand Canyon friends. I bought the video a few years ago for my children and we all enjoyed it. Brighty leads everyone on quite a chase around and through the beautiful Grand Canyon and shows just how smart burros can really be.

Just purchased the DVD release for my visiting grandchildren and we have already had to show it several times. Great family entertainment for a change. You'll Love Brighty.

Brighty is a timeless view of the Grand Canyon, and a wonderful family film based on the award winning children's book by Maruerite Henry. The cast has some great Hollywood veterans like Dick Foran and Joseph Cotton, and was directed by Norman Foster who directed for Walt Disney for years, and also directed with Orson Wells. The story is good guys vs. the bad guy, but also is based on the true story of the real Brighty the burro who's owner Jim Owen (Cotton's character) worked as a guide and hunter at the Canyon in the late 1800s, and hunted with Pres. Teddy Roosevelt. This film was shot almost completely in and around the Canyon, and because of restrictions today at the Park, could never be done again! in this respect it is a great cinema-graphic testimony to the Canyon The DVD contains many added chapters and content for both children and adults. It is well worth viewing or owning!

Brighty Of The Grand Canyon has one of the best sets for a film ever, the fabulous Grand Canyon. Shot entirely on location in Arizona, Brighty Of The Grand Canyon would have been impossible to mess up scenically even if it had been shot with a brownie camera.

Brighty is a little scrub burro the kind that inhabits the canyon and knows some of the many trails in and out of it. As such he's a valuable animal. Valuable to old timer prospector Dick Foran and valuable to fugitive Pat Conway who fled into the canyon and who murders Foran to get the gold he's scratched out of the place.

But Conway reckons without young Dandy Curran whose parents have a trading post and with Joseph Cotten who is a licensed hunter by the government to kill mountain lions who prey on some of the other endangered species. This is definitely in keeping with who was president at the time.

In fact there's a portion of the film that has Cotten and Curran accompanying President Theodore Roosevelt on a hunting trip for mountain lion in the Grand Canyon. Karl Swenson plays our 26th president in appropriate bully style, but for the life of me I can't figure where all the Secret Service was at the time. It was after William McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became president that the Secret Service was assigned presidential protection. Here we see Swenson just with Cotten and Curran and with Cotten carrying a weapon at that.

Brighty is a tough critter, he survives quite a bit in this film, including a cougar attack and a fall in the Colorado River. This is the only animal film I know with a burro as the lead. It's a pleasant 90 minutes for the whole family.

I saw this movie the year it came out, and although it might be because I was a teenager, I remember it as the single most boring film I ever saw. I guess that's what prompted me to look it up in the IMDB just to see what others had posted. Apparently no one even remembers having seen it.