O Urso e Eu

"A man seeking peace and quiet finds himself father to three bears."

Well, with that synopsis, I was instantly sold. This was a simple, easy to watch Disney live action film from the 1970s. I didn't even know John Wayne had a son, but Patrick Wayne is the lead here - oddly reminding me more of Charlton Heston than the Duke.

The acting is incredibly wooden, and often awkward. Thankfully (and somewhat amusingly), Wayne has better chemistry with the bears and wilderness than he does his human co-stars.

"The Bears and I" isn't the type of film you watch for technical aspects. You won't find any Oscar awards here. Instead, you'll experience some of the most breathtaking scenery put to film. The British Columbia landscapes and wilderness are the real stars of the film here - besides the bears of course!

Scratch, Patch and Rusty were fantastic. You can't help but watch with a smile at times - even though it's often super cheesy. The Native American angle also added an interesting element to the story. Reminded me a tiny bit of a Disney-esque "Jeremiah Johnson". The John Denver song suited it perfectly.

9 years old when it came out. Haven't forgotten about it. Obviously it made an impression. Thinking the bears were named Patch scratch and itch. Been 45 years. I may have a name wrong.. Cant find their names on line...

Much like the films of the 1960s, The Bears and I has that same nostalgia feeling. Later films wouldn't feel the same. The narration adds to the value in my opinion. Very similar to Charlie the Lonesome Cougar in a few ways. Patrick Wayne was great as Bob Leslie, the man who fosters the bears.

I suppose you have to be a fan of the Disney narrative to truly enjoy this picture. Only a true loyal fan can see that this isn't a bad movie. It's what we've come to expect from Disney of the time period, family oriented stories with a touch of class and heart.

Fails to hit the right notes.

'The Bears and I' holds a storyline that we've basically seen before with these Disney animal-filled films, so there's nothing fresh or majorly interesting there. Likewise with the animals themselves, it's the studio's second release in four years that is about bears; see: 'King of the Grizzlies'. This one has a secondary plot involving Whites and Native Americans, another thing we've already seen numerous times.

Cast-wise it's alright, with Patrick Wayne leading as Bob. Chief Dan George (Peter) and Michael Ansara (Oliver) are OK, though Valentin de Vargas' character of Sam is ill-written. These type of productions always tend to be rather light with the human cast anyway.

The animals are cute and the overall message with them is positive, though you could again raise issues with welfare concerns. The writing and dialogue, meanwhile, is below par. To me, this is paced too slowly and doesn't do enough to separate itself from past films from Disney.

Patrick Wayne heads out to an Indian settlement to speak to Chief Dan George; Wayne had been a buddy of the Chief's son, killed in Vietnam. Wayne wants time to think about his life, so he holes up in a cabin. There he succors three orphaned bear cubs and gets in the middle of a squabble between the US Parks Department and the Indians. The Parks Department wants the land for a national park, and the Indians look on it as their home.

It's a good movie in terms of story and camerawork. The area around Chiko Lake in British Columbia, standing in for US wilderness, is beautiful, and the performers -- including the three bears -- are good-looking and move well. Where the film falls down is in the dialogue direction. Wayne drones, and the voice-over he performs, written by Jack Speirs, is annoyingly cute. The story movies which voice-over narration improves are very rare. Usually they are a kludge to fix a problem that should not exist. In this one, with its year-long story, the narration helps tighten the movie. Even so, there's too much of it and poorly performed.