''Spencer's Mountain'' is a 1963 American

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written, directed and produced by

Delmer Daves Delmer Lawrence Daves (July 24, 1904 – August 17, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He worked in many Film genre, genres, including film noir and war film, warfare, but he is best known for his Western (genre ...

, from the 1961 novel of the same name by Earl Hamner Jr., and starring

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

and

Maureen O'Hara Maureen O'Hara (; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was an Irish-born naturalized American actress who became successful in Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural redhead who was known for playing passionate b ...

. The supporting cast features early appearances by James MacArthur,

Veronica Cartwright Veronica Cartwright (born April 20, 1949) is an English-born American actress. She appeared in science fiction and horror films, and has three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Her younger sister is actress Angela Cartwright. As a child actre ...

and

Victor French Victor Edwin French (December 4, 1934 – June 15, 1989) was an American actor and director. He is remembered for roles on the television programs ''Gunsmoke'', '' Little House on the Prairie'', '' Highway to Heaven'', and '' Carter Country''. ...

, while longtime film actor

Donald Crisp Donald William Crisp (27 July 188225 May 1974) was an English people, English film actor as well as an early producer, director and screenwriter. His career lasted from the early silent film era into the 1960s. He won an Academy Award for Best S ...

(in his final screen role) portrays "Grandpa" Spencer.

Wally Cox Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and played the title character of the popular early American television series '' Mister Peepers'' from 1952 to 195 ...

Virginia Gregg Virginia Lee Gregg (March 6, 1916 – September 15, 1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and television series. Early life Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, she was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta (née T ...

Lillian Bronson Lillian Rumsey Bronson (October 21, 1902 – August 2, 1995) was an American character actress. She performed in more than 80 films and 100 television productions. Life and career In 1930 Bronson made her debut on Broadway as the Exchange ...

Whit Bissell Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909 – March 5, 1996) was an American character actor. Early life Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell and Helen Nutting Bissell. He was educated at the Allen-S ...

and

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994)Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extensiv ...

also appear. The movie, although set in Wyoming, is an inspiration for the long-running

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television series ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural mountainous Western Virginia of the Appalachian Mountains / Allegheny Mountains / Blue Ridge Mountains chain, during the economic hardships and mass unemp ...

'' (set in the

eastern U.S. The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

, in the Appalachian, Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountain chain and the upper southern

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

of western

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Plot

As the patriarch of a large and growing family that resides in the

Grand Teton Mountains The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, ...

in Wyoming during the early 1960s, dirt-poor

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

worker Clay Spencer is fiercely independent yet dedicated to his family. He navigates issues of religion and education to eke out a brighter future for his offspring. Clay Sr. is the oldest of eight boisterous brothers, all of whom live within visiting distance (and apparently all single). Clay's elderly parents also live nearby on the mountain, named "Spencer's Mountain", after their pioneer family. Hardworking wife Olivia is loving and faithful, kept busy with household tasks and contending with her husband's rough-hewn ways, which include periodic drinking sprees in town and a vocal refusal to attend his wife's local church services. Eldest son "Clay-Boy" aspires to attend college and build a career away from the mountain. To do so, he must earn a scholarship and be approved and admitted by university officials. He fears that his unpolished family, particularly father Clay Sr., may hinder his pursuits. Clay-Boy must also contend with the amorous pursuits of teenage neighbor Clarissa, daughter of the wealthy local mill owner Col. Coleman, who employs Clay Sr. and acts as de facto power figure of the mountain community. Clarissa's amorous campaign with the Spencer boy includes several brazen attempts to seduce Clay-Boy, brazen enough for folks who observe several incidents to draw comparisons to barnyard animals in heat. Meanwhile, since his marriage to Olivia, Clay Sr. has dreamed of building a spacious house farther up on the mountaintop for the two in which to retire. Periodically, he breaks away from work to continue the long building process on this house, using building materials that he has been able to assemble with great effort and sacrifice. However, after ten or more years, the mountaintop house remains mostly an unfinished frame. Eventually, Clay-Boy wards off the attentions of Clarissa, and completes an independent-study tutoring course in ancient

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(required for his particular type of scholarship). His admission to the state university is approved, but Clay Sr. realizes that the family cannot afford both his longtime dream house and sending his son to college. As a result, he decides to sell the mountain house property to direct the profits to Clay-Boy's college expenses, and sadly torches the unfinished structure of lumber framing. Olivia is shocked by Clay's actions and assumes that he must be delirious with grief at the loss of the house. He responds with a laugh, telling her that the house had indeed been his dream, but insignificant when compared to the chance of sending their son to college. In the end, Clay-Boy is admitted to college and bids farewell to his family.

Cast

as Clay Spencer *

as Olivia Spencer * James MacArthur as "Clay-Boy" / Clay Spencer, Jr. *

as Grandpa Spencer *

as Preacher Goodman *

Mimsy Farmer Merle "Mimsy" Farmer (born February 28, 1945) is an American former actress, artist and sculptor. She began her career appearing in several Hollywood studio films, such as '' Spencer's Mountain'' (1963) and '' Bus Riley's Back in Town'' (1965), f ...

as Claris Coleman *

as Miss Parker *

as Grandma Spencer *

as Dr. Campbell *

Hayden Rorke William Henry Rorke (October 23, 1910 – August 19, 1987), known professionally as Hayden Rorke, was an American actor best known for playing Colonel Alfred E. Bellows on the 1960s American sitcom ''I Dream of Jeannie''. Early life Rorke was b ...

as Colonel Coleman * Kathy Bennett as Minnie-Cora Cook *

as Percy Cook *

Hope Summers Sarah Hope Summers (June 7, 1902 – June 22, 1979) was an American actress known for her work on ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and '' Mayberry R.F.D.'', portraying Clara Edwards. Early life Hope Summers was born in Mattoon, Illinois, the daugh ...

as Mother Ida * Ken Mayer as Mr. John

Unbilled

* Susan Young as Shirley Spencer * Gary Young as Mat Spencer * Michael Young as Mark Spencer * Ricky Young as Luke Spencer * Rocky Young as John Spencer *

as Becky Spencer * Kym Karath as Pattie-Cake Spencer *

Barbara McNair Barbara Jean McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and theater, television, and film actress. McNair's career spanned over five decades in television, film, and stage. McNair's professional career began in music dur ...

as graduation singer * Mike Henry as Spencer brother *

as Spencer brother * Larry D. Mann as Spencer brother *

Med Flory Meredith Irwin Flory, known professionally as Med Flory (August 27, 1926 – March 12, 2014), was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and actor. Early years Flory was born in Logansport, Indiana, United States. His mother was an organist a ...

as Spencer brother *

Michael Greene Michael Harris Greene (November 4, 1933 – January 10, 2020) was an American actor who was active from the 1960s through the 1990s. Career Greene was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Gladys () and Harry Greene. Early in his caree ...

as Spencer brother * Jim O'Hara as Spencer brother * Bronwyn FitzSimons (Maureen O'Hara's daughter) as Dean Beck's secretary *

Rory Mallinson Charles Rory Mallinson (October 27, 1913 – March 26, 1976) was an American film and television actor. Career Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Mallinson began his acting career after signing a contract with Warner Brothers in 1945. That year he had ...

as campus cop

Production

''Spencer's Mountain'' takes place in

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, ...

(site of a nearby famous

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

) of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

, as photographed by cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr., in color using

Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...

. It was filmed in and around the mountain valley town of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

, and features the nearby Chapel of the Transfiguration. Although the original 1961 Hamner novel is set in the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

of western Virginia, creator and author Earl Hamner Jr. said in 1963 that producer, director and screenwriter Delmer Daves wanted more physically imposing mountains to emphasize the characters' isolation and struggles with their environment. The 1961 novel and the 1963 film became the basis for the long-running television series ''

'', which premiered in 1972. The series restored the setting from the film's Wyoming to the novel's original Virginia, and placed the action in 1933, during the beginnings of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The series also differed from both the film and novel by playing down adult themes, including alcoholism and infidelity in its early seasons episodes, until it became established and more secure in its popularity in the mid-to-late 1970s. ''Spencer's Mountain'' was the second of three films co-starring

and

. Twenty years earlier, they starred in the 1943

war drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

film '' Immortal Sergeant'' (set in the then current

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

's North African invasion and campaign) and then, ten years after the making of ''Spencer's Mountain'', they played the leads again in the 1973 made-for-television film adaptation of ''

The Red Pony ''The Red Pony'' is an episodic novella written by American writer John Steinbeck in 1933. The first three chapters were published in magazines from 1933 to 1936. The full book was published in 1937 by Covici Friede. The stories in the book ...

'', taken from famous author

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

's earlier 1937 novel ''

'', also directed and co-written by earlier ''Spencer's Mountain'' second unit director

Robert Totten Robert Charles Totten (February 5, 1937 – January 27, 1995) was an American television director, writer, and actor, best known for directing many ''Gunsmoke'' episodes between 1966 and 1971. Career In addition to directing, Totten also co ...

(1937–1995).

Reception

In May 1963, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

contrasted the "slicked up...synthetic and essentially insincere" film with the original text and plot of the novel, "

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

tells a very real and very moving story of a dirt-poor family that lives in the hard-scrabble, unglamorous mountains of southwest Virginia." A review in the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'' daily newspaper in July 1963 noted that the location photography, at Grand Teton National Park, is "vast and beautiful", but the screenplay was basically a soap opera with excessive sentimentality with no restraint; there was "too much talk" and "a general falseness about what could be a moving truth". Film critic

Judith Crist Judith Crist (; Klein; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was an American film critic and academic. She appeared regularly on the '' Today'' show from 1964 to 1973 Martin, Douglas (August 8, 2012)"Judith Crist, Zinging and Influential Film ...

, writing in the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'', criticized the adult aspects of the movie's plot, saying it showed "sheer prurience and perverted morality", and added that "it makes the nudie shows at the

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Ria ...

look like

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

productions".

References

External links

* * *
Cactus Pryor Interviews Henry Fonda about Spencer's Mountain (1963)

Celebrities Attend Dedication of Spencer's Mountain (1963)
{{The Waltons 1963 films 1963 drama films American drama films 1960s English-language films Films about families Films based on American novels Films directed by Delmer Daves Films scored by Max Steiner Films set in the 1960s Films set in Wyoming Films shot in Wyoming The Waltons Warner Bros. films 1960s American films