The Bears and I (1974)
1h 29m | PG-13
When a man adopts three black bear cubs, he faces one of the hardest decisions of his life. Set in the wilderness of British Columbia, Canada, Robert Leslie struggles to keep his bears safe and maintain relations with native Americans and park rangers.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family
Video: 720p
Cast
Patrick Wayne
as Bob Leslie
Chief Dan George
as Chief Peter A-Tas-Ka-Nay
Andrew Duggan
as Commissioner Gaines
Michael Ansara
as Oliver Red Fern
Robert Pine
as John McCaten
Valentin de Vargas
as Sam Eagle Speaker
Reviews
Fails to hit the right notes. <em>'The Bears and I'</em> holds a storyline that we've basically seen before with these Disney animal-filled films, so there's nothing fresh or majorly interesting there. Likewise with the animals themselves, it's the studio's second release in four years that is about bears; see: <em>'King of the Grizzlies'</em>. This one has a secondary plot involving Whites and Native Americans, another thing we've already seen numerous times. Cast-wise it's alright, with Patrick Wayne leading as Bob. Chief Dan George (Peter) and Michael Ansara (Oliver) are OK, though Valentin de Vargas' character of Sam is ill-written. These type of productions always tend to be rather light with the human cast anyway. The animals are cute and the overall message with them is positive, though you could again raise issues with welfare concerns. The writing and dialogue, meanwhile, is below par. To me, this is paced too slowly and doesn't do enough to separate itself from past films from Disney.