As we all know, "Jaws" was a huge success in 1975; if you're actually familiar with the plot of that movie, you should note a familiar pattern in this quasi-follow-up. Lessee, what animal is about as dangerous as a shark, but is on land? I know! - a grizzly bear! See, not just any bear, but a huge grizzly. And it's not just the plot; the pattern begins with the marketing, the poster - three male leads just as in "Jaws;" note the reference to the 'first victim.' This is all superficial retread; of course, if you've never seen "Jaws," it may all strike you as original. But it's mainly one of many 'nature-amok/nature rebels' movies so prevalent in the seventies. It catches you off guard early on, not with the killings but the musical score: it plays over helicopter shots suggesting a grand drama in the wilderness (others noted how it copies the beginning of "The Towering Inferno" - an accurate assessment). So is there any actual originality anywhere in this picture? Not really. Chris George, the main lead, followed this up with a similar role in "Day of the Animals" the following year and even took Richard Jaeckel along with him.
I do have to give the filmmakers some credit with how they managed to create a sense of menace out of nothing, given their limited budget and the lack of a real menacing bear. The combination of an effective soundtrack, meaning the mean bear's throaty breathing during p.o.v. shots, and clever editing creates the impression of a huge man-killer (supposedly 18 feet of gut-crunching terror). I was about 15 years old when I saw this in a theater and those shots of the wicked bear claw whipping around to take off arms and heads worked for me. When I saw it a 2nd time on video, the effect was pretty much lost. And, by time I viewed the latest DVD version (admitedly a nice package) and was watching the death scenes frame-by-frame...well, I felt embarrassed I'd been taken in by the obvious film trickery. This sort of makes the case that some movies are meant for one viewing only; after that, the mystique is all gone. The performances are OK; my favorite scene doesn't involve any of the action stuff but the scene where Prine relates a story to Jaeckel about some bears and Indians.
I do have to give the filmmakers some credit with how they managed to create a sense of menace out of nothing, given their limited budget and the lack of a real menacing bear. The combination of an effective soundtrack, meaning the mean bear's throaty breathing during p.o.v. shots, and clever editing creates the impression of a huge man-killer (supposedly 18 feet of gut-crunching terror). I was about 15 years old when I saw this in a theater and those shots of the wicked bear claw whipping around to take off arms and heads worked for me. When I saw it a 2nd time on video, the effect was pretty much lost. And, by time I viewed the latest DVD version (admitedly a nice package) and was watching the death scenes frame-by-frame...well, I felt embarrassed I'd been taken in by the obvious film trickery. This sort of makes the case that some movies are meant for one viewing only; after that, the mystique is all gone. The performances are OK; my favorite scene doesn't involve any of the action stuff but the scene where Prine relates a story to Jaeckel about some bears and Indians.