mattdillon-92503 I had accidentally seen this movie at about the same time of the day--very early morning getting ready to run all day errands and dreading it.I owned horses for many years and know when a man is riding and when he is just filling the saddle. McCrea used to RIDE and in a few scenes here he did it again. My dad's entire male family broke horses for a living. Ironically that the money they earned made enough money for my dad to have the first student owned car at his high school in Nebraska. He knew things about horses in his late seventies that it makes me wonder just how much he knew in his prime. This movie takes me back to those days. Simplicity and horse people. Beauty, slow speed and with a simple plot it can't hurt to watch it. When I saw how everyone in the movie had aged I thought about how good I look now look at age 62. Then I saw the year this film was made. 1976! I graduated High School and was in college at that time!!!.I included the parts about myself because that is what this film brought up. IF you are a horse person--you will enjoy it. IF you are looking for the typical Western--you will be disappointed. This film brings back memories of Mcrae's skill as a movie star. He was still good. Pat Wayne and the Ken Doll-- Fuller were there taking up film. Sorry-- was never too fond of their work. WJ

lorenellroy This has been described as a Western but I tend to disagree feeling it has more of an affinity with the "wilderness"movies and TV series that were being made around the same time ,such as Adventures of the Wilderness Family and Grizzly Adams.It is a simple tale of an ex-rodeo star turned rancher (Joel McCrea)who ,joined by a young native American boy (Nika Mina)sets out to capture the last wild mustang in Montana ,during the 1920's .There are only two other roles -a brief one scene appearance from Robert Fuller (ex of the Laramie TV show)and Patrick Wayne.The movie is pleasant but inconsequential offering little drama or character interaction but beguiling the eye with some attractive scenery and I suspect its main appeal will be to those seeking undisturbing family entertainment . It was to be Joel McCrea's last movie and he brought to it his usual rock solid professionalism The movie uses clips from earlier McCrea movies to illustrate the psst life of his character in this movie ..It would have been more fitting if he had ended his career with what turned out to be his penultimate movie Ride the High Country -that wonderfully elegy and tribute to a passing breed of men .As it was he left with this movie -pleasant ,untroubling but a bit too soft focused to be really aimed at adultsIts nice and its amiable -nothing more.

kyrai My daughter loves horses and is 6 years old. She and I watched this movie and were delighted the entire time. This is one of the very few G rated movies that is actually made in such a way that no parts were too intense for a young child. The scenery was lovely. The nature scenes were wonderful. The dialogue was simple, but very real, and laced with kindness that is rare these days. I loved the subtle wisdom of Dan, and the way the boy was refreshed by his influence. An overall winner in my book. One funny detail was that a pure-bred rottweiler dog was in the film, and when the owner was asked what kind of dog it was, he replied, "You name it, he's got it!"

doncilla I can't get over it. I thought "The Earthling" would never receive a decent competitor, but here it is. "The Earthling" takes place in another UK-founded country, Australia. And the boy is an orphaned son of a couple of tourists. Here, in "Mustang Country", the boy is a runaway Native American teen and the old man is an aficionado of horses since earlier than 1925. (The film starts as the two meet in a meadow while the old man is licking his chops to snare a black stallion.) Canada and its neighbor, Montana, are the venues in this one. But those are basically the only differences. Both stories tell of an old salt who decides to take a wayward young man in the wilderness under his arm. In each story, the old salt teaches the youth how to survive in the wilderness while teaching him essential characteristics of getting along well in life. Hmmm. Am I the only one who sees a tie-in to our contemporary "Challenger Program", where adults take real-life youths into the wilderness for the same purpose? The scenery would be like a National Geographic travelogue, if it weren't for the grand way the producers have brought together two great Thespians for the roles. (The Native American youth reminds me a lot of my 9-year-old grandson, as we visit the wilderness together in Utah.) I'm here to tell you, the teenagers and pre-teens are as clever and co-operative as the youth was in this film. As I have already indicated, I give it 10 of 10. Having taught in schoolrooms before I retired, I would suggest it as a three-day section of any middle-school or junior high school wilderness course. And, yes, we do offer those courses in Utah's secondary schools.