The Legend of Alfred Packer

Last updated

The Legend of Alfred Packer
The Legend of Alfred Packer.jpg
Video release cover
Directed byJim Roberson
Screenplay by
Story byBurton Raffel
Produced byMark J. Webb
Starring
  • Patrick Dray
  • Ronald Haines
  • Jim Dratfield
  • Bob Damon
  • Dave Ellingson
  • Ron Holiday
  • Lawrence Bleir
  • Cynthia Nessin
CinematographyJames Warren
Edited byShirak Kojayan
Music by Jaime Mendoza-Nava
Production
company
Packer Productions Ltd.
Distributed by American National Enterprises
Release date
  • 1980 (1980)(United States)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Legend of Alfred Packer is a 1980 American biographical Western film directed by Jim Roberson from a script by Burton Raffel. [1] It is a biopic of Alferd Packer [2] starring Patrick Dray in the title role. The film features a score by Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava, though the main theme is derivative of Mason Williams's "Classical Gas".

Contents

The "Alferd" spelling and pronunciation of his first name is not used in the film.

Plot

McMurphy comes to Denver, Colorado, to see Polly Pry about the Packer case. As Pry leaves for her scheduled meeting with McMurphy, she is stalked and shot at by a gunman. The bullets hit her skirts and lessen the blows inflicted on her publishers behind her. McMurphy and Pry meet in a tavern to discuss the Packer story over whiskey. She begins with the five prospectors who will become victims meeting up for the first time at a boardinghouse, where the landlady tells them that Alfred Packer is the best guide in the area.

The men find Packer in a small prison, and pay his bail so that he can be their guide. They join together with the larger group, but are soon split up, and they get suckered into the hospitality of a trapper and his sidekick, Weasel, who intend to rape George Noon. Packer and the men escape, but get hopelessly lost in Ute territory. When Packer is scouting ahead, he returns to find that Shannon Wilson Bell, a Mormon missionary, has killed and begun to eat the other prospectors. Packer and Bell fight; Bell falls, landing on a knife, and is killed.

After several months, Packer comes out of the mountains into the nearest town and makes his report to General Adams. Later, while at Dolan's Bar, his story having been investigated, he is captured and brought to trial. The remainder of the film depicts his trial. Judge Gerry reads his sentence as per the court records, though omitting the two consecutive repeats of "dead." As Packer walks through the courthouse door, a blue glow emanates from behind it, the image freezes, and, in voiceover and overlain title cards, Pry briefly summarizes what happened to Packer after the trial.

Cast

Home media

The film was released on VHS by Monterey Home Video.

In 2008, it was packaged in an eight-film DVD set, "Legends of the West", with Johnny Yuma , Joshua , Gatling Gun , Big Bad John , Find a Place to Die , Grand Duel , and China 9, Liberty 37 .

Reception

The film was deemed ’not very interesting’ but ’higlighted by on-location scenic filming’ [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bachelor Mother</i> 1939 film by Garson Kanin

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna from an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake City, Colorado</span> Town in Colorado, United States

Lake City is a statutory town that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Hinsdale County, Colorado, United States. The population was 432 at the 2020 census. It is located in the San Juan Mountains in a valley formed by the convergence of Henson Creek and the headwaters of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River about seven miles (11 km) east of Uncompahgre Peak, a Colorado fourteener. Lake City is named after nearby Lake San Cristobal. This area lies at the southern end of the Colorado Mineral Belt and when rich mineral deposits were discovered the native population was pushed from their tribal lands and the town of Lake City was incorporated in 1873.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saguache, Colorado</span> Town in Saguache County, Colorado, United States

Saguache is a Statutory Town in and the county seat of Saguache County, Colorado, United States. The population was 539 at the United States Census 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alferd Packer</span> U.S. Union Army soldier convicted of manslaughter

Alfred Griner Packer, also known as the "Colorado Cannibal", was an American prospector and self-proclaimed wilderness guide who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874. After emerging as the sole survivor of a six-man party who had attempted to travel through the San Juan Mountains of the Colorado Territory, he eventually confessed to having lived off the flesh of his companions, giving more than one version of his account as to the circumstances.

<i>Cannibal! The Musical</i> 1993 film

Cannibal! The Musical is a 1993 American black comedy musical film directed, written, produced, co-scored by and starring Trey Parker in his directorial debut while studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder, before reaching fame with South Park alongside his friend Matt Stone who also stars in and produced the film. It is loosely based on the true story of Alferd Packer and the sordid details of the trip from Utah to Colorado that left his five fellow travelers dead and partially eaten. Trey Parker stars as Alferd Packer, with frequent collaborators Stone, Dian Bachar, and others playing the supporting roles.

<i>Ravenous</i> (1999 film) 1999 film

Ravenous is a 1999 horror Western cannibal film starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones and David Arquette. The film, which is set in 1840s California, was directed by Antonia Bird and filmed in Europe. It was not a box office success and failed to recoup much of its $12 million budget. However, despite initial reception being mixed when released, it has since garnered a reputation as a cult film.

<i>Niagara</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by Henry Hathaway

Niagara is a 1953 American film-noir thriller film directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Charles Brackett, and written by Brackett, Richard L. Breen and Walter Reisch. The film stars Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and Max Showalter. It was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest box-office hits that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Pearce</span> Irish convicted criminal and confessed cannibal

Alexander Pearce was an Irish convict who was transported to the penal colony in Van Diemen's Land, Australia for seven years for theft. He escaped from prison several times, allegedly becoming a cannibal during one of the escapes. In another escape, with one companion, he allegedly killed him and ate him in pieces. He was eventually captured and was hanged in Hobart for murder, before being dissected.

<i>Night Passage</i> (film) 1957 film by James Neilson

Night Passage is a 1957 American Western film directed by James Neilson and starring James Stewart and Audie Murphy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minerva Urecal</span> American vaudevillian and actress (1894–1966)

Minerva Urecal was an American stage and radio performer as well as a character actress in Hollywood films and on various television series from the early 1950s to 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Moran</span> American actress (1883–1952)

Pauline Theresa Moran billed as Polly Moran, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage and screen and a comedian.

Cannibalism, the act of eating human flesh, is a recurring theme in popular culture, especially within the horror genre, and has been featured in a range of media that includes film, television, literature, music and video games. Cannibalism has been featured in various forms of media as far back as Greek mythology. The frequency of this theme has led to cannibal films becoming a notable subgenre of horror films. The subject has been portrayed in various different ways and is occasionally normalized. The act may also be used in media as a means of survival, an accidental misfortune, or an accompaniment to murder. Examples of prominent artists who have worked with the topic of cannibalism include William Shakespeare, Voltaire, Bret Easton Ellis, and Herschell Gordon Lewis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Pry</span>

Mrs. Leonel Campbell Ross O'Bryan (1857–1938), known under the pen name Polly Pry, was a controversial reporter for the Denver Post and later as a freelancer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is best remembered for her connection to the case of Alferd Packer as an investigative reporter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillian Elliott</span> Canadian actress

Lillian Elliott was a stage and film actress, appearing in 60 films between 1915 and 1943. She was born in Canada and died in Hollywood, California. She was married to actor James Corrigan, and their eldest son, Lloyd Corrigan, became a Hollywood writer, director, and character actor.

<i>Tumbleweed</i> (film) 1953 film by Nathan H. Juran

Tumbleweed is a 1953 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Lori Nelson, and Chill Wills. The film is based on the story "Three Were Renegades" by Kenneth Perkins, originally published in the December 1938 issue of Blue Book. IMDb and other sources mistakenly call the film a remake of the 1948 film Relentless, which was based on a similarly named story, "Three Were Thoroughbreds," by Perkins. The later story, "Three Were Renegades," was published as a sort-of sequel to the earlier story, "Three Were Thoroughbreds," and the plotlines of the two films mirror the plotlines of their respective source stories.

<i>Bundle of Joy</i> 1956 film directed by Norman Taurog

Bundle of Joy is a 1956 American Technicolor musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds and Adolphe Menjou. It is a remake of the 1939 comedy film Bachelor Mother which starred Ginger Rogers and David Niven. Produced by Edmund Grainger, it was distributed by RKO Pictures. An unmarried salesgirl at a department store finds and takes care of an abandoned baby. Much confusion results when her co-workers assume the child is hers and that the father is the son of the store owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binford & Mort</span> Publisher based in Oregon, United States

Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in the Pacific Northwest. The privately owned company focuses on books from the Pacific Northwest, and has printed many important titles covering Oregon's history.

<i>Lure of the Wilderness</i> 1952 film by Jean Negulesco

Lure of the Wilderness is a 1952 American Technicolor romantic adventure film directed by Jean Negulesco and based on the 1941 novel Swamp Water by Vereen Bell. The film is a remake of Jean Renoir's 1941 adaption of the novel. Walter Brennan appears in both films, although in a smaller version of his leading role in the earlier version.

<i>Miss Brewsters Millions</i> 1926 film by Clarence G. Badger

Miss Brewster's Millions is a 1926 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Clarence G. Badger directed and the ever-popular Bebe Daniels starred. It was based on the 1902 novel by George Barr McCutcheon and a 1906 play adaptation of the same name by Winchell Smith and Byron Ongley, which had been filmed before in 1921 with Roscoe Arbuckle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Heye Tammen</span> American businessman and journalist (1856–1924)

Heinrich “Harry” Heye Tammen was an American journalist, publisher, businessman and bartender. He worked alongside Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and co-owned The Denver Post, the Kansas City Times, and the Sells Floto Circus.

References

  1. The Legend of Alfred Packer (1980) | MUBI (in French), retrieved December 24, 2023
  2. Simpson, Brian (August 2, 2003). Cannibalism and Common Law: A Victorian Yachting Tragedy. A&C Black. ISBN   978-1-85285-200-9.
  3. Pitts, Michael R. (January 4, 2013). Western Movies: A Guide to 5,105 Feature Films, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN   978-0-7864-6372-5.

See also