Spencer's Mountain
| Spencer's Mountain | |
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| Directed by | Delmer Daves |
| Produced by | Delmer Daves |
| Screenplay by | Delmer Daves |
| Based on | Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner |
| Starring | Henry Fonda Maureen O'Hara |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Charles Lawton |
| Editing by | David Wages |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4.5 million (US/ Canada rentals) [1] |
Spencer's Mountain is a 1963 film written, directed, and produced by Delmer Daves from a novel by Earl Hamner, Jr. The novel and film became the basis for the popular television series The Waltons, which followed in 1972. Differing from both the film and novel, The Waltons watered down many of the adult themes, including alcoholism and infidelity.
Spencer's Mountain features the majestic scenery of Wyoming's Teton Range, as photographed by cinematographer Charles Lawton in CinemaScope. It was filmed in and around the town of Jackson and features the nearby Chapel of the Transfiguration. The novel and the series were set in the Virginia Appalachians, but Hamner said in 1963 that Daves wanted more imposing mountains to emphasize the characters' isolation and struggles with their environment.
Film critic Judith Crist writing in the The New York Herald Tribune said of the film, ‘‘sheer prurience and perverted morality’’ adding ‘‘it makes the nudie shows at the Rialto look like Walt Disney productions.’’[2]
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Plot [edit]
The film centers on the trials and tribulations of the Spencers, a family living in the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming during the early 1960s. As the patriarch of a large and growing family, Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) is fiercely independent, yet dedicated to his family. While he resists the influence of religion, he struggles to remain faithful to his wife Olivia (Maureen O'Hara), to allow his son (James MacArthur) to attend college, and to build a new home for his family.
Cast [edit]
- Henry Fonda as Clay Spencer
- Maureen O'Hara as Mrs. Spencer
- James MacArthur as Clayboy Spencer
- Donald Crisp as Grandpa Spencer
- Wally Cox as Preacher Goodman
- Mimsy Farmer as Claris Coleman
- Virginia Gregg as Miss Parker
- Lillian Bronson as Grandma Spencer
- Whit Bissell as Dr. Campbell
- Hayden Rorke as Colonel Coleman
- Kathy Bennett as Minnie-Cora Cook
- Dub Taylor as Percy Cook
- Ken Mayer as Mr. John
- Susan Young as Shirley Spencer
- Gary Young as Matt Spencer
- Veronica Cartwright as Becky Spencer
- Kym Karath as Pattie-Cake Spencer
- Mike Henry as a Spencer brother
- Victor French as a Spencer brother
Maureen O'Hara's daughter Bronwyn FitzSimons has a cameo as the Dean's secretary
References [edit]
- ^ "All-Time Top Grossers", Variety, 8 January 1964 p 69
- ^ "Groundbreaking film critic Crist dies at age 90". HeraldTribune.com. 2011-03-01. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
External links [edit]
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