Legend of Bearheart
(aka LEGEND OF THE NORTHWEST, BEARHEART OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST)
With: Marshall Reed, Joey Young, Dana Dillaway (as "The Adams Family"), Denver Pyle (Abner), William Zuckert, Anna Lee, James Edwards, Fritz Feld (Storekeeper), Barbara Knudson, Larry Chance, Percy Helton (Doc), Ken Hooker, Jeffrey Byron, Tim Stafford (Sprout)
***
Synopsis: A family moves to Oregon to start a new life after losing their mother. They set up shop at an abandoned general store. Soon, a wild dog stalks the family, and the father unthinkingly shoots him. As the family nurse the wounded canine back to health, Abner, a nearby poacher, shows up and relates in flashback the sad tale of this strange dog, the companion of the previous owner of the store. The storekeeper was murdered by poachers, and the magnificent German Shepherd, named “Bearheart,” tracked down the man who killed his master, and relentlessly stalking him through the dense woods, finally driving the killer mad. The poacher wandered into town, muttering deliriously, and was soon placed under arrest, but he died of fright when Bearheart approached him one last time. Bearheart is placed with several new families, but his aversion to firearms makes him an unstable and frightening pet, and he finally ends up under the care of Abner, the only one who understands him. Back in the present, the new family learns to love and cherish this strange and wonderful dog, who fears no man, and loves all creatures.
***
LEGEND OF BEARHEART is a marvelous mixture of wildlife adventure and Western family film, two genres so prevalent to the time period of the 1970s, and has the look of a well-scrubbed, big-budget television production. The episodic structure of the film, with its flashback framing device, suggests it may have been intended as segments of a TV series, but the film holds together well as a theatrical-length narrative. The animal-centered scenes, especially, are well-filmed and very realistic.
Producer-Director Rand Brooks was primarily a television actor, with many series to his credit, and this appears to have been his only venture into film production and direction. According to the IMDb, BEARHEART received a 1978 theatrical release, and this would jive with the surge of wildlife and adventure films which flooded the theatrical marketplace in the mid-to-late 1970s. Likely, though, BEARHEART went quickly to TV, enhanced as it is with many familiar TV faces.
Marshall Reed’s acting credits include dozens of long-running TV westerns. Denver Pyle, certainly, was an ubiquitous TV presence, often in films dealing with the rugged West and wildlife adventures, and he fits right in here, affable yet somewhat daffy. The comical Fritz Feld, also a TV staple of the period, here essays a serious, and ultimately tragic role, as the storekeeper who is slaughtered by the roving poachers. The delightful Percy Helton, a face and voice instantly familiar to a generation of TV viewers, is poignant as the town doctor in the extended flashback sequence, a role made even more memorable as it was Helton’s last film role.
We have VCI Entertainment to thank for unearthing this obscure family film treat for us, on a budget-priced DVD double bill with the Italian-lensed Jack London adventure, CALL OF THE BLACK WOLVES, starring Ron Ely. VCI seems to have obtained the original negative for BEARHEART, as the film is stunning in clarity and color, and holds up well after thirty years. (The on-screen title on the DVD is LEGEND OF THE HORTHWEST). We highly recommend this little treasure, a real surprise from the apparently bottomless pit of indie 1970s cinema.
Video/DVD availability: DVD (VCI Entertainment)
(1978, U.S.) color 79 minutes
Rand Productions / Capitol Films Corporation
Story: Rand Brooks
Screenplay: Jennings Cobb
Music: Dean Elliott
Title Song ("Bearheart of the Great Northwest"): Hal Hopper
Cinematography: Leonard Clairmont
Editing: William Austin
Produced by Rand Brooks, Langdon A. Viracola
Directed by Rand Brooks
