You don't see much of it until the second half of the film, but in the background shots you'll see one of the Cascade Range's oldest and most beautiful volcanoes, Mt. McLoughlin. The sentinel of southern Oregon, this majestic peak rises above the location of this story which is equally ancient. Wife stealing as a plot device was central to Homer's tale of Helen of Troy in "The Iliad" and King David's chicanery to possess Bathsheba, the wife of his soldier Uriah, in the Old Testament book of 2nd Samuel. A latterday Samuel (Pierce) has updated the story a few millennia later by having his hero steal an Indian's wife for a wetnurse when his own Indian wife dies while giving birth to their child. He feels justified in doing so after she's mortally wounded in a skirmish with the local Paiute tribe who had taken umbrage over the mountain man and woman building a cabin on their burial ground. Using a little Davidian chicanery himself, Pierce's hero persuades another mountain man into helping him steal the woman and then, lacking a thousand Greek ships, he steals a Henry repeating rifle to hold off the angry Paiutes. Although the dialogue and plot development leaves a lot to be desired, Pierce, who also was the Director of Photography for this production, redeems himself as a better DP than screenwriter. The location footage shot in Oregon's Klamath County brings this film to life as it muddles along with the story. It's still a very enjoyable film, with some good performances from Jack Elam and L.Q. Jones, both of whom develop their characters without going too far over the top. And the location footage makes me wish I had travelled further south in my trips to the Beaver State. Dale Roloff
Review of Sacred Ground
