Spencer's Mountain

source: Spencer's Mountain

Henry Fonda plays the hard-drinkin', hard-livin', hard-cussin' patriarch of a fiercely independent West Virginia mountain family. When he's not railing against organized religion (he believes in God, but doesn't want others to tell him how), Fonda tries to scrape together enough money to build a new house for his huge brood. Maureen O'Hara co-stars as Fonda's baby-machine wife, while James MacArthur plays his college-bound son (the first in the family to get past high school), who carries on a robust romance with the daughter (Mimsy Farmer) of Fonda's boss. Spencer's Mountain is based on the Earl Hamner Jr. novel that later evolved into the long-running TV series The Waltons.

Wyoming father Henry Fonda (as Clay Spencer) and attractive wife Maureen O'Hara (as Olivia) live on "Spencer's Mountain" with their nine children, plus a grandpa and grandma. To give his large family more room, Mr. Fonda is constructing a bigger "dream house" on his vast mountainous estate. Another dream the family has involves education. Looking mature for his supposedly teenage years, eldest son James MacArthur (as "Clayboy") becomes the first in his family to graduate from high school. Everyone hopes Mr. MacArthur will go on to college, but he has to learn his Latin for admission. New community preacher Wally Cox (as Goodman) helps MacArthur, but there are other obstacles to overcome. The Spencer family is so large, lack of monetary funds is a concern. Last but not least, the almighty God is against MacArthur's higher education, until he can strike a deal with the Lord; if this seems strange, consider the verse "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." A good-looking man, often appearing shirtless, MacArthur invites much female attention - but he is apparently unsure of his sexuality during the early running time. Doing everything she can to let MacArthur know she is ready for action is sexually aroused Mimsy Farmer (as Claris Coleman). MacArthur does a lot of running in this movie, but everything finally catches up with him. This is all based on the autobiographical novel "Spencer's Mountain" by Earl Hamner Jr., which even more famously became "The Waltons" when adapted for television in the 1970s. "Clay Spencer" was changed to "John Walton". It was the last appearance for veteran Donald Crisp, who has little to do but does it well. The location photography by Charles Lawton is beautiful. ***** Spencer's Mountain (5/16/63) Delmer Daves ~ James MacArthur. Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, Wally Cox

Henry Fonda throughout his career showed a great flair for playing rustic characters and endowing them with dignity. In fact that was his introduction to film when he did the movie version of the play that made him a star, The Farmer Takes A Wife. Of course as Fonda started playing more of a variety of roles he was less and less in rustic settings. His last role of this type was as Clay Spencer in Spencer's Mountain a feel good family type picture with a rather interesting take on the facts of life. Country folks like the Spencers who deal a lot in livestock are familiar with the breeding process so it's not a huge big deal with them. At least it's not in this film as Mimsy Farmer is ready to finish James MacArthur's eduction in that regard. One of the best scenes in the film is Henry Fonda bringing over his bull to mate with one of Dub Taylor's cows with everybody looking on. I guess they're starved for entertainment in that part of the country. In fact MacArthur's further education is what drives the film. He's the oldest of Fonda's and Maureen O'Hara's nine children and the first to graduate high school. His teacher Virginia Gregg wants to see him get ahead and go to the university. But the financial and other obstacles are considerable. Even the new minister Wally Cox tutors MacArthur in a needed Latin course. If the Spencers bear no small resemblance to the Walton family that's because Earl Hammer who created the Waltons also wrote the novel this film was based on. Spencer's Mountain is beautifully photographed in the Grand Teton mountains of Wyoming, just as pretty and more majestic than the Walton's Appalachians. Delmer Daves who directed Spencer's Mountain also directed Jubal a few years earlier, a western also set in the Grand Tetons. The cinematography is just as good, but the resemblance stops there because Jubal is quite the adult western. Spencer's Mountain marked the farewell performance of Donald Crisp who was 81 years old when he filmed this and had a career going back to the earliest silent films. He was a grand character actor who played an awesome variety of parts. Here he's in his family patriarch persona as Fonda's father married to Lillian Bronson in the film. Crisp won his Oscar as the family patriarch in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. Spencer's Mountain did good box office and it's a nice family film. But Henry Fonda's new agent passed on a Broadway play called Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf and signed his client for this. Fonda never forgave the agent, I can't really blame him.

Although this film first came out as a family film, it was apparent from the beginning of its release that the actors' performances were excellent and that the story line was a perfect example of Americana at its best. Now that I have my own children, I wish they were still making films like this!

This is the story of Clay Spencer Jr. and his family in Wyoming in the early '60's. Henry Fonda is his father, an unstoppable "do it my way" kind of guy. Maureen O'Hara is the mother with an impossible waist line after having 9 children. Clay Jr. wants to go to college. He'd be the first Spencer to do it if he does. The bulk of the film is trying to raise the money for tuition. There are many funny scenes. Many sad scenes. The last 3rd of the film is soooo sad. Put it this way: If you liked "The Waltons" you'll like Spencer's Mountain. Earl Hamner created "Waltons" and wrote this film. The movie even features a "goodnight scene" just like the Waltons did. If you have the chance to see this film in widescreen, do it. The shots of the mountains are beautiful. It was filmed in the Grand Teton National Park, and boy does Technicolor make the mountains look great!

Well, time lapsed and changed, this film was just a bad production based on a mediocre novel that might only be suitable for teenagers to read. It involved so many supporting actors but all of them turned out to be just supporting to make this lousy film with some activities. The screenplay sucked big time, then directed by a non- talent guy who only succeeded by hiring a camera crew to shoot nice cinematography that anyone might be able to do the same if they could use such nice national park as the background of this bore-to-death film. There was nothing actually worth telling. What I got from what I saw in this film is those folks lived in that era got nothing to do, without smart phones, wi-fi internet, video games, action movies or even * flix to kill the time, their only entertainment was having sex with their wives or husbands, so everybody, every family got so many kids. This is such a hollow and pretentious film, told nothing, gave nothing. I'd rather watch a slideshow that showed you how beautiful one of the National Parks, there's no need to involve so many people to tell you some hollow story supported with pretentious soundtrack, 'cause the music in this film was just typical in the early days in the later half 20th century. I just failed to see anything special about this film and the 2-star rating only means one for the beautiful scenery, the actual rating of this film would be minus 1. Don't let nostalgia to enlarge your patience like your prostate, simply not worth it, guys.

A few IMDb commentators rubbish this movie to the max, but considering that a fair majority agree that it's a great piece of Americana that's no longer made, I think the Ayes have it and the Nay sayers lose. Bring back family and community value movies, the likes of which are never made anymore. There's always a a bad-guy in the wings of modern movies. Spencers' Mountain has no such bad guy. Sure, Fonda's script leaves a little to be desired and could possibly be called over-acting, but it's the story's warmth, wholesomeness and togetherness that makes it a great story. And for the history challenged, Spencers' Mountain was made NINE years BEFORE The Waltons, so trashing it 'cause it had similar elements as The Waltons is simply wrong.

I teach a Film Appreciation class at a small Junior High and usually show more traditional classic American Films. But once in a while I show a film that made an impression on me when I was much younger and hope that the same thing will happen for my students. Well, for the first time ever, in this class, I showed "Spencer's Mountain" and they loved it! They were interested throughout, were very touched by the family relationships and quite indignant when "Papa" died. They had already seen Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men" and so had a connection there; but I think it was the give and take between the children and parents in the film that made the biggest impression. Just thought I would pass that on. If you have never watched this film, you might consider it for the next rainy Saturday afternoon with a couple of cups of hot chocolate.

First of all I'd like to say that I thought that this film was a dull bit of krud (I'll spell it with a K if I damn well please) made watchable only because of Henry Fonda. But I have to ask, was this scripted? did anyone know what it was going to be about before they filmed it, because it seems to me that they kept swapping plots around every five seconds, then returning to one they'd already done because they didn't know what else to do. All I can hope is that the novel it was based on was just too big and over plotted that when condensing it into a normal length screenplay they had no choice but to smoosh it up. If you want a good Henry Fonda family drama I suggest you see On Golden Pond instead.