Clint Walker is Jim Cole, a former lawman who wants to settle down on a farm with his wife Angela, their two children, an adopted niece named Meg and a former deputy named Sam Potts, who is Jim’s partner.
But they face plenty of obstacles. They have to pay off a large loan on the property, find it in disrepair and are immediately warned that a neighbor named Jed Curry, the richest man in town, wants their land.
Then there’s Old Satan, a grizzly that has been terrorizing the area for years. It’s not long before he strikes at the Cole homestead, killing their prized bull and forcing Jim to take out another loan.
When Old Satan goes on a killing rampage, a reward is offered for his death.
Jim figures he needs that bounty to get out of debt. Angela, tired of worrying about Jim’s safety when he was sheriff, finds herself worrying all over again.
And the situation doesn’t improve when the bounty on Old Satan draws an old enemy — Cass Dowdy (Leo Gordon) — into the hunt.
Clint Walker as Big Jim Cole, looking for livestock to stock his new ranch in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Martha Hyer as Angela Cole, wondering if its time for her husband to give up his dream ranch in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Review:
Decent family Western, complete with a broad dash of humor, including a drunk rooster and a young daughter named Gypsy who goes chasing after what she thinks is a cat and winds up being banished from the Cole home for a while because she smells like skunk.
Some of the humor and acting seems a bit over the top, including the performance of Keenan Wynn as the businessman who covets Cole’s land and that of Nancy Kulp, later of Beverly Hillbillies fame, as a man-chasing storekeeper.
You’ll find lots of other familiar faces in the cast, including Ellen Corby as Hazel Squires, a woman who sells livestock to Cole. Years later, she would play the role of grandma on The Waltons.
Leo Gordon as Cass Dowdy, a bounty hunter lured to town by the price on Satan’s head in The Nigh of the Grizzly (1966)
Keenan Wynn as Jed Curry, the rancher who wants Jim Cole’s land for his growing sons in The Nigh of the Grizzly (1966)
Directed by:
Joseph Pevney
Cast:
Clint Walker … Jim Cole
Martha Hyer … Angela Cole
Keenan Wynn … Jed Curry
Nancy Kulp … Wilhelmina Peterson
Ellen Corby … Hazel Squires
Jack Elam … Hank
Med Flory … Duke Squires
Don Haggerty … Sam Potts
Kevin Brodie … Charlie Cole
Victoria Meyerink … Gypsy Cole
Candy Moore … Meg
Leo Gordon … Cass Dowdy
Sammy Jackson … Cal Curry
Rony Ely … Tad Curry
Regis Toomey … Cotton Benson
Runtime: 102 min.
Victoria Meyerink as Gypsy Cole, Jim and Angie’s youngest child in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Kevin Brodie as Charlie Cole, consoling his mother after another family argument over how to deal with grizzly named Satan in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Memorable lines:
Jim Cole: “Seen him (Old Satan)?”
Cotton Benson: “No, I’ve been lucky. But I’ve seen his work. He kills just for the wicked fun of it … If that beast isn’t Lucifer in person, he sure is first cousin.”
Wilhelmina Peterson, trying to rouse Hank from one of his frequent slumbers: “Get out, Hank! Come on. This here Mr. Cole wants to buy himelf some stock. It’s worth a dollar to him if you show him around.”
Hank: “For a dollar, can’t I just point?”
Gypsy Cole, watching a caterpillar crawl through the grass: “You know something, Champeen?”
Hank: “What’s that, Rosebud?”
Gypsy: “He looks something like you.”
Hank, with a chuckle. “Does, kinda. Don’t he?”
Dan Haggerty as Sam Potts, looking for a saloon and finding a spinster in The Nigh of the Grizzly (1966)
Jack Elam as Hank, being roused from a nap to show Jim Cole around town in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Sam Potts, after Old Satan has struck: “Old Duncan (a bull) is deader than a bee in a blizzard.”
Jim Cole: “Ain’t a man alive that doesn’t have trouble. How he handles that trouble is what counts.”
Angela Cole: “And how he goes looking for that trouble is what makes him a fool.”
Cass Dowdy, vowing to kill Jim Cole: “Take a man’s boots away from him, will ya? That’s about as low as a man can get. Until they bury him.”
Jim Cole, explaining why he has to try to hunt down a killer grizzly named Satan: “Angie, in every man’s life there’s a Cass or a Satan of one kind or another. Trying to whip him, beat him down, destroy him. He can’t run away from it. He’s gotta stand strong and fight. Whatever it is, he’s got to fight it. That’s how God made a man.”
Clint Walker as Big Jim Cole, a retired lawman beginning to work on the home of his dreams in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Candy Moore as Meg, the pretty niece who lives with the Cole family in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Regis Toomey as Cotton Benson, the banker who helps Jim Cole out in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Rony Ely as Tab Curry and Sammy Jackson as his brother Cal, spoiled sons of Jed Curry in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Nancy Kulp as WIlhelmina Peterson, the spinster shop keeper smitten with Sam Potts in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Ellen Corby as Hazel Squires, a ranch woman who sells Jim Cole the stock he needs in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Med Flory as Duke Squires, Hazel’s son and the maker of moonshine in a dry county in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
Clint Walker as Big Jim Cole ready to swap his old badge and six-gun for a loan for his ranch in The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
){kind=link}