Starring: Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara
Co-Starring: James MacArthur, Donald Crisp, Wally Cox
Introducing: Mimsy Farmer
With:
Based on the Novel by Earl Hammer, Jr.
Written for the Screen and Directed by Delmer Daaves
A Warner Bros. Production
"Spencer's Mountain" a forerunner to TV's "The Waltons" is wonderful family entertainment. It tells the home-spun tale of Clay Spencer's family that boasts a brood of 9 children, a gorgeous wife, 8 brothers and kindly parents. The location is right out of a storybook, in the shadow of the Grand Teton mountain in Wyoming. The gorgeous scenery for the opening credits paints a pastoral setting of heavenly skies and lakes that mirror the magestic mountains.
In 1963, this would be the second time Maureen co-starred with Henry Fonda, the first being "The Immortal Sergeant" in 1943. (Fonda would again team with Maureen in 1973 for TV's "The Red Pony")
The hardy Spencer clan is most delightful - handsome parents and beautiful children, struggling with the typical problems of that era and locale. It stresses family values and showcases mature and young love - and the value of education. Put this all in such visual splendor and the audience can't help but feel they'd like to be there with them.
Clay Spencer, in the handsome, sun-tanned form of Henry Fonda, together with his wife, Olivia (the gorgeous Ms. O'Hara) are definitely at home in Spencer's Mountain. . Their oldest son Clay Boy, who has just won the honors medal in his graduating class pursues his dream of attending college. With the support and guidance of Clay Boy's teacher and the local minister, Clay, Sr. and Olivia do all they can to get Clay Boy admitted to that college.
Clay, Sr. has a dream also - to build that dream-house for Olivia high on Spencer's Mountain on the choice land his father deeded to him (as he did each of Clay's brothers). Clay's brothers donate their labor on weekends and as the film begins the footings for the structure and framing begin. As the plot unfolds, one dream would enhance the other.
With a few obstacles and some re-examining of priorities, there is, of course, a happy ending. Maureen and Henry Fonda have an excellent chemistry and are very believable as a couple struggling to raise their family. It is a shame that more color publicity shots are not available to capture this paradise of nature in Wyoming. Likewise the breakfast that feeds Clay's hungry brothers (biscuits fresh from the oven and scrambled eggs and all the trimins) makes your mouth water.
This film is a must for a family film library with values that never change with the passing of time.