The Savage Wild

I gave it 4 stars just for being there to do it. It came on TV and I decided to give it a try. It is no more or less that what it purports to be. A few men, small family get 3 wild wolves to observe in the wilderness. They get together to build a cabin and pen for the wolves. I am not sure what kind of experiment it is, not scholarly for sure. It appears he, Gordon, set up his own model and guidelines but there it is. An essentially dialog-less script voice over and sounds that may or may not be real-time. It might be good for a young family to see how adventurous folk might take on a task like this in 1970. It appears that they spend 4 seasons up there, the whole family starts off in the first summer there and Gordon, from Jackson Hole to begin with, expresses a desire not to be there at all right from the start. The initial trepidation does not bode well for the movie from the perspective of a viewer. It is slow, ponderous and boring akin to travel log and, quite honestly,having seen it on TV, I looked forward to some commercials. but in deference to the film, it would be for a young audience accompanied by parents for the wild side of life in nature. I know it is not available at my local movie outlets and I live in a city with access to all chains in eastern US. It is essentially moot since I believe the only way to catch this is the way I just have: serendipitous intervention.

Gordon Eastman is a pioneer outdoors filmmaker who will not only inform but inspire anyone who takes the time to view this film. Growing up in the mountains of Wyoming where Eastman lived and spending several years in Alaska may make me a little biased, but this film also took hold of my wife, who grew up in New York City. She went from rolling her eyes to glued to the television. People these days talk about how fast kids are growing up now, ha. Gordon's daughter is able to deal with situations most adults these days couldn't. I think she was probably able to move out of the house before she was 25, the average age kids leave the nest these days. This film is a throwback to when kids grew up fast but pure and adults were able to trust that they would, by giving them experiences such as the one Gordon Eastman gave his daughter, my parents gave me, and I hope to give to my children.