The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky
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DVD details
Actor: Ricky Jay, Sam ElliottBrand: PLATINUM DISC LLC
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-08
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Platinum Disc
DVD Reviews of The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky
DVD Review: Brings Back Memories
Summary: 4 Stars
I was interested to note one reviewer who said this movie was short on substance. It's about the life experiences a young man had one summer working for the US Forest Service in its early years. Like life itself, as we live it day-to-day, messages seep in, they don't beat you over the head, or at least not often. I began work for the USFS in the summer of 1966 at age 17, and even though this was long after the period of the movie, 1919, I had the privilege of working with a few men who'd started their careers in the 1920s and 1930s. There was a passing of the torch. They were pretty tolerant of a kid who thought he could outwalk anybody in the woods, and who knew everything. I was actually so wet behind the ears I must have dripped! This movie brought back memories. Until Reagan started privatizing government work in the 1980s, young men (and in the 1970s, young women) could find summer employment with the USFS doing all types of outdoor work - tree planting, trail clearing, surveying, stand exams, timber sale prep, thinning, and brush disposal. Fire crews were larger at one time, too. I had the good fortune to spend many summers and some winters in back country camps in wall tents that were similar to ones depicted in the film. As late as the 1970s we still had crank telephones that connected some back country lookouts and remote cabins. I had to laugh at the tree climbing scene. One of my jobs one summer was to take a crew out and put lines back up that had come down during the winter. Yes, sliding down a pole or a widow maker when your spikes kicked out was no fun. We had two lengths of spikes, short ones for poles and snags, and a longer version for thick-barked trees. I used a broad leather safety belt (with a buckle - quite a nuisance when encountering limbs - carabiner clips would have been really nice!) instead of a rope, as it provided more friction. Often times the insulators for the old steel telephone lines were in trees, and then you had to negotiate your safety harness over limbs. This was OK unless you were high up in a stiff wind, then it got dicey. Back around 1907 (the FS was officially started in 1905) an engineer named Darling came to Montana to head up the effort to string lines from Ranger stations to camps and lookouts. You'd be amazed at how many miles of backwoods trails had telephone lines. During lightning storms, the lines were often hit, and the phones would ring. Each lookout and cabin had its own number of rings, so you'd know when to pick up. In the evening, lookouts often got on the phones to chat with one another, and there was a certain amount of eves-dropping, especially when the FS regularly began putting women up. Romances did blossom. It was a sad day in the 1980s when the Forest I worked on put out a contract to roll up all the wire that could be found, and terminated all the telephone line easements. Yes, the days of the old crank phones was over. I forgot to mention that we also had portable phones that you could clip to lines. These were used by pack strings and trail crews. Every Ranger District had a full time packer, and many still had them into the 1970s. These guys were amazing with horses and mules. When I was 17 I spent many evening hours trying to emulate an old packer who could roll a cigarette with one hand while riding and leading a string. He had a bag of Bull Durham in his pocket, and the tag always hung out for easy access. I never mastered the technique, but I sure tried. He lit his match with one hand by scratching it with his thumbnail. When I tried it, I got the hot phosphorus stuck under my nail and it burned the hell out of me.
I was in various camps that had different cooks, and they were always irascible and cantankerous. It seemed inevitable that either I, or someone on my crew would end up in some altercation with a cook. The one MacLean encountered wasn't as overtly cranky as the ones I knew, but he was an odd duck too. I wonder if the FS put that in cook job descriptions? The Ranger gambling was also an authentic touch. Back in the early days at the Monture Ranger Station, the Ranger occasionally ran out of funds to pay his crew and went to town to win payroll by poker. I also knew a few Rangers who were pretty good at throwing a punch, and had no problem buying a few rounds for the boys after work. There isn't enough space to go into all the antics we used to get involved in, making sure we had enough beer for a 10 day stretch in camp, and packing it in. There was less back country (than in 1919) to "tame" when I worked in the woods, but the way of life and the characters on the crews were much the same. I should say that the lookout situation depicted in the film is relatively accurate. There were many tent lookouts or crow's nests scattered around on various mountaintops in that time period. The cabin and tower lookouts became the norm as time went by. I'd have to say though, that I never let the weather, snakes, or bears send me packing from any job. It just wasn't done. You couldn't show your face back at the station if you gave up as easily as the main character in the movie did. It was a matter of pride. Most Rangers I knew weren't as understanding and patient as the Sam Elliott character when it came to getting the job done. You did your job or you went down the road.
Times have really changed, and the mission of the Forest Service is a lot different now. There is far less field work (and what there is, is often contracted out), and very few Ranger Districts hire summer crews that live and work for extended periods in the woods. Rangers no longer have the kind of authority they once had. Drinking and fighting is something that isn't condoned. It's all very modern now. If you pack a weapon onto a government compound, you're in trouble (except in Alaska). If you have computer and GIS skills, that's where the work is now, that and the work of specialists. You don't need to know how to manty and load a pack mule, but it helps if you have a master's degree in an "ology." This is not a criticism, it's a fact. Times change and the Forest Service has changed with them. I'm just fortunate that I had the experiences that I did, and this movie really brought them back. I didn't know how lucky I was, and I thought those times would last forever. Enjoy the movie for what it is, a slice of life that's long gone. One more thing. The movie is filmed in BC, not the Bitterroot, though the film editing makes it look similar. The Bitterroot Valley is very scenic and lovely. Blodgett Canyon is still rugged, but the area has been loved to death. Subdivision upon subdivision have filled the bottomlands up. Even as I write this, there is a fight in Ravalli County over another proposed 396 unit development. The Bitterroot of Norman MacLean's time is no longer there. Hamilton and Missoula are connected by a 4 lane 70 mph highway that has a lot of commuter traffic. It's pretty easy for a freckle-faced girl to get from Darby to Missoula now. A friend of mine once said that someday there'd be a Montana town called "Hamfish" that stretched all the way from Hamilton to Whitefish. It's happening by way of creeping subdivision and development. Enjoy the film. I'd have given it 5 stars if it had been wide screen. It's a pleasant diversion from the mayhem we usually watch.
Description of The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky
IN THE SUMMER OF 1919 YOUNG MAC JOINS THE FOREST RANGERS. THE SUMMER THAT FOLLOWS TEACHES HIM TO BE A MAN AS HE LEARNS THEMEANING OF HARD WORK ON THE TRAIL.Bestsellers in DVD
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