Customer Reviews

The Mountain [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is absolutley one of my favorite all time movies. Spencer Tracy plays an old famous Mountaineer who has retired to his modest home to tend sheep. Then an Airplane crash on a nearby mountaintop changes his life. His young greedy womanizing brother (Played by a very young Robert Wagner) gets him to lead a climb to the crash site.

It's also a good love story. The old man makes some very heart wrenching decisions.

The climbing scenes are very authentic for mid-1900 style climbing styles and I believe this is Spencer's finest movie. Some of the others actors aren't quite as good but I watch the movie at least once a year on VHS to rejuvenate me.

This movie is a classic and a great one to watch if you are a climber. If you teach climbing or outdoor skills, it it great to use for staff training. the plot is OK, but brings about many conversations about human nature and family ties. I highly recommend it!

In my opinion, "The Mountain" was a great movie for the most part. Two brothers, Zachary Teller (Spencer Tracy) and Chris Teller (Robert Wagner) star in this adventure movie where they climb the Swiss Alps in search of a crashed airplane. Chris wants to climb the mountain and find the wreckage so he can find a lot of money from the area. However, Chris hasn't ever had any climbing experience, so it might not be safe for him to climb the mountains alone. Zachary gives in and decides to go with him, even though he doesn't agree with what Chris wants to do.

"The Mountain" is exciting and at times a little bit compelling while the two brothers climb the mountain and come close to death. Their arguing makes for an interesting twist in the movie. When they find the Hindu girl, it makes the movie even more interesting. Also, the scenery of the Swiss Alps is another good thing about "The Mountain." My only complaint with the movie is that Spencer Tracy's huge lie at the end of the movie almost turned me against the movie. But it didn't turn out as bad as it seemed like it was going to. If you like exciting adventure movies, I recommend getting "The Mountain."

If you enjoy action movies that slowly build to an exciting climax you will enjoy this one. Spencer Tracy as the older brother was a bit old to play the older brother to Robert Wagner but I guess they felt the younger brother needed to be much younger and irresponsible. As for Tracy's feat of strength, people in stressful situations get the adrenaline flowing and can do some incredible things. You have to be strong to endure that type of climbing. This movie takes place on a mountain where the two brothers go to see if there are survivors to a plane crash. Tracy's intentions are pure of heart while Wagner's are of looting. The turmoil between the two and the treacherous mountain terrain make it a movie that will draw you into this well made drama.

This movie is a great example of OLD SCHOOL drama and action, great movies like this depend solely on great acting and a great story line,like non of todays movies that have to depend on great special effects to appeal to the public. I love this movie.

What a fantastic old movie, Tracy and a very young Wagner are in top form in this one. The story is great and it keeps you watching. Beautiful for a Rainy or Snowy Saturday afternoon with a bowl of Popcorn.

The emotional power of Dmytryk's films may derive from his range of vision always patronizing his characters, restoring honesty and ability to a style and realism...

For Tracy climbing a mountain is a matter of integrity... The conquest of a peak brings moments of exultation and bliss... What he gets from the adventure is just sheer joy... He is simple, kind and sincere...

All brothers dream, but Tracy dreams for the little... He sees life in an honest way... His brother (Wagner), at the contrary, dreams big and with open eyes to make it reality...

When a plane crashes on the top of the mountain, Wagner insists on going up to plunder the remains of the wrecked plane... Spencer accedes to the request to stop his spoiled younger brother to climb the mountain alone...

The avaricious brother is a novice in climbing techniques... He is seeking outdoor adventure only to bring gold and silver, and to strip the dead passengers robbing their money, jewelry and goods...

Tracy - with previous mountaineering experience - had something else in him which responds to the challenge and goes out to meet the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward to shield the safety of his brother with passion and enthusiasm...They are two generations apart, two opposite characters with two utterly different goals...

After a long and hard journey up the mountain, they succeed to reach the airplane wreck and to find that one passenger is still alive - a Hindu girl (Anna Kashfi).

A concerned Tracy gives all his good nature assistance as a caring human being to the injured delicate girl... But an unscrupulous brother intends to murder the helpless woman in order to steal her precious gem...

With the most gorgeous natural areas around; large fields with many ridges and faces; difficult rock climbing; and weak snow bridges, Dmytryk adds to the drama (in VistaVision and Technicolor) the magic and beauty of the high mountain country...

This movie isn't really that bad, but there are too many improbable and doubtful aspects in it. For one thing Tracey plays Wagner's brother, although he looks more like his granfather (when this film was made Wagner was 26 and Tracey was 56 and looked 20 years older). Also, the feats of physical endurance are so overdone to seem almost ludicrous, even for a nineteen fifties film. The ending was OK, but I couldn't figure out why Tracey's character would bother claiming the looting of the airplane as his doing to save his brother's reputation (since they were the only two up on the mountain he could have just not mentioned it at all). But despite all these faults, the movie isn't that bad. But not one of Tracey's better films.