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Spencer's Mountain

Released May 16, 1963 1h 59m Comedy Drama List
80% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) and his wife, Olivia (Maureen O'Hara), live in a small town deep in the mountains. When Clay isn't busy drinking with his buddies or railing against the town minister (Wally Cox), he's building the house he's always promised Olivia. He is overjoyed when he learns his eldest son (James MacArthur) will be the first Spencer to attend college, if he can resist the charms of a pretty local girl (Mimsy Farmer) and rustle up the money for tuition.
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Spencer's Mountain

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: 3/5 Oct 8, 2003 Full Review Judith Crist New York Herald Tribune Spencer's Mountain [is] outstanding for its smirking sexuality, its glorification of the vulgar, its patronizing tone toward the humble, its mealymouthed piety. Aug 15, 2022 Full Review Steve Crum Video-Reviewmaster.com Basis for "Waltons" TV series with great scenery, family drama and comedy...and Henry Fonda. Rated: 4/5 Mar 2, 2008 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 27, 2005 Full Review Tony Mastroianni Cleveland Press This is a grab bag full of sure fire entertainment situations -- laughs, sentiment, tears, puppy love and the great outdoors. Nov 20, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (35) audience reviews
Audience Member Outstanding movie here don’t understand why they never made a second one on this. Would love to have watched it highly recommend this one tho. James Welch, Henderson., Arkansas, August 20, 2023. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/20/23 Full Review Steve D Absolutely nothing interesting or worthwhile Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 07/18/23 Full Review Steve M This preceded the TV show "The Waltons", the names were different but the setting was the same. The cow's name is Chance in both, which gave me the first inkling. Good family movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/18/23 Full Review Simply S Loved the story...just wish the house in the making didnt have to be sold/burned down... but did it for his son's future! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/07/23 Full Review Audience Member An enjoyable story about a family that has grown generations in a small town near the wilderness and the parents seeing that their children have a better future with education. Beautiful scenery shot on location in Wyoming and used the townspeople. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member I love Henry Fonda but I didn't love this movie. It was slow and it just wasn't that interesting, to be honest. I didn't know that it was the basis for The Waltons, but I enjoyed seeing Kym Karath (who played Gretl in The Sound of Music). She was probably my favorite character. The reason I didn't love it aside from the fact that it was slow, was mainly the absurd scenes (spoiler-the baby's high chair falls over and they assume that the baby breaks its neck, but the baby doesn't cry AT ALL) and some of the scenes were so bad they were laughable (spoiler-Henry Fonda is chopping down a tree and it starts to fall in the wrong direction-the most obvious thing is to get out of the way, but instead he and his father stare at it in horror, resulting in something bad). I don't think I'd watch this one again but it was okay for a first time viewing. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Spencer's Mountain

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Movie Info

Synopsis Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) and his wife, Olivia (Maureen O'Hara), live in a small town deep in the mountains. When Clay isn't busy drinking with his buddies or railing against the town minister (Wally Cox), he's building the house he's always promised Olivia. He is overjoyed when he learns his eldest son (James MacArthur) will be the first Spencer to attend college, if he can resist the charms of a pretty local girl (Mimsy Farmer) and rustle up the money for tuition.
Director
Delmer Daves
Producer
Delmer Daves
Screenwriter
Delmer Daves
Distributor
Warner Bros.
Production Co
Warner Bros.
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 16, 1963, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2011
Runtime
1h 59m
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