I am interested in the comments so far on this film as I was on the crew for the latter part of production. I've said this is a spoiler, but it doesn't really deal with plot.
I hate to break this to those who thought this was a documentary, but it was a staged production. The majority of shooting was done in compounds, some quite large so you don't see the fencing.
Dick Robinson was also the owner of the company that did the actual production, and was brilliant at working with the animals. At the time I worked there we had 175 animals ranging from bears and cougars to jaguars and wolves. We even had a chimp, Wilhemina.
We worked on a compound in the Kanaskis region of Alberta, as well as shooting other films near Canmore, and Utah/Arizona/Mexico.
The animals were treated well, and there were professionals looking after them, including former zoo-keepers. In fact, the animals were often treated better than the crew! Those of us on the film side were expected to walk animals, etc when we weren't working on production.
I have some fantastic memories of this company, but left as work was beginning on 'Grizzly Adams' in 1973. Turns out it was a good thing as Dick got into a major dispute and lawsuit with the financier, Pat Frawley - which ultimately saw the company broken apart.
Dave
I hate to break this to those who thought this was a documentary, but it was a staged production. The majority of shooting was done in compounds, some quite large so you don't see the fencing.
Dick Robinson was also the owner of the company that did the actual production, and was brilliant at working with the animals. At the time I worked there we had 175 animals ranging from bears and cougars to jaguars and wolves. We even had a chimp, Wilhemina.
We worked on a compound in the Kanaskis region of Alberta, as well as shooting other films near Canmore, and Utah/Arizona/Mexico.
The animals were treated well, and there were professionals looking after them, including former zoo-keepers. In fact, the animals were often treated better than the crew! Those of us on the film side were expected to walk animals, etc when we weren't working on production.
I have some fantastic memories of this company, but left as work was beginning on 'Grizzly Adams' in 1973. Turns out it was a good thing as Dick got into a major dispute and lawsuit with the financier, Pat Frawley - which ultimately saw the company broken apart.
Dave
