Man in the Wilderness

"A man ought to know when his time's up."

A group of trappers, led by Captain Henry (Huston), are trying to get home before winter.  While hunting, guide Zachary Bass (Harris) is attacked by a bear.  The other trappers are able to kill the bear, but Bass is severely injured.  They stitch up his wounds, but no one expects him to survive.

Henry and the men continue the journey, leaving Fogarty (Herbert) and Lowrie (Waterman) with him.  They are under orders to wait until he dies, bury him, and return to the group.  They are concerned about the Native American tribes that are active in the area and abandon him.

Zachary is still alive and aware of his surroundings.  He is motivated to survive and get revenge on the men that left him.  Can he stay ahead of the Arikara tribe and find the trappers before they reach the river?


The story is based on the life of Hugh Glass.  Glass was a trapper who survived being mauled by a bear in 1823.  Glass' life was written about in two novels: "Lord Grizzly" by Frederick Manfred and "The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge" by Michael Punke.  This film is based on "Lord Grizzly," but changed the names and events so they could avoid paying fees to Manfred.  "The Revent..." was adapted to film in 2015, The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (who won an Academy Award for the role).

Actor Richard Harris has the difficult job of portraying Zachary Bass.  He is the protagonist, but has minimal dialog.  The majority of his scenes are quiet and focus on his physical acting.  The film doesn't shy away from the ugly and dirty side of this story.  Bass is dirty throughout and has to do some dirty and ugly things to survive.  And the movie doesn't shy away from the reality of the situation, without making it gratuitous.  The film is good, but moves slowly.

Man in the Wilderness (1971) 104 minutes
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Starring: Richard Harris as Zachary Bass
John Huston as Captain Henry
Henry Wilcoxon as Indian Chief
Prunella Ransome as Grace
Percy Herbert as Fogarty
Dennis Waterman as Lowrie
Norman Rossington as Ferris