User reviews

I saw this movie when i was a kid and thought it was wonderful. i must have been about 12 or 14. It made me want to eat algae pancakes. I think it had a good lesson, and remember it made me appreciate the mountains. maybe the acting isn't all that great, but it is a Good kid movie. i don't remember why the title was my side of the mountain but i have thought about it over the years and i am 42 now so it must have had an impact on me to last this long. with all the bad movies they make for kids these days i don't think you can go wrong with this one. if you go into it with low expectations you may find that is was much better than you thought it would be.

This is a charming film containing adventure , emotion , sense of wonder , great sensibility and wonderful outdoors . Thought-provoking and marvelous film about a boy , a raccoon , and his peregrine falcon, set in gorgeous landscapes and in documentary style , at times . Stars young Sam Gribley (Ted Eccles) , he is a boy who dreams of leaving civilization and then runs away he learns about nature . As Sam follows faithfully the deep teachings of the book Walden written by the prestigious Henry David Thoreau , a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings . One day , he meets a falcon and heals it , as well as an Otter . In a world where it takes courage to fly , a hawk is thrown the nest out and eventually , falling on the ground. As days go by, he realizes about the eagle wants to fly on its own . As Sam nurtures the hawk , from childhood to adulthood and both have an emotional connection . Both of them bond about their desires to be free . Along the way Sam befriends a good man called Bando (Theodore Bikel) and both of whom learn about the mutual feeling and friendship .

This enjoyable US/Canada production film is set in the Sixties , Canadian mountains , a marvelous place to dream, about a 13-year-old boy decides to emulate his idol Henry David Thoreau and gives up his home and his family to live in the Canadian mountains , while learning about nature . The notorious Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist ,author, poet , philosopher, abolitionist , tax resister, leading transcendentalist , development critic, surveyor , and historian . This is a provoking and interesting movie, it is both, semi-documentary and children yarn , including colourful, beautiful, glimmer scenarios . Dealing with the unusual bond between a boy and natural enviroment and especially a raccoon and a hawk since it was a chick . In addition , concerning friendship both wildlife and people , as Sam makes friends in the mountains , as a good woman and a singer drifter , and he has a strong relationship with him . The film has an exceptional camerawork, several real hawks and animals were used , in fact uncredited actor Dan Haggerty of "Grizzly Adams" fame worked on the film as an animal trainer , being a hard and very complicated shooting for long time in the Canadian mountains and other locations . The short cast, Ted Eccles, Theodore Bikel , Tudi Wiggins keep the movie interesting and attractive. Children especially and adults can learn lessons of ecology , wildlife, self-reliance, freedom and interdependence from the movie. In addition, to enjoy adventures, emotion and overwhelming outdoors .

It displays a phantastic and gorgeous cinematography by Denys N. Coop shot on location in Otmar PenGreen Mountains, Corner of Paige and Paramount Rd., Knowlton, Québec, Canada and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As well as evocative and sensitive score by Wilfred Josephs , adding catching songs sung by Theodore Bikel. The motion picture was professionally directed by James B Clark , though it has some flaws and failures. Clark was a craftsman who usually directed episodes for TV series , such as : Batman series , The High Chaparral , Lassie , The Monroe , Daniel Boone , Here comes the brides, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea , Firehouse , Loner , The Legend of Jesse James, and ocassionally for cinema , such as : One Foot in Hell, Misty , A Dog of Flanders , Villa¡ , Sierra Baron , Under Fire . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . The picture will appeal to nature buffs and children films lovers.

I saw this movie as a child with my family, my mother being the most enthusiastic as it was filmed in Sutton QC, where she grew up. Back then, I thought the idea of going into the mountains and living in one's own treehouse was a fabulous idea!

The familiar scenery of the Green Mountains of southern Québec was breathtaking on the big screen. My mother pointed out the scene where Teddy Eccles' character, Sam, goes to the library in Knowlton, a library she had been to many times.

I understand Eccles attended and signed the guestbook of Olivet Baptist Church in Sutton, the church where my mother grew up.

Certainly, every kid has a dream of some adventure independent of parents and this movie helped me live mine a little.

Sam Gribley (Teddy Eccles), a brilliant child, leaves home for the mountains after being told that the family summer trip has been canceled, thus preventing him from doing the algae experiments he had planned for that summer. The film chronicles his struggle for independence, and with the forces of natures.

Ted Bikel said in his autobiography, "What was unusual about this production was that they asked me not only to sing and play, but to write the songs as well." Other than the lead actor, Bikel's character of Bando is the most memorable, and unusual. The whole story in general is unusual in how lightly the adults have taken a child who runs away from home.

Not to knock the movie, because I enjoyed it greatly, but I wonder if it inspired other children to run away from home. Sam has a pretty easy time of training a falcon, eating wild plants and surviving the weather. I think it far more likely he would have starved and gotten sick several times. That may not be a family-friendly story, but it would be more likely.

I kinda liked this movie, but after reading how fabulous the book is and how horrible the movie was (not that bad)...it made me want to run out and get the book...

I agree with the other reviewer about the death of the falcon and then awkward ending...could have been done better...being a parent, I would like to have seen their reaction and how that relationship developed...

Rented this movie at the library, so no change out of my pocket...think I'll look for the book used also...

:)

This is a wonderful and insightful film. After being told by his father, that the trip to the Mountains in Montana is being cancelled-he decides to run away from home and go to the mountains by himself.

This film would be boring except for one thing- this film is narrated by the boy, Sam (Ted Eccles). throughout the entire film, we get to listen into his thoughts or what he is writing in his journal. Ted Eccles does a GREAT job narrating this film.

The nature scenes are wonderful. After seeing this film, I have a greater appreciation for nature. Sam's ability to interact with other animals (Including his pet raccoon) is remarkable.

I recommend this film for everyone. It will make you think, it will awe-inspire you. You will also learn a new recipe for pancakes and syrup. This film is not to be missed!

Corny but enjoyable nature story about a young boy who decides to run away from his life in the city to live in the woods for a year like Thoreau. If you can get past the premise that there are 12-year olds out there who are into Thoreau, the film is compulsively watchable as we watch the boy learn how to make shelter, find food, train a falcon, and other survival skills to live off the fatted land. This is the film's main charm because the rest of the film was awfully trite, such as the boy visiting town and being teased by locals, or the kindly librarian who helps him research wildness skills, or his a friendship with a folk singing also living in with woods. However, most anytime a film shows someone making or learning something, it grabs an audience and is interesting to watch, whether it's Rocky chasing chickens to train for his big fight or Freddy Krueger building his clawed glove to do what he does, this is a filmmaker trick for sucking an audience in that always seems to work. Remember those Mr. Rogers segments where he show how crayons or boxes get made? Those are just inarguably fascinating to watch, but I digress. Overall, "My Side of the Mountain" could easily have been a Disney nature film, though less silly and cutsy than Disney, and if that sounds like a good thing to you, you'd probably enjoy this film.

This movie is very close to home for me. It was filmed in my hometown of Knowlton. Matter of fact, the library in the film is the same place where I got my smallpox vaccination! Remember it like it was yesterday ;) My grandfather was contracted as driver where he would pick up animals used in the film at the airport in Montreal. Good times. Knowlton was not very well known back then but it's a great substitute for small US towns found in the eastern states like Maine (which is only 20 minutes away). My father who was a volunteer fireman in the early 70s worked on the set of "The little girl how lives down the lane" with Jodie Foster. He made rain for the set during the house scene. I was only 6 at the time but I have great stories!!

"My Side of the Mountain" is an entertaining family film that I enjoyed both as a teenager and as an adult.

The movie has adventure and a sense of wonder in its portrayal of a young boy intent on making his way alone in the wilderness. The lead character, Sam, does sometimes overact and can get on one's nerves, but the supporting cast--human, mammalian, and avian--keeps the film interesting and prevents Sam from become too overbearing. Kids can learn lessons on self-reliance and interdependence from the film, in addition to enjoying San's adventures and the beautiful scenery of the Laurentian Mountains.

Unbelievable! I seen this movie when I was 5 years old. I am 44 now. Since the movie, I did all sorts of similar things. I build tree forts, hiked around lakes and tinkered near the ponds and lakes of South Dakota. I've trapped small animals as a 7-12 yr old including noosing gophers and small rabbits. I eventually joined the US Marines as a 20 year old and now I am involved in teaching a Jungle Survival and Leadership Course five or six times a year in the Philippines. This movie created such a LASTING IMPRESSION on my innocent spirit I nearly became like the kid in the movie. My life has been a very fulfilling, independent and satisfying experience/journey. I just came across the DVD again after over 39 years and showed it to my kids. SO many great memories have come back to me during watching the movie again. One of the best movies ever made. Mitch

I have had this film etched upon my memory ever since I saw it around 35 years ago as a 7/ 8 year old in cinema in North London. I have never seen it since, but I remember, rather like the solitude of the boy in the film, being left at the cinema by my mother and then picked up outside long after the film had finished - this was a different era after all, kids were given much more freedom to roam then. So being apart from my family helped me get into the character of the boy completely and I guess I just zoned out of myself onto the boy on the screen. It all seems like some beautiful dream of a long gone and innocent world that sort of tapped into the hippie consciousness of the time. I would love to get a copy of this somewhere so my own children can see it.

I just showed this movie to my 5 year old granddaughter and she loved it. The raccoon caught her interest right away and everything Sam did fascinated her. When Sam caught Frightful she was in awe! She especially loved Bando and how he helped teach Sam a few things. When he made the recorder for Sam and the two of them played together, my granddaughter was most delighted since I had recently given her one of her own to learn to play. This movie has always been one my favorites from my childhood. Now it has become my granddaughters favorite. She wants to watch it over and over again. I hope the actors know that their work in this movie is still loved by children. My thanks to them for this wonderful movie! Dee Thompson Pe Ell, Washington

When I first saw the movie, I was hoping for it be much more closer to the book than this. After I saw it, I thought it was one of the worst movies I had ever seen in my whole life. First off, the locations and setting of the story are different in the movie than the book. Also, Sam's family is much smaller in the movie version. There were several scenes in the movie that were just like those in the book, including when Sam adopts his young falcon Frightful, meets Bando and Miss Turner, and even survives his first winter up in the mountains. Sadly, there were a few things about the movie that disturbed and frustrated me. The Baron Weasel was not featured in the movie, Sam's falcon Frightful is accidentally shot and killed by an insensitive hunter, and Sam leaves the mountains never to return after being informed by his parents' concerns over their missing son. I just wish that a couple of years from now, a movie crew will shoot a better film version of Jean George's book and make it more like the way the author wrote it. Also, they should make the two sequels into films as well.

I saw this movie when it first came out. It's about Sam. A boy who runs away from home when he finds out that his family's summer trip has been cancelled. So he heads for the Catskill Mountains. It's there that he learns how to survive with the help of several wild animals including a ferret and a Peregrine falcon. During his year in the wilderness, he learns about himself. He learns that he can't run away from his problems and the only way to handle them is to face them. I read the book when I was ten. It was published the year I was born. It was close to, if not faithful to, Jean Craighead George's book, because she worked on the script. Unlike today's movies, where the author sells the rights, and is cut out of the loop by the studios. Things were different back in 1969. What do I have to say to anyone who wants to see this movie? Read the book. Then see the movie.

This film will mean a lot to children of a certain age, particularly boys. It's not really an adventure story, but it is 'boy runs away from family' story done in the old Disney style- that is, you never reall feel that he's in serious danger, and you learn a lot about nature and love along the way. Worthwhile.

This movie is one of the poorest adaptations of a fabulous book that I've seen. Jean George's novel is a fantastic book that I think is an outstanding read for any child. I can't give the same endorsement to this movie.

This is a wonderful movie! Great for young and old alike! Every time I hear someone mention a falcon, I think of this movie! I love it.