Movies taking place in the wilderness

[impact777]

I really like such movies. Can anyone recommend a few?
My favs are:
- into the wild
- the edge
- homeward bound
- stand by me

Thanks a lot.

[Neane]

Quest For Fire (Cavemen in the wilderness)
Touching the Void (People climbing the Andes)
Alone in the Wilderness (One of my favorite documentaries)
are the first that come to mind.

[impact777]

Thanks Neane!

[rocklobster]

Blair Witch Project
The Bear
Milo and Otis (be prepared to OD on cute)

[K. Ayato]

Don't forget these.

Red Dawn (pretty intense, though)
Alaska

[impact777]

Thanks Rock and Ayato!

[Yuki-Anne]

Lord of the Rings.

Milo and Otis (be prepared to OD on cute)

I loved this movie as a kid, but then I found out that it was hacked together from a Japanese film that did not have the... shall we say stringent animal cruelty guidelines that an American film would have. That made it all very sad for me.

[Neane]

I loved this movie as a kid, but then I found out that it was hacked together from a Japanese film that did not have the... shall we say stringent animal cruelty guidelines that an American film would have. That made it all very sad for me.

Pics or It Didn't Happen.

[Atria35]

Free Willy
The Straight Story
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (or better yet, read the book)
October Sky
Never Cry Wolf

[Xeno]

Wouldn't Cast Away count? How has no one mentioned this yet?

[impact777]

Thanks to all.
@Atria: Do you know if there is much nudity in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?

[K. Ayato]

The Grey

[Neane]

Wouldn't Cast Away count? How has no one mentioned this yet?

Because there are only two Tom Hank movies I like, and those are Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.

Also, here are some more movies that come to mind:

Flight of the Phoenix (The First one, the one from 1965. Do not watch the remake)
It is about people in the desert who are forced to make a small aircraft to get out.

The Snow Walker ( A bush pilot is asked to bring a young sick Inuit woman to a Yellowknife hospital but the plane crashes in the Canadian tundra. )

[K. Ayato]

Question for the OP:

Were you looking for movies that take place over 50% in the wilderness, or movies that deal almost 100% with surviving in the wilderness. 'Cause some on that list (October Sky and Free Willy) do NOT deal with survival at all, even though the launchpad in the former is 8 miles outside of the town and there is a lot of forest and the latter is set in (I think) Washington state.

[Neane]

Good question, because I wouldn't really consider Lord of the the Rings to be a wilderness movie. Also, a good question also would be what are the content limits for the movies?
Because personally I believe that the 1972 Deliverance movie would be the Ultimate survival movie due to the fact that it is not only Man vs Wild but also Man vs Man and I wouldn't recommend it at all to the faint of heart and/or stomach (This is the movie that made me never want to hear a banjo for the rest of my life.) [Paddle faster, I still hear the Banjos playing!]

[K. Ayato]

That's the main reason I didn't suggest it, Neane. Even my dad said it's a very dark and depressing movie. And also why I warned that Red Dawn was pretty intense.

[Atria35]

Thanks to all.
@Atria: Do you know if there is much nudity in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?

There was a partial scene of her being bathed because she couldn't do it herself. No full nudity or sex. It's a daily chronicle of her life being trapped in her body, so it's not a scandelous, full-of-sex teen comedy or anything like that.

[impact777]

Thanks Atria! Yes, I looked for movies that takes place mostly in the wilderness. Surviving in wilderness is also great. But I'm glad for all recommendations. Haha! I've heard of Deliverance and have thought about buying it. But now I'm sure to leave it out. Thank you.

[impact777]

Does anybody know some more?

[K. Ayato]

Jeremiah Johnson

[bigsleepj]

You can't mention movies that take place in the wild without mentioning any movie by German-American director Werner Herzog. One of his recent films, Rescue Dawn, is a pretty intense film about a German-American named Dieter Dengler (played by Christian Bale, of all people) who became a pilot for the US air-force and was shot-down in Vietnam. Captured by enemy and placed in a shoddy POW camp, he and a friend escape and must make their way through a terrifying, unpopulated jungle. The movie is a fictionalized account of a documentary made by Herzog called Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Another film by Herzog (filmed in extremely remote parts of the Peruvian jungle) is Fitzcarraldo, about a man who concocts a get-rich-quick scheme to get rubber from an isolated plot of land deep in the jungle. In order to make it work he needs to get drag a ship across a small mountain from one river system into another, but in the process may lose his mind. In order to create the effect Herzog dragged an actual 400 ton steamship across a small mountain with the main role played by Klaus Kinski, who was possibly an undiagnosed schizophrenic. So in some ways the movie is about itself. Don't believe me? Check out the DVD cover.



Herzog made other films like this, but the other great one, Aguirre: Wrath of God is not to everyone's taste as its slow, deliberate pace will either make a viewer fall asleep or drive them crazy. Also shot in the Peruvian rainforest with Klaus Kinski. It is about a Spanish conquistador who essentially goes crazy in the rainforest, with unsettling results.

The John Wayne classic The Searchers is one of the definitive westerns with some pretty incredible scenery.

David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia also counts, though it is way over 3 hours long. But it is recommended as well.

And if you're particularly adventurous you might consider the Charlie Chaplin silent movie The Gold Rush, which is a movie on the lighter side of this. There are two versions of the movie: the original theatrical cut (Silent) and the shorter cut with sound-effects narrated by Charles Chaplin. The silent, longer cut is the better film but the shorter cut with the narration is a good place to start if you're new to silent cinema.

Also to be considered: The gods must be crazy, a somewhat charming (if flawed) film from South Africa about a bushman from the Kalahari who finds a Coke bottle and takes it back to his village. After it only causes trouble he decides to try and walk to the ends of the earth to return it to the gods. On his way there he meets a teacher trying to get away from her crazy life in the city, a bumbling vet, his bearded side-kick and a group of bumbling (but dangerous) terrorists. Hilarity ensues.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Wolf Creek is set in the Australian wilderness (outback) but it's probably not the sort of movie you're looking for.

[K. Ayato]

The Emerald Forest takes place in the rainforests of South America with a (fictional) native tribe that goes about virtually naked. Hey, that's how the real group of people this tribe is based on did it. Points for authenticity?

[sonicfan]

There is a series of videos called the wilderness family classics. I remember watching some of those a long time ago.

[Atria35]

Jeremiah Johnson

YES I forgot about this one! I loved it!

[impact777]

Thanks to all!

[AndrewinIce]

There is a series of videos called the wilderness family classics. I remember watching some of those a long time ago.

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family-

I hated those movies, I was forced to watch. I just wanted to slap the kids, they were so annoying. Curse you Grandmother!