Robert Fuller is James Reed, outcast turned rescuer in this story of the Donner party’s disastrous trip West to California.
As the film opens, George Donner (John Doucette) is elected leader of the wagon train and opts for a shortcut through the mountains.
Reed and good friend William Eddy (Michael Callan) disagree with the decision, but opt to keep the wagon train together rather than split apart.
Soon, it becomes apparent the shortcut is going to be tougher going than expected. Wagons break down, Animals are lost.
During a dispute on the trail, John Snyder begins whipping Reed. A knife fight ensues. Snyder winds up dead; Reed winds up banished.
Realizing the travelers are running short on food, he decides to head to Sutter’s Fort, stock up on supplies and return to his family.
But at Sutter’s Fort, he soon learns men and supplies are needed for the Mexican-American War. Rescue efforts for the travelers to California will have to wait.
By that time, the Donner Party is trapped in the mountains by snow.
Some decide to don snowshoes and try to walk out of the mountains. Some decide to hunker down in cabins and wait out the winter.
Both groups are forced to resort to cannibalism before rescuers arrive the following spring.
Robert Fuller as James Reed, determined to make it back to his family in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Diane McBain as Margaret Reed, fretting for her children and her banished husband in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Review:
A television movie based on the real-life experience of the Donner Party, an expedition in which nearly half of the 87 people who started the trip perished.
The Robert Fuller character narrates this version and comes off the hero, even helping Gen. Fremont capture a Mexican general at one point in return for a promise of help for the Donner Party.
Andrew Prine’s Lewis Keyser is the villain, kicking an elderly man off his wagon and leaving him to the mercy of the Indians at one point and shooting a member of the snowshoe party for food at another.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers take one of the most heart-wrenching treks West in history and manage to turn it into a massive bore.
The biggest problem is that, unlike 1994’s “One More Mountain,” the focus is muddled. We don’t get to know any of the travelers very well. We barely meet Reeds family until after he’s banished.
This film, however, does deal with the group’s struggle with cannibalism much more effectively than the 1994 movie.
Andrew Prine as Lewis Keyser, a troublemaker among the travelers in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Michael Callan as WIlliam Eddy, a friend of James Reed who tries to walk out of the mountains on snow shoes in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Directed by:
James Conway
Cast:
Robert Fuller … James Reed
Andrew Prine … Lewis Keyser
Michael Callan … William Eddy
Diane McBain … Margaret Reed
Kristen Curry … Virginia Reed
John Doucette … George Donner
Cindy Eilbacher … Mary Graves
Lance LeGault … Charles Stanton
John Anderson … Patrick Breen
Peggy Stewart … Mrs. Breen
Gregory Walcott … Will McKutcheon
Whit Bissell … Uncle Billy Graves
Royal Dano … Sutter
Runtime: 100 min.
CIndy Eilbacher as Mary Graves, awkwardly fielding a marriage proposal from Charlie Stanton in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Whit Bissell as Uncle Billy Graves, an aging member of the party who realizes what must be done in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Memorable lines:
Mary Graves: “Come closer to the fire, Charles. You can warm yourself.”
Charles Stanton: “I’ll never be warm again.”
Uncle Billy Graves: “Alive, I can do no more for you. When I’m gone, I can give you strength. I can be your food.”
Mary Graves: “No!”
Uncle Billy: “Listen, you’ll do it. You must live. My body, use it.”
Mary: “No. No. We can’t.”
Uncle Billy: “I’ll curse you til the end of time if you don’t obey me.”
Margaret Reed: “Mr Breen, Milt Elliott is dead.”
Patrick Breen: “Won’t be easy, burying him in this frozen ground. We’ll just cover him with snow.”
Mrs. Reed: “I didn’t intend to bury him out.”
Breen: “I’m not sure I know what you’re saying.”
Mrs. Reed: “I think you do, Patrick. You have five suffering children. I have four.”
Breen: “It’s a mortal sin, you’re speakin’ of.”
Mrs. Reed: “It’s a mortal sin to turn my back on my children. Any children. I need your help Mr. Breen. But with you or without you, the deed will be done.”
Virginia Reed: “Pappa will hate us. He won’t want to come back to us.”
Margaret Reed, her mother: “We kept ourselves alive for him. It was the one promise we could make to one another. Hate us? My darling, how could he hate us?”
Virginia: “For what we did.”
Margaret: “For what we had to do. Virginia, don’t you ever forget this. I wanted you children to live.”
Virginia: “What about now? Do we spend our time waiting for someone else to die? What do we do now?”
Margaret: “We pray.”
John Doucette as George Donner, agreeing to banishment for James Reed in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Lance LeGault as Charles Stanton, suffering after a fall into freezing water in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
John Anderson as Patrick Breen, trapped in the cabins with the Reed family and facing starvation in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Gregory Walcott as Will McKutcheon, trying to help Reed deliver relief to the travelers in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Kristen Curry as 13-year-old Virginia Reed, trying to keep her family’s spirits up in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
Royal Dano as Sutter, more concerned about the war with Mexico than trapped travelers in Donner Pass, The Road to Survival (1978)
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