by Catherine Haug
An important Montana-made documentary will be premiered on Montana PBS:
- May 17, 2010, at 8 PM,
- with a repeat showing on May 27, 7 PM.
Gus Chambers and Paul Zalis co-produced this documentary. Gus, who also directs this film, is from Missoula; Paul, who also wrote the script, is from Somers; narrator J.K. Simmons is a Missoula native and veteran actor who performed with the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in 1978.
From Montana PBS viewer’s guide:
Since the opening of Glacier National par in 1910, there were no reported fatal bear attacks until one summer night in 1967, when two grizzlies, in two remote areas of the park, attached campers and killed two young women. The dramatic and tragic story of that night, and how it eventually influenced the fate of the grizzly bear in the continental United States, is the subject of this historical documentary. …
The program not only de-constructs what happened that night, but also seeks an understanding of what a grizzly bear actually is, relating a broad historical perspective about bears, bear stories, teh idea of wilderness in the American psyche, and ultimately, the sweeping changes in wildlife management culminating with the landmark Endangered Species Act.