The Mountain

Film Skool

| The Mountain is a breathtaking classic Hollywood survival thriller starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner in a deadly climb through the Alps. Steve Hayes revisits Edward Dmytryk’s suspenseful mountain adventure, filmed on location in Switzerland and filled with spectacular climbing sequences, family conflict, and old Hollywood star power.

When a passenger airliner crashes high in the Alps, two brothers set out to reach the wreckage. Spencer Tracy plays the seasoned mountain climber who knows the dangers ahead. Robert Wagner is his handsome, ruthless younger brother, a social climber with reasons of his own for reaching the plane. What begins as an impossible rescue mission becomes a harrowing struggle between heroism, greed, and survival.

In this episode of Tired Old Queen At The Movies, Steve celebrates one of Spencer Tracy’s most gripping performances and Robert Wagner at his gorgeous, despicable best. He also looks back at Claire Trevor, William Demarest, E.G. Marshall, and Anna Kashfi, along with The Mountain’s breathtaking VistaVision and Technicolor photography.

And the danger wasn’t confined to the screen. Steve tells the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner stranded thousands of feet above the Alps in a gondola accident, Tracy’s difficult years with Katharine Hepburn, and Wagner’s memories of the legendary actor who took him under his wing and taught him what it meant to be a professional.

For fans of Spencer Tracy movies, Robert Wagner movies, classic Hollywood, 1950s movies, mountain climbing films, survival thrillers, old Hollywood stories, and classic movie reviews, The Mountain delivers suspense from beginning to end.

It’s harrowing, heartwarming, spectacular to look at, and the perfect classic movie to beat the summer heat.

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