Man in the Wilderness is a 1971 film about a scout for a group of mountain men who are traversing the Northwestern United States during the 1820s. The scout is mauled by a bear and left to die by his companions. He survives and recuperates sufficiently to track his former comrades, forcing a confrontation over his abandonment. The story is loosely based on the life of Hugh Glass. It stars Richard Harris as Zachary Bass and John Huston as Captain Henry.
The fundamental theme of the story is the spiritual redemption of an emotionally damaged man, Zachary Bass. By using flashbacks to his childhood, the director provides to the viewer the basis for Bass's emotional damage brought about by abandonment by his father and abuse by his schoolmaster. After being abandoned by his fellow trappers, his motive for survival is revealed to be driven by many things, including revenge against Captain Henry, the desire to see his wife and child(who was born after Bass left on the trapping expedition), and his need to reconcile his emotional damage. As it turns out, one of his comrades left a pocket bible with Bass. It is this bible that transforms and redeems Bass so that when he finally confronts his fellow trappers and Captain Henry, it is no longer the same hardened man that they meet. Rather, Bass has become transformed into a rational and forgiving man with no anger left in his heart.
In the early 1800's, a group of fur trappers and Indian traders are returning with their goods to civilisation and are making a desperate attempt to beat the oncoming winter. When guide Zachary Bass is injured in a bear attack, they decide he's a goner and leave him behind to die. When he recovers instead, he swears revenge on them and tracks them and their paranoiac expedition leader down. Written by Alfred Jingle
