This belated attempt at a Western adventure is a curious anomaly: the script is, on the one hand, terribly old-fashioned and cliché-ridden and yet equally replete with such 'modern' elements as four-letter words and bouts of violence. Charlton Heston hams it up like never before as a beaver-trapper reluctant to make way for progress and accept the fact that his precious trade is being supplanted by finer materials like silk; Brian Keith provides the brightest spot in the film as Heston's foul-mouthed partner, along with Michel Legrand's beautiful score and the desolate snowy landscapes. The plot, also involving Indian ambushes, the abduction of a squaw (who, of course, falls for Heston at his hairiest!) and rival trappers (notably Seymour Cassel playing a Canadian), renders the film just about watchable but in no way memorable.