ABSTRACT: This is a very heart-warming Disney story set during the Depression Days and a must see
CONTENT: (©Oct 15, 2008~Ciao--originally published at Ciao under my pen-name of pyewacket)
A heartwarming movie is the 1985 The Journey of Natty Gann, set in the Depression years. Natty lives in a hotel room with her father in Chicago, her mother having died many years before. Things are touch and go all way round since it is the Depression period. Natty herself, is a street wise kid that knows how to take care of herself, which proves to be a valuable asset later on.
Since jobs are scarce, Sol, her father continues to seek work. One day he gets a golden opportunity for employment but there is one hitch...the job, at a timber mill, is in Washington state and he is provided with only one ticket, so he can't take Natty along. He talks and tries to persuade Connie, the hotel's owner to look after Natty while he's gone and also promises to send money for the rent when he can. Time is of the essence, he must leave on the bus going there and is hoping to talk to Natty before leaving her, but she is nowhere to be found, so he boards the bus.
Time passes by, and Natty doesn't hear from her father, in the meantime, Connie, who is rather self-centered and doesn't really want to be bothered taking care of Natty, decides to call authorities to tell them that Natty is an orphaned child...luckily Natty overhears this phone conversation and makes her escape. En route, she happens to pass by a place filled with noise and cheering. Curious, she goes inside the building to discover a fight between two canines, one a regular dog, the other a wolf. The wolf wins...the owner tries to get the wolf back, but the wolf refuses to go to him and instead makes a run for it, right toward the door where Natty is standing petrified that the wolf may attack her. The two gaze directly into each others eyes, as if sizing each other up...she opens the door which allows the wolf to run away. The owner, seeing this is angered and hits Natty unconscious.
When she wakes up, she decides in trying to find her father in Washington, but she has no money for a train ticket, so sneaks on board one of the empty storage compartments of a train that is about to depart, yet the compartment isn't empty...there are others inside, several down and out men on their luck who also use the compartments of trains as free rides on the railroad system...one of the men is Harry, who later befriends her and helps her out later on.
Natty's rail rides, of which there are many, aren't smooth sailing by any means. On one such trip, the train derails and explodes, yet Natty makes it to safety...as well as another passenger...the wolf who was hidden in another compartment of the train. Natty is now in the middle of nowhere in a heavily forested area, having no idea where she is, yet she begins to walk her way...following her is the wolf. At one point a heavy rainstorm begins and she seeks cover in a small cave....it's not empty. The wolf has also taken refuge there. She talks out loud to the wolf..daring him to do what he will such as kill her, but tells the wolf that no way is she going out in the pouring rain. They eye each other cautiously ...the wolf as he is not sure of her, as he had been abused all his life under the ownership of his human master for dog fights, and she due to not trusting him, simply because he is a wild untamed wolf. Ironically, the next morning she wakes up, right next to the wolf that has used his body to keep her warm during the night while she slept. Thus a strong bond now occurs between the wolf and Natty and is to become her protector.
There are other dangers that Natty faces. Such as arriving at one town where she hooks up with some deadbeats who hang out together and make a life out of stealing. To prove her "worth" to she must try to persuade a gigantic cow that is in a fenced in area to go inside the waiting truck that the other members of the gang have, and which they wish to steal the cow. Once the cow is locked in the truck, the gang speeds off as an approaching cops car arrives....but they leave Natty behind, she is seized and taken to an orphanage and the wolf is also caught and trapped in a crate and hauled off supposedly to be killed off. Natty, as ever being clever manages to escape the orphanage and tracks to where the wolf was taken, which is to the local blacksmith, who turns out to be a kindly man, who didn't kill the wolf, and Natty and the wolf are reunited. The blacksmith helps her out by giving her some food and money to continue on with her journey.
Meantime word gets to Natty's father, Sol, of the train crash where Natty's wallet was found...he is led to believe that she died in the fire after the train exploded. Believing he has nothing to live for now....his wife gone, and now Natty, he volunteers himself in some of the more dangerous aspects of the timber industry...jobs where most men die. Little does he know, that Natty is not far away...but he takes on a job that includes dynamiting an area of land. Just as Natty is almost at her destination, she hears a terrible explosion of the dynamite having been set off.
For the answers as to whether Natty's father is alive or dead and is reunited with him you'll just have to see the movie....a winner in my eyes. Oh, and yes, you just might need tissues on hand.
The music is memorable as it was written by one of the all time great movie soundtrack composers, James Horner (Glory, Braveheart, Titanic, etc)
Cast:
Natty Gann - Meredith Salenge
Harry - John Cusack
Sol Gann -Ray Wise
Connie- Lainie Kazan
Sherman - Scatman Crothers
Wolf -- Jed (also was the wolf in White Fang)
Directed by Jeremy Kagan
Music by James Horner
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