![[Gary Hollywood as the young John Muir with his mother]](boyhood_video_with_ma.jpg)
The Boyhood of John Muir is a dramatic and compelling look at the early life of America's first great spokesman for wilderness.
The film is divided into three parts. In the first part, the dramatic battle lines are drawn: the free-spirited boy John Muir is pitted against his well-intentioned but unforgiving father, and the joy of nature is John's escape from the pious solemnity of their rugged life on a Wisconsin farm in the 1850s. In the second part, John gets help in his struggle from both his mother and from an older neighbor called the Yankee -- help that helps him live with his father and learn the beautiful and just laws of the natural world. In the third part, John begins to make inventions, a skill that carries him away from the backbreaking labor of the farm; but a trick of fate shows him what he really cares about. At last he abandons mechanical science to pursue his overwhelming love of nature and God's creatures.
Florentine Films; produced by Diane Garey; Directed by Lawrence R. Hott; Screenplay by Ken Chowder. Starring Gerda Stevenson, Ken Drury, Joanne Bett, Colin Bruce, and introducing Gary Hollywood as the young John Muir. 78 min., 1/2 in., VHS Videocassette, 1997.
The Boyhood of John Muir