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Wilderness Survival Movies?

338K views 433 replies 313 participants last post by  Endiron 
#1 · (Edited)
Could this be a sticky?

What are the best (and most realistically accurate) survival movies you've seen?

Maybe separate thread for post-world crisis movies?

Rambo, Rescue, Les Stroud stuff, Castaway, Surviving the Game, The Edge, The Day After Tomorrow, The Morning After, Dances With Wolves, Marine Corps Survival Training (Discovery documentary).

Add: The Postman.

I'm looking at the ones you guys mentioned, for possible purchase...
 
#275 ·
That is my top choice as well. I saw "Man in the Wilderness" at the movies when I was a kid and just watched it again a few weeks ago. It's portrayal of the mountain man era was pretty accurate and it demonstrates the practical and psychological aspects of surviving a severe injury, recovering and walking out of a bad situation.

Jeremiah Johnson is a close second. I've watched it dozens of times and I always get something from it. Will Geer's line "Elk don't know how many lets a horse has!" always makes me laugh!

While not a survival movie per se "The Great Escape" demonstrates how a group of prisoners of war can adapt and over come the supression of their captors.

The documentaries about the Marine Corps mountain survival training program in Pickle Meadows at MWTC Bridgeport, California are excellent and almost make me want to return to active duty.
 
#131 ·
I was greatly anticipating "Into The Wild," but alas, it disappointed. There was actually very little wilderness in the movie. Mostly it was just a kid traveling from town to town like a hobo.
The book is better, but even it doesn't have as much wilderness time as one would hope. But the reason should really be obvious... There were no witnesses to his wilderness time after he was dropped off at the road leading into the magic bus. Much of it had to be pieced together from what little diaries he kept and notes scrawled at the site. The activities leading up to his walking into the wilderness had witnesses, and so people could be interviewed to gather facts.
 
#302 ·
If you liked that one you should watch Southern Comfort....a National Guard unit lost in Louisiana. Same concept and very possible.


 
#14 ·
Deliverance was very good.
Paddle faster I still hear banjo music! :D


Then I just remembered 3 very good survival-kind of movie from past:

Born American - Directed by finnish director Renny Harlin

"Three American students vacationing in Finland, cross the border into Russia for fun of it. When they are spotted by the Russian soldiers who are shooting to kill, it's not fun anymore."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091313/

Southern Comfort
"A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083111/

The River Wild
"Gail, a rafting lady takes her son, Roark and her husband, Tom on a rafting boat vacation, when a kind man helps Roark get up, the family decides The man is OK, until they realize he is a criminal."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110997/

Have any of you seen those very good movies?
 
#15 ·
I was thinking of River Wild, but it doesn't really involve techniques you could use to survive in the wilderness for any real amount of time. If you would count that, then you could almost count Sum of All Fears or Behind Enemy Lines. Enemy At The Gates wouldn't fit either, although it's a pretty good movie, too...

I also have one called My Side of the Mountain. I need to correct The Morning After to 'The Day After'
 
#316 ·
"A cry in the wild" 1990 is the movie of Hatchet - screenplay by the author - obviously not the detail of the novel but it's very good.

Spawned a pair of crappy sequels that could have been great but by the third was more about mumbo jumbo than legit survival skills

My Side of The Mountain, and Never Cry Wolf are films that impressed me early on.

If you haven't heard of "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, definitely look into it. It should be required reading for every kid in America.
 
#30 ·
"Hatchet" was made into a movie, I dont remember if it has the same title or not. Their is also a sequel to the book called "The River" its was pretty a good book also. Disney has alot of movies about people getting lost in the wilderness, they are great for the kids to watch.
A good movie about the aftermath of a nuclear war is "The Day After"
 
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