Original subtitles

The story of Grizzly Adams is big and powerful and beautiful.

They call me Mad Jack.

And me and my burro number seven been traipsing these slopes and valleys for a

long spell. So I know the story from the beginning. 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

of surviving were mighty slim.

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

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

Now, 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 growed, he became the best friend Adams ever had. And together, they

became a legend.

Now, one thing I found out about the mountains and the forests is everything

in apple pie order.

The rugged peaks, the tall timber, the spanking green foothills, the lazy

summers. Everything just seems to belong.

Also on the list of belonging are the animals and birds and certain kinds of

humans, like Adams, who fit in and cooperate with Mother Nature so you...

Hardly notice her there.

Well, it's sure a nice day for gathering stones for the fireplace, Ben.

Wish I knew what happened to my sack.

Thank you, Ben.

You're a good boy.

What's wrong, Ben? Don't you like rock hunting?

The bag.

I'm sorry, Mom, for disturbing you and your young 'uns.

There you go. Is that the whole family?

Come on, Ben. We got a lot of work to do.

Then you got the other kind of humans.

The ones that disturb the order of the mountains.

Like these two greenhorns who were barreling down the mountainside at a

fast split.

Too fast.

But they were bent on getting to where they was going in a surefire hurry.

But the mountains have a habit of slowing you down to her pace.

This time it was in the form of a stream and a bottleneck.

And take it from an old mule man, when you got a mule as a bottleneck, you got

yourself a heap of trouble.

from our gold mine is you.

You stubborn... No wonder they call mules stubborn.

Will you move it? Come on now.

Don't be stubborn.

that shows what you know.

How am I going to build a fire under him in the middle of a stream?

Now you got a good pointer.

Roscoe, I'm warning you.

You're coming closer and closer to breaking up a beautiful friendship.

You stubborn critter.

You have stopped in the middle of every stream we have come to.

Wally. When a mule gets extra stubborn, sometimes it helps to put a blindfold

on.

Well, I'll try anything at this point.

Oh,

the problems I've had to solve for that poet.

No, no.

Wally. Hey, Wally.

Over here.

The blindfold belongs on the mule.

Any more bright ideas?

All right, come on up. Dry yourself off while we try to figure this thing out.

Here.

Boy, we are in big trouble if we can be outfoxed by a mule.

What was that?

A skunk?

No, no, no, no. It's a...

A porcupine. Oh, no, that's a little critter with four legs. Looks like a

pincushion. That's a porcupine.

If he tries to drive off with our wagon, Ernie, I'll tell you... Would you look

at that little guy?

What is he... Hey!

Hey! Drop that can, you little barman. That's the last food we got. Yeah!

He's using that chair to try and get that mule out of the water.

I think he's our kind of people.

Come on.

Hey, look.

He's baiting that mule again.

Whoa, we want him on our side, don't we? Hey, come on. Hit him up.

Yeah, he's a, he's a picky little, uh, whatchamacallit. Yeah. Well, now, you go

get the carrot back.

Well, we need it. I mean, that's the only thing standing between us and

starvation.

Go get it, boy.

Ha, ha.

Well,

I guess we might as well look at a map. Maybe it'll take our minds off our empty

bellies.

Ha.

Hey, look at that gold spot now. That must be where the mine is.

Ernie. What? Would you promise me something? What?

Promise me you won't get mad?

All right, I promise you I won't get mad.

Well, that gold spot, that's not gold.

No? That's mustard.

Mustard? Mustard.

I wrapped our last sandwich in that.

Well, that was dumb.

Ernie, you shouldn't have had to talk to me like that. I got feelings just like

anybody else.

Well, if that's not the mine, then where is it?

Well, now that must be the mine down here.

Well, if that's the mine, it's got to be someplace right along this here stream.

Ernie, Ernie.

What? The gold mine was close to every stream that we have passed in the last

five weeks.

Wally, do you reckon that guy sold us this map and gypped us out of the very

last $10 we had to our name?

No.

He wanted $15 for it originally.

Yeah. Seems like every scheme we get into goes haywire somehow.

A copper mine, a silver mine.

The brass mine. Well, that was worse than them all. A disaster.

Yeah.

Hey, what are you doing?

You come back here, you thieving goose.

Somebody stop that goose.

Ernie, there he goes.

Now you stop driving your wings around like that and run through that rock.

He's airborne.

And just our luck.

Well, he... He probably liked the mustard.

Quiet.

What's that?

Looks like an old man with a mule.

And if he tries to cross a stream, he's in trouble.

Hey, no.

That's got to be a prospector.

If anybody knows there's gold around, it'd be him.

I tell you what.

We follow him and he'll probably lead us right to our mine.

Come on, let's go.

Hey, lookie here. We got a passenger, Ernie. Lookie there.

Hey, look at that little rascal.

You brought us luck before. Maybe you do it again, huh? You get up there where

you can see good. Come on, rascal. Let's go now.

Bad boy.

I know this isn't much fun, Ben.

But we need these rocks.

Well, you sure got a knack for digging out good fireplace rocks, Ben.

I know it's not as much fun as running around with your friends, but a little

hard work builds character.

That's not bad for bears either.

You, you all right back there, gumption?

Now listen, we don't want to lose him, so you go keep an eye on him, and I'll

try and hide this buckboard someplace.

Go on, now, get off.

You know,

that trip up here is getting to be longer and longer.

And did you get the feeling that we was being followed part of the time?

The hair on the back of my neck said there was somebody following us.

Of course, you wouldn't notice things like that, walking along half asleep all

the time.

Oh, Adam!

Now, you know what that means?

It means he's down to the rock pile.

Notice how quick I figured that out?

You don't appreciate nothing.

Come on, Seven.

I try to teach you the better things in life, and you don't pay no attention.

Now, number seven, come on.

Now, you mean to say you can't jump over that log?

I'd be ashamed of myself if I was you. Old number six could have jumped over

that log sitting down. Now, come on.

Well, all right. Just stay right there.

be up here?

Well, it's good to see the two of you working so hard. And it pains me that I

wasn't here to offer my help.

How was your trip?

As a bear cat.

I tell you, the whole settlement's without freight delivery.

The Hinckley brothers, they had the contract, they up and quit.

You mean the kids and their families down at the settlement don't have

bringing them goods? That's the way it is.

That's not good.

No, it ain't.

That's why you ought to be glad you got me.

I'm glad I got you.

What'd you bring me?

I brought you a whole saddle pack full of cattail flour.

For making my specialty, them mad jack flapjacks.

There's plenty for you, Ben. Don't worry.

He went in right through there.

The prospector's mule.

Yeah, and look at that Belgian saddlebag. Come on.

Ernie.

Hey, look at that gold dust.

Oh, Grandma's raisin cookies. That mine of ours must be loaded.

Ernie, we're rich.

Them two had such a hankering to be rich, they just naturally mistook that

yellow cattail flower for gold dust.

When Ben finished his share of the work and got a scent of those two wolf pups

playing nearby, I guess he figured he'd take a look -see and, well, maybe join

them in the fun.

I tell you what, you stay here and keep an eye on them until their ma comes

back.

Maybe we better tell that old prospect that he jumped on our claim.

We'll tell him when the time comes.

Hey, look at that big fella.

Ernie, maybe we better hold off on talking about claim jumping.

My golly, would you look at the size of that sack he's carrying.

Maybe he hid a bonanza, too.

Come on.

Hey, Wally, this is the spot, all right. Look at all that fresh dirt. Fresh

dirt! And it's all ours.

Can you imagine how many millions of dollars worth of gold they must have

out of here?

Not to mention... The millions and millions that we're going to take out of

here. I tell you, Wally, our future is right there in front of us. And it's

going to happen before you know it.

Can you believe that? He's still standing there, trying to make up his

whether to jump or not.

I forgot my digging stick. I gotta go back and get it. I'll start the

All right.

Remind me to give you some jumping lessons in the morning.

Uh -huh.

Now, come on.

Ernie, we can't stay here forever.

Well, I can, as long as that bear's up there.

Yeah, but...

We ain't seen him in a long time.

Well, if you want a chance at it, you just go right on.

Well, I'm going to do it.

Now, you just remember one thing. I did not encourage you.

All right.

Give me a boost.

There you go.

All right. Up you go.

That little raccoon seemed to understand what them two fellas didn't know.

That Ben was just curious and friendly. And somehow he got Ben to mosey along so

Wally and Ernie wouldn't be so scared.

Hey, that chatter.

That sounds like our little pal.

He must have scared off the bear.

Well, if he did, he sure got a lot of gumption.

That's a lot more than is hanging on to this side of the mountain.

Howdy, little fella.

You want something?

Adams had no idea there was a couple of fellas needing help nearby until the

raccoon started chattering at him to attract his attention.

Hello, little fella.

What's wrong?

What are you going to do about that?

You want to know what I'm going to do about that?

You want to know what I'm going to do about that, Ernie?

I'll show you what I'm going to do about that, Ernie.

That's what I'm going to do about that, Ernie.

Howdy.

Talking bear.

Howdy, fellas.

Howdy. Howdy.

You guys gave me a real surprise.

Not too often I see people up here, especially hanging on the side of a

mountain.

Here, give me your hands. Let me help you up. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. It's all right.

How'd you fellas get down there?

Well, my friend here was walking along the edge, and he slipped and fell over

the side.

I reached over to help him up, and by golly, I fell right in on top.

Hey, there's a bear.

Dive for your life.

That's Ben.

That's my friend Ben.

Come on over here, Ben.

He won't hurt you.

Come here, Ben.

I want you to meet a couple of real nice fellas.

This here is Tate.

Wally Tate. Wally Tate.

Oh, Ernie Ketchum. Ernie Ketchum.

This is Ben.

I'm James Adams.

Oh, yes. Well, nice to know you, Mr. Adams. Nice to know you.

Take a good sniff, Ben.

Don't be afraid.

That's it.

He'll file that under friendship.

You'll be friends from now on.

Is he yours?

He's a real smart little raccoon. Yes, isn't he?

Raccoon? That's a raccoon.

Uh -huh.

He's the one that talked me into looking in the ravine for you both.

What's his name?

Uh... Gumption. Gumption. Oh, that's right. Gumption.

Gumption, that's a real nice name.

Yeah. Oh,

and that there is Roscoe.

Hi,

Roscoe. Yeah.

Nice looking mule.

Yeah.

How long you fellas been on the road? Oh, about five weeks. Seems more like

months.

Rubbox is empty.

I'll tell you one thing, that thing is plum empty.

Well, I just live on the other side of the mountain. My friend Mad Jack's over

there. He's cooking up a big stack of flapjacks.

Flapjack.

You're more than welcome to join us if you'd like.

Yes, indeedy. Let me turn Roscoe around. We'll head to the cabin.

Come on, Roscoe.

What about the gold?

The gold can wait.

Flapjacks, the man said.

Shall we?

Ernie, Wally, we're ready to go.

Yeah, sure enough.

Ben, this here's Gumption.

He's going to be your guest for a few days, and I want you to be polite to

Let's get going.

Come on. I'm on it, old buddy.

Let's go, Rocco.

Yeah, come on, boy.

Paulie and Ernie got so filled up on my flapjacks, they went right to bed and

slept the whole night through.

They probably spent the night dreaming of gold and of becoming rich, because

when they woke up, the first thing they did was make plans to carry off what

they figured was nuggets they thought me and Adams had dug up.

Of course, it weren't nothing but plain rocks, but, well, twixt wanting to find

gold so bad and not being mining men, they...

They had no trouble at all convincing themselves our rocks was real.

Real, actual gold nuggets.

Don't look like much coal dust. Mostly rocks and pebbles.

Well, don't knock it. Nuggets ain't too bad either.

to the buckboard and I'll collect the gear.

Right.

Out of my way. Out of my way.

Wake up, Roscoe. We're getting out of here.

Number seven did all he could to prevent them two from doing something they'd

regret.

Those smart -alecky mules are ganging up on us.

A fine friend you are.

Well, we've got to go inside and get that bucket. We've got to. All right.

He ate our gold. We just got the wrong bucket, that's all.

Now let's go back and get the right bucket.

What's going on, Ben?

Oh, hi, Mr. Adams.

My partner was sleepwalking. I was just trying to get him out of your cabin, you

see. I guess we woke up Ben there, huh?

Well, you have to excuse Ben.

Sometimes he gets a little upset when his sleep's disturbed.

What was that?

Well, it's dark in here. See, I guess I bumped into something.

Are you all right?

Well, yes, I'm just fine, Mr. Adams.

You just go right on back to sleep now.

I'm sorry to disturb you.

What do you think about them two, Ben?

Well, did you get the bucket?

I got the bucket.

Will

you

get that thing off of my foot so we can get over to digging and get some of that

gold before they wake up?

Why don't we sneak back inside and collect the stuff that you spilled? I

spill anything, I'm telling you.

Morning. Since Ben and I were up anyway, we thought we'd go out and do some

early morning digging.

What happened?

I stepped in a water bucket.

Things like that will happen.

Well, Ben, you and I ought to get over and do some digging.

Sounds like there's some great diggings over there.

Best diggings in these parts.

One more load of rocks, and that's all I'll need.

Rocks?

Yeah, to replace the ones in the fireplace.

Fireplace?

Well, yeah, the rocks in the fireplace are starting to crumble, so I thought

get some new rocks and replace them.

There ain't nothing wrong, is there?

Oh, no. Oh, no.

Well, it was just that I was looking in Jack's saddlebags yesterday, and I saw

all this yellow stuff, you know.

You mean that cattail flour?

Cattail flour?

Well, yeah.

What'd you think it was?

Gold or something?

Well,

I reckon I better get going.

Ben's getting mighty impatient.

Come on, Ben.

Imagine that cattail flour makes me hungry. I'm going inside and cook myself

big... That's a cattail flower flapjack.

Well, there's another one of our million -dollar schemes turned into rocks and

cattail flower.

I reckon we might as well get packed and get out of here.

Where are we going to go?

We're broke.

We ain't got no grub.

A short spell later, Nekoma was out walking through the woods on his way to

Adam's cabin when he came across Gumption, who was out exploring the new

territory.

He gave the little fellow some berries out of his pouch, and as he did, a shiny

piece of fool's gold fell to the ground.

As he replaced it, he told Gumption that he had found it and was...

Gonna take it back to camp and show it to the children.

At this point, the keen eye of Nekoma spotted something.

He figured he ought to take a closer look.

It was a bobcat kitten that had got himself up a tree but didn't have no

how to get down.

While Nekoma was helping that little feller down, Gumption thought he'd have

sell some more berries.

Not finding any.

he settled for the piece of fool's gold.

When Nekoma went back to get his pouch, Gumption had his piece of fool's gold.

So Nekoma told him if he wanted it, he could have it.

I think the least we can do is hang around and say goodbye.

Yeah. The way we bollocks things up, I think we'd just better leave them a

you and get on out of here.

Well, he just went down to the creek for some water. Why don't we wait for him?

Yeah, well... About time you showed up. Why don't you get up there in your seat

where you belong?

Hey, Wally, look.

That's a gold nugget.

Please, let's not get into that again. Wally, I'm telling you, that's a gold

nugget. Let me.

Ernie, it is gold. I told you.

Come here, darling.

Tell Daddy.

Where did you find it?

Don't let him out of your sight.

He'll lead us right to it.

We're rich.

We're rich. Go get him.

So once again, Ernie and Wally were off in search of their fortune.

If they had known what lay ahead, they sure would have had second thoughts.

But it's got teeth.

Oh, what a way to go.

Ernie, Ernie. Come on. Give me your hand. Come on, come on.

Get up here.

Hey,

Wally. Yeah?

You're going to forget that 50 cents I owe you.

Thanks. Thanks, Ernie.

Now, that mountain lion meant them no harm, of course, but being so scared and

all, them two wasn't about to wait around to find that out.

Hey,

I thought you said to take it easy.

Hey,

there's Gumption.

Well, let's not lose him this time. Danny.

Gee. Oh, now there's a furry little rat. He moves faster than a racehorse.

Look, he doesn't hit behind a bush. I don't know. I don't know.

Keep up with that little guy.

Hey. There's our old pal, Ben.

Ben. Oh, boy. What a break.

Come on, Ben.

Out of my way. Yeah, we're following Gumpkin. He's going to least where the

is. Well, come on, Ben.

Time's a waste. Hey, now, you remember us. It's Ernie and Wally here.

We passed the friendly smell test. Yeah, now come on. Come on, old Ben. You get

out of the way.

That ain't Ben.

Feet to your doom. Oh,

yes, Molly.

Like the mountain lion, the bear didn't mean them no harm either.

But those two greenhorns had disturbed his looking for honeycombs. And that

wanted to make sure they'd think twice before they did again.

I don't know if I can

go

any further.

We can make it to that safe.

But, Pete, it's our only hope.

Don't panic, boy. Take your time.

Back to Ernie.

Yeah. This is our lucky day. Yeah, move right up on me there. There's that

concrete. What?

Ernie.

Adams was getting worried about Ernie and Wally.

You haven't seen them two around, have you, Jack? Not once, Bill.

I think we ought to go take a look for them.

Well, we better.

That greenhorn's got a knack for getting in the trouble.

Come on, Ben.

Hurry it up.

There's Nekoma.

Show that G, Nekoma.

Too crazy, man. That's got to be who we're looking for. Well, let's get

Well,

we finally found them, but not exactly in the place we expected.

Ben, I know your friend doesn't mean any harm, but it looks like he's scaring

Ernie and Wally pretty bad.

Why don't you tell them to move on?

That's a good boy.

Well,

let me help you both down.

Well, come on.

Now, what's wrong?

In a coma?

Well, you don't have to be afraid in a coma. He's my blood brother.

Come on, Ernie.

Wally, let me help you down.

Give me your hand.

You all right?

Nekoma, I'd like you to meet Ernie.

Oh, so that's how it's done. This is Ernie's good friend, Wally.

If you say so.

How come you didn't get yourself treed by that bear in the first place?

Well, you see, we thought it was Ben.

Only it turned out it wasn't Ben.

What really happened was that Gumption come along with this gold nugget, you

see. Gold?

Then we started chasing Gumption to see where he found it. And when we're

chasing him, we run up on this bear.

And then the...

Bear started doing the chase. Yeah, do him.

Yeah, call him.

The coma says that belongs to him. Hey, wait a minute.

Ernie, this isn't gold.

What? It's fool's gold.

Fool's gold?

That's right.

That and two cents will get you a stick of hard candy down in the settlement.

Fool's gold.

They probably named it after us.

Come on.

You'll go again.

Goodbye, McCormick.

You'll go.

Why does it always have to happen to us, Ernie? Gee, we never get lucky.

And when we thought you fellas had found gold up here, well, we figured that was

going to be our big chance.

But, like everything else we've ever tried, our...

Golden balloon busted smack dab in our faces.

What were you fellas doing before you came up here?

Well, frankly, we wasn't doing much anything.

We spent most of our lives chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Yeah, and I reckon if we ever do find it, the pot's going to be empty.

Oh, I don't agree with that.

What, you think there's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow?

Well, sure I do.

But you aren't going to find it traced around the countryside like you two are

doing. The only way you're going to find it is by work.

Hard work.

Hard work?

Well, that's one thing we haven't given much thought about.

Yeah, see, our case is, well, a little different.

In what way?

Well, I mean, you take you, for instance.

You've got a mighty good life here.

I mean, you've got your cabin, you've got your animals.

Got Jack.

Just think, Adams, you got all that and me too.

Well, I agree with you.

Jack's a good friend. He's my best friend.

The other things you mentioned, they just didn't happen.

I had to earn them.

I worked hard for them.

But take a look at your situation.

I have, and it's hopeless.

Well, I don't agree with you.

I think you got a hold of a real good rainbow.

Yeah, well, I looked everywhere, and I sure don't see it.

You got Roscoe, don't you? And you got a nice wagon?

Yeah.

You got Wally? Yeah. Everybody needs good friends.

Yeah.

Gumption?

I think if you mix that together with a little hard work, you're going to have

something real good.

Yeah, well.

You go down to the settlement.

Yeah, well, I have an office.

I know they could use a couple good men down at the settlement like you guys.

Move them freight.

That's a good idea.

You know, the Hinckley brothers, they quit.

And they was hauling freight into the settlement. They need somebody down

Besides doing yourself a favor, you'd be doing a lot of nice families and their

kids a favor. And people need supplies and goods down there.

Yeah, well, uh, would you excuse us?

Hard work, he said. I don't know if I'm cut out for that. I mean, as delicate

and genteel as I am, I mean, why should we... Hard work?

Well, I sure don't have a good idea, but I mean, us being strangers and all, I'm

not sure we'd go down there, they'd even give us a chance.

Well, Jack knows everybody down at the settlement. I don't think Jack and Mike

going down with you, would you?

Not at all, not at all. Be glad to.

What do you think?

Why not?

Oh, Gumption, yeah, well, we are a three -man team.

Gumption, you reckon we ought to go down and see about that job?

Well, then, it's agreed. It's unanimous.

One fine afternoon, me and Adams were just lazing around the cabin, wondering

how Ernie and Wally had made out down to the center.

That tastes pretty good, Mary Lou.

You get enough, Daniel?

Rainbow Freight Company.

Ketchum, Case, and, uh, what is it?

Gunson.

Warners. Yeah.

Oh, now.

Hey, now. Hold there. Yeah.

Thanks to both of you.

I tell you, you gave us some good advice and we took it.

That's right, Mr. Adams.

That pot of gold was at the end of the rainbow all the time. And all it took

just a little hard work.

How's business?

Oh, couldn't be better.

I'm going to tell you, it gives a man a good feeling to help folks, too.

Yes, it does.

All them get -rich schemes are back here now.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's good, that's good. There's nothing worse than the life of chasing

after a fast buck. Yeah, you better believe that.

What's that you got on your nose there, Gumption?

That was oil.

Gumption has discovered oil.

Gumption, now you wait up for me. Don't go running off that -a -way. You gotta

show old Mad Jack where you found that oil.

junction ought not have showed him that junction stuck his nose in the axle

grease deep

inside the forest is a door into another land

here is our life and home we are

staying

This place, although they keep on hoping.