Certainly not a great movie and more like an extended "Little House on the Prairie" episode, this focuses on young Lee H. Montgomery who finds an injured hawk chick and with the help of the jelly hearted "crazy man" Burl Ives nurses it back to health. Montgomery's idealistic parents Clint Walker and Diane Baker refuse to kowtow to local bigwigs, lead by shopkeeper Alan Young, who are determined to keep their community safe by acting as vigilantes to any newcomer they deem a bad fit to their community. Even though he has apparently been living in solitude in the mountains for years, Ives is considered one of them harassed by the youngsters and threatened by the adults and his friendship with Montgomery is affected by this unneighborly behavior.
Having seen red tail hawks in Central Park, to see one up close and being handled by humans is amazing, as it is a truly majestic bird. Having seen other wild creatures in their habitat living in the country, I can appreciate their beauty from afar and certainly respect people like Ives who take care of them when injured and release them back into the wild. Ives has fixed the injuries of two owls and let them go, but they refuse to leave, showing the loyalty that animals have when they know that a human is truly kind.
The storyline involving the vigilantees is violent and disturbing, and it takes a lot of guts for Montgomery's parents to stand up to the townsfolk for the sin that got Sodom and Gomorrah into trouble. The scene where Walker insist that Montgomery stays away from Ives and Baker stands up to him has a nice twist, but it's obvious that Walker's character had more than an influence of Charles Ingalls on him, although he reminds me of "Little House" costar Merlin Olsen in his speech. Look for Danny Bonaduce as one of the town bullies who harasses Ives and Montgomery.
While the film was obviously made on a low budget, it does have quite a bit to recommend about it, mainly the scenes between Ives, Montgomery and the hawk. There's a bit of heartbreak in the scene where Montgomery realizes that he has to let his bird friend go, just as Ives did with a fawn earlier after admitting that deep inside, he found it difficult to let them go but had no choice. Made at a time when filmmakers outside of the Hollywood studios went into nature to make films like this just for children, they are mostly forgotten today, but when discovered, are nice surprises. This has elements that are maybe not for young children as they show humanity in not a favorable light, yet that's rectified when the hawk comes to the rescue of its human friends.
Having seen red tail hawks in Central Park, to see one up close and being handled by humans is amazing, as it is a truly majestic bird. Having seen other wild creatures in their habitat living in the country, I can appreciate their beauty from afar and certainly respect people like Ives who take care of them when injured and release them back into the wild. Ives has fixed the injuries of two owls and let them go, but they refuse to leave, showing the loyalty that animals have when they know that a human is truly kind.
The storyline involving the vigilantees is violent and disturbing, and it takes a lot of guts for Montgomery's parents to stand up to the townsfolk for the sin that got Sodom and Gomorrah into trouble. The scene where Walker insist that Montgomery stays away from Ives and Baker stands up to him has a nice twist, but it's obvious that Walker's character had more than an influence of Charles Ingalls on him, although he reminds me of "Little House" costar Merlin Olsen in his speech. Look for Danny Bonaduce as one of the town bullies who harasses Ives and Montgomery.
While the film was obviously made on a low budget, it does have quite a bit to recommend about it, mainly the scenes between Ives, Montgomery and the hawk. There's a bit of heartbreak in the scene where Montgomery realizes that he has to let his bird friend go, just as Ives did with a fawn earlier after admitting that deep inside, he found it difficult to let them go but had no choice. Made at a time when filmmakers outside of the Hollywood studios went into nature to make films like this just for children, they are mostly forgotten today, but when discovered, are nice surprises. This has elements that are maybe not for young children as they show humanity in not a favorable light, yet that's rectified when the hawk comes to the rescue of its human friends.