Original subtitles

They call me Mad Jack.

And if there's anybody in these mountains that knows the real story of

Adams, that'd be me.

So I'm putting it down and writing just the way it happened in hopes of setting

the record straight.

Now, my friend Adams was accused of a crime he didn't commit.

So he escaped into the mountains, leaving behind the only life that he

knew.

Now that wilderness out there ain't no place for a greenhorn, and his chances

surviving were mighty slim.

There was no time at all, for he was beaten down, ragged, and nearly stopped.

Long about then, he come upon a grizzly bear cub, all alone and helpless.

Adams knew that little critter couldn't survive without his help, so he started

right down that cliff, risking his own life to save it.

Now that cub took to Adams right off.

And that was when he discovered he had a special kind of way with animals.

They just come right up to him like he was a natural part of the wilderness.

But that bear cub, he was extra special.

As he grew, he became the best friend Adams ever had. And together, they

a legend.

There's a time we'll call our own Living free in harmony and majesty

Take me home Take me home

Take me home Take me home

A mighty fine thing about the wilderness, it

don't belong to no one in particular.

All that space you see between here and yonder is just as wild and free as the

day God built it.

In a place as untamed as this, you're likely to meet up with all kinds of

critters running loose.

Some got fur, some got feathers, some got hooves, and some got claws.

Some got four legs, and once in a great while, if you're looking real close, you

might even see one with two legs.

This here day, it was young Robbie Cartman skedaddling up the valley toward

Grizzly Adams' place.

Robbie lived over the other side of the ridge with his father, and he had some

crazy notion that he wanted to grow up to be a mountain man.

Adams promised that boy that he would teach him all about surviving in the

wilds, and the two of them had become the best of friends.

You know, you're worse than an old mother hen.

Oh, come on, little fella. We can't leave you behind.

Come on.

You're going to have to excuse Ben.

He's just fretting that you were going to get yourself hurt was all.

Yeah, I reckon he figured you weren't so likely to get yourself in trouble

locked up in the cabin.

You just don't remember what it's like being a frisky little cow.

Mr. Adams.

Mr. Adams.

Mr. Adams.

Hi, Robbie.

Hi, Ben.

Morning.

Morning, Robbie.

Morning, Mr. Adams.

Where's your pa?

Pa had to go to town for some supplies.

Since it's such a long trip, he said I could come and stay with Ben and you.

You telling me you hiked all the way here from your cabin by yourself?

No, sir. Pa brought me as far as the ridge.

We saw your smoke, so he said I could come the rest of the way all by myself.

But I could have made it the whole way by myself.

I'm getting to be a real mountain man.

Well, so you are.

Where'd you get that cub?

Oh, he's a stray.

He came up on the door a few days back.

Guess he smelled that fish cooking and thought he was going to make himself a

new home.

Are you going to keep him?

Well, it wouldn't be right not to try and find his mom.

She's probably worried sick about him. Where is she?

We're just setting off to find her.

Can I come too?

Well, I guess we couldn't very well leave you behind now, can we?

No, sir.

Well, come on. We'll fix you a pack. We've got a long way to go.

Gee, thanks, Mr. Adams.

Come on, Nochoose. Come on.

Let's go.

Hurry up, Nocho.

Don't you want to find your mother?

She's probably...

Mr.

Adams, where do we look first?

We'll let Ben figure that out. I'm sure he's got a few ideas where to find it.

Where's he going?

Well, I reckon he just caught ten or something.

Probably a honey tree.

He'll be back all covered with honey and at least a couple dozen bee stings on

his nose.

Mr.

Adams, do you reckon we'll ever find that little cub's maw?

Well, it ain't going to be easy.

This is mighty big territory.

Sure is.

Mr. Adams.

Mr. Adams, look.

What is it?

A smoke signal.

You reckon it's trouble?

That's just my brother saying howdy. Your brother?

He never told me he had a brother.

Why does he stay here so much?

Well, I expect that's just his way.

Tell you what we'll do.

You go get some wood, we'll light a fire, and we'll say howdy back to him.

All right.

Get some nice dry branches.

Nekoma? Nekoma?

Nekoma's your brother?

Well, he's... he's like one. He's my blood brother.

Blood brother?

What's that mean, Mr. Adams?

Well, that means, like, we're two living things that feel as one.

We aren't actually brothers of the flesh, but brothers in spirit.

Well, it was pretty clear that Robbie didn't quite understand what Adams was

trying to say.

I guess I'm going to have to start from the beginning.

When I first came to the wilderness, I was as green as spring grass.

Ah, come on, Mr. Adams.

Not you.

It's true.

I didn't know the first thing about surviving in the wild.

And if it hadn't have been for Ben and the other animals and the coma, I don't

think I'd be here talking with you today.

When I saw that big old trout swimming lazy in the water, I figured my supper

was a sin.

Just watching that trout swim away told me how little I knew about providing for

myself. And for the first time, I realized that I could die out here and

would even know.

Or care.

Boy, I would have been scared.

Well, I was scared.

And feeling mighty alone.

Most of the time, I didn't know what to expect.

Seemed peaceful enough out in the wilderness.

But danger was always on my mind.

Then I got kind of a surprise.

Hey, little fella.

Like a biscuit?

Well, it was the darndest thing I ever saw.

That doe just came walking up to me like she'd known me all her life.

Well, all of a sudden, I realized that the wilderness was full of living

and I wasn't alone at all.

Everywhere I went, I started noticing just how many friends I really did have

out there.

There were furry critters, and there were some that most men would have shied

away from.

But I seemed to get along with all of them.

Well, we just kind of shared the forest.

I didn't understand it myself.

It was though those animals knew I was a friend and meant them no harm.

And I started feeling like I was part of the wilderness.

Then one day I came upon a bear cub that got himself into a real fix.

The cub was mighty weak and hungry.

And I didn't get to him none too soon.

I started nursing him back to health with a diet of sweet water and

That cub had a boring instinct for survival.

No, cub.

Those berries are no good. I ate them.

They'll make you sick.

All right.

Don't say I didn't try and warn you.

But he seemed to know what he was doing.

And after all, he'd been out in the wilds longer than me.

And that's how I learned the difference between Saskatoons and corn lilies.

Well, I decided to call that cub Ben, after Benjamin Franklin, the smartest

I ever heard tell of. Seemed fitting, since that cub was the smartest bear I

ever met.

By following that bear around, I learned about all sorts of foods.

There was wild duck, pea vine, Indian turnips, onions.

I found out that a human could eat almost anything a bear does.

Well, I knew that cub couldn't go chasing after me all through the

So I decided to build a little camp.

Figured we'd stay put for a while, at least till I could figure out what to do

next.

While I was busy building my lean -to, Ben was out getting acquainted with the

neighbors. But I think Ben's curiosity started getting him in over his head.

So I decided to keep a leash on him so he wouldn't go running off and getting

into trouble.

Ben's antisocial behavior started getting him in over his head.

Ben, you got every critter in this neck of the woods running for cover every

time they see you.

And I want you to make friends with them.

This here is Martha Washington.

I want you to say howdy.

Well, say howdy.

Uh -huh.

Look how nervous you got her.

All right, Miss Washington.

Here you go.

Now, that's more like it.

By this time, Ben and me was getting to be like family to each other.

He'd come to depend on me, and I can't deny I enjoyed his company.

So we just settled down to make a nice, peaceful life for ourselves.

It's so quiet out in the wilderness.

Comes the time you start hearing every sound there is

Well, I knew I heard something up

in these rocks, but I didn't have any idea what it could be I Figured whatever

it was once it didn't bother me.

I wouldn't bother it

He had taken a long hard fall.

And to tell you the truth, I didn't expect to find him still breathing.

The Indian's leg was broken.

And I knew I had to set the bone back in place, but I couldn't do it there.

I had to get him back to my camp.

I built a tramway to carry the Indian.

Being unconscious, the rough traveling didn't seem to bother him.

Well, that night I set his leg in a splint.

He seemed to be breathing more regularly.

Didn't seem to be getting any worse.

I felt so helpless.

I didn't know what else to do for the Indian.

I didn't know if he was going to live or die.

All I could do is try and make him comfortable and wait till his fever

I'm your friend. Friend!

I'm trying to help you. Now simmer down.

That was crazy.

It'll hurt that leg of yours really bad.

All that struggling of his has knocked him out again.

So I had to pull him back into the lean -to.

I don't mind telling you.

From then on, I slept with one eye open.

Of course he slept with both eyes closed.

In case you change your mind.

You broke it.

I think I got it set good, though.

I had to take your knife last night.

You were out of your head, and I thought you might hurt somebody.

Mainly me.

I'll give it back to you, though, when you're well enough to leave.

Better eat that.

It don't taste like much, but it'll fill you up.

Shoot yourself.

Even though my words didn't have no meaning to him, I felt that he

that he could trust me.

So I just went about my life in the forest and let him in.

Hi there, little fella.

You been having a busy day?

Let's just sit down, Mr. Bell.

Here you go.

You want some of this?

Don't be greedy.

Well, I reckon I was about the first white man that Indian had ever seen.

And I must have looked like a mighty peculiar sight.

A man running through the wilds with a bear cub tagging along, talking to

animals like they was humans.

If he could have, he'd have got up and ran as far from me as he could get.

But that leg of his wasn't about to take him nowhere.

Let's see how that leg's doing.

He'd been mended slowly, and I knew it was going to take more than a hard tack

of water to get him on his feet again.

So I set out to see if I could catch him a fig.

Trying to grab one of them slippery fellas would be like trying to latch on

lightning.

Well, this is something I hadn't counted on.

If I could sweet -talk that cat out of his supper.

It would do that Indian a lot more good than me maybe catching a fish.

Morning, Cat.

I see you got yourself some fresh food.

Suppose I could talk you out of some of it?

It's not for me, mind you.

It's for a sick friend.

Don't get me wrong.

I know you're a family man.

You got your onions to feed.

If I could just have half, I wouldn't ask you if I didn't need it.

Thanks.

And I'll pay you back sometime, I promise.

Ben, supper's ready.

Here. You can use this. It's good for you.

You know what the good book says?

It says pride goeth before destruction and a hearty spirit before a fall.

Do you know what that means?

It means you're gonna die if you ain't willing to take help from them that are

willing to give it. Now take this food and eat it.

Yeah.

You know, I think I missed my call.

I should have been a preacher.

Ben?

Yeah.

When the storm starts

kicking up out in the wilderness, you can expect it's going to be a real

humdinger.

I saw a man start a fire with

sparklers. Guess he wasn't no smarter than me.

That storm, every little stream in the valley was running over.

Ben just loved it.

He got right in there and had himself a time.

With a banjo on my knee.

I'm going Louisiana, my true love for the sea.

It rained all night the day I left.

The weather, it was dry.

The sun so hot, I froze to death.

Susanna, don't you cry.

Because I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.

Guess some folks just don't appreciate good music.

Well, I had a dream the other night when everything was still.

I thought I saw Susanna dear coming down the hill.

And when I get to New Orleans, I will look up.

I knew I could trust him now.

And that night, I was able to sleep with both eyes closed.

Use it like this.

I don't think you're getting my meaning.

Takes the place of your bad leg.

able to get around real good.

Then he told me his name was Nekoma.

Nekoma taught me how to make my lean -to watertight and how to make hide patches

when my britches gave out.

We built a smoke teepee, and he showed me the right hardwoods to use to smoke

jerky.

He showed me how to make my way through the forest using the sun and the stars

and even tree moss as guides.

Nekoma taught me weather signs, tree signs, and animal tracks.

And even how to catch fish without a hook.

He even showed me how to take the seeds from a pine cone and plant a new pine

tree.

There didn't seem to be anything about living in the wilderness that Nokoma

didn't know.

mind telling you, I was mighty impressed the way Nokoma threw that axe.

I figured I might as well give it a try. I could stick a knife.

Axe couldn't be that much different.

Planting that axe in that tree, it was easy for Nokomo.

But I could see I was going to have to come up with my own style.

Bite him.

But, gee.

Like this.

Ah!

Woo! I did it!

Woo -hoo!

Ben was starting to get bigger.

But he sure wasn't getting any more sense.

He had a habit for picking friends and always had little surprises in store.

claimed his soup would cure anything from warts to baldness.

If it didn't kill you first.

But I guess Nokoma's soup worked, because he started healing real fast

that, and it wasn't long before he was taken off his sling.

Are you sure you want to do this?

I'm gonna hate to hurt you now All right, but don't say I didn't

try and warn you

What's this?

Some sort of an Indian dance?

Uh -huh.

Uh -huh.

Oh, I got it.

You're starting to feel your oats.

Why don't you come back when you're growing some?

Well, I outweighed Nekoma a good 40 pounds and stood a hand or two taller.

So I decided to take it easy on him.

Did your mom ever tell you to pick on somebody your own size?

All right.

It's your funeral.

Pierre.

I wasn't exactly sure who Ben was rooting for, but I think he was enjoying

You're a little fella, ain't you?

Wait.

I finally got it pounded into my head that there was more than the coma that

the eye.

And if I was going to come out of this with any dignity left at all, I was

to have to use some tricks I'd learned from other men I'd fought along the way.

I suspect that's when Nicole and me started being real friends.

My first summer in the wilderness had passed quickly.

It had been a time for learning and a time for friendship, a time for becoming

one with nature.

But just as the seasons change, so must our lives.

There was something on Nekoma's mind.

I didn't know what, but he seemed restless, as though time was calling him

other things.

The coma seemed to be involved in some sort of an Indian ritual.

When the coma motioned me to the fire, I was a bit reluctant at first.

But my curiosity got the best of me.

I didn't know what he had in mind with that knife, but by now I'd learned to

trust him.

I realized that Nokomo was performing a ceremony

that would make us spiritual brothers, brothers in blood.

We let our blood mingle together.

And I could feel a bond grow between us.

We were blood brothers now.

But I did not then understand its true meaning.

Deal or go? Yeah.

Goodbye, Nekoma.

Nekoma returned to his people.

As I watched him vanish back into the woods like a wild spirit, I thought I'd

never see him again.

And the loneliness I felt when I first came to the wilderness suddenly came

crashing back on me.

As time passed, I grew to know the mountains like they were a close friend.

With Nekoma gone, life just didn't seem worth living no more.

But Ben reminded me I was a part of something now.

I had more friends in the woods than I could put a number on, and that had to

count as something.

For the next few years, we just wandered mostly, never staying long in one

place. The seasons came and went without my bothering to keep track of them.

Come on, Ben.

You're big enough to keep up with me now.

Quit your fooling around.

a fine looking big grizzly.

And I begin to know the wilderness as well as most folks know their own

backyard.

the longest time I had a feeling as though something was following Ben and

watching us, keeping a track over our every move.

I hoped it was just in my head, but it was a strange kind of feeling, and I

couldn't shake it.

Ben and me found a place to our liking, so we decided to put down roots and stay

a while.

I guess I didn't realize the tree was ready to fall and I was standing in its

way.

I was pinned good.

The pain in my leg was almost more than I could stand.

I knew I had to get free soon because the blood was being cut off in my leg.

Lift it, Ben.

You can't roll it.

It was Nokoma's presence I felt all this time.

Now I knew that my blood brother had been watching, keeping a protective eye

open, always alert to any danger that might come to me.

Well, now that Nokoma had saved my life, I thought he'd leave for good.

But he didn't.

I guess he never will.

Because you see, Robbie, a blood brother's for life.

And even beyond.

Wish I had a blood brother.

There's Ben.

Did you find that honey tree, Ben?

He brought somebody with him.

It's the cub's mother.

Where'd you find her, Ben?

thing he did for that cub, Ben.

He'll be a lot better off being raised by his proper family.

are sort of like blood brothers now, aren't they?

Well, I never thought about it.

Well, they could be.

Years from now, they'll remember this day, and when one of them gets in

the other one will come to help, just like real brothers.

Yeah, it could happen.

Well, Ben and Nocho's are blood brothers, and you and Nekoma are blood

I'm the only one that doesn't have a blood brother.

Now, just be patient, Robbie.

When it's time for you to have a blood brother, you'll know it.

Well, we got a long way to go, so we better get headed back if we're going to

get home before dark.

All right, Mr. Adams.

Shout out to you, Pajuga.

How did you come up?

Greetings, my brother.

Tshoda. I'm Will.

Oh!

E .G. Nagasha.

Calling, Mr. Adams. Who's that?

That's Nokoma's nephew, E .G. Nagasha.

Howdy.

I'm Navi Cartman.

Let's walk back to camp together.

Deep inside the forest is a door into another land.

Here is our life and home.

We are staying here forever in the beauty

of this place all alone.

We keep on hoping.

There's a time.