General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20267 min read

The Night of the Grizzly

The Night of the Grizzly is a 1966 American Western directed by Joseph Pevney, starring Clint Walker as a retired lawman who moves his family to a Wyoming ranch and must defend it from a land-hungry neighbor, a vengeful bounty hunter, and a marauding grizzly bear nicknamed "Satan". It was produced by Paramount Pictures, runs 102 minutes, and was released in May 1966.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	May 1966 (Los Angeles); world premiere 30 Mar 1966, Plaza Theatre, Palm Springs, CA; New York opening 22 Jun 1966¹
Director / writer	Joseph Pevney; screenplay by Warren Douglas from Clint Walker's original concept¹
Stars	Clint Walker (Jim Cole), Martha Hyer (Angela Cole), Keenan Wynn (Jed Curry), Leo Gordon (Cass Dowdy)¹
Alternate title	Clementine, changed at the songwriters' request because the love theme "Clemmy" resembled their earlier theme "Tammy"¹
Format	Technicolor, Techniscope widescreen, 102 minutes, G rating¹^•²
Filming	4 Oct to early Nov 1965, with additional scenes in January 1966; shot in San Bernardino National Forest, California¹^•³
Opening-week gross	$105,000 from twenty-six Los Angeles locations¹

Spoilers

Plot

In 1880, ex-sheriff Jim Cole arrives in Hope, Wyoming, bringing his wife and family to take possession of the ranch his grandfather bequeathed to him. Although the property is run down, Cole will not part with it, even though Jed Curry, the most prominent man in town, hopes to acquire it for his boys. With the arrival of spring, a grizzly bear descends from the mountains and leaves destruction at the area ranches: it decapitates Cole's prize bull, tears down his fences, wipes out Curry's flock of sheep, kills one man with its claws, and maims another. Cole puts up everything he owns as collateral for a loan to rebuild, and when the ranchers offer a bounty for killing the grizzly, he recognizes an opportunity to clear his debts. The bounty likewise draws Cass Dowdy, whom Cole had earlier put behind bars and who now seeks revenge against the ex-officer. Both set out after the grizzly; after vicious encounters between Dowdy and Cole, Dowdy is killed by the bear, which in turn is killed by Cole.¹

Paramount's synopsis frames the same story as Marshal "Big Jim" Cole turning in his badge to settle land left him by a relative, opposed by a neighbor who wants the land for his own sons and by the grizzly nicknamed "Satan" who keeps killing Cole's livestock.⁴ The INSP summary adds that Curry puts up a $750 reward for the grizzly's death, drawing the ex-convict bounty hunter Cass Dowdy, who holds a grudge against Cole for having jailed him years before.⁵

Origin and development

The 23 Aug 1965 Los Angeles Times announced the film as actor Clint Walker's first for Paramount Pictures Corporation, with the screenplay based on his original concept.¹ According to Walker's interview on the 2012 Olive Films disc, he had to fulfill the second part of a two-picture "play-or-play" contract with Paramount; having already delivered the 1965 World War II film None But the Brave with Frank Sinatra, he preferred to develop a project rather than simply collect a paycheck. Having recently read a paperback account of the bowman Howard Hill's encounter with a savage grizzly that killed purely for sport, he took the idea to former Cheyenne writer Warren Douglas, and The Night of the Grizzly was the result.⁶

The project's original title was Clementine. Songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans realized that their love theme, "Clemmy," bore too close a resemblance to another of their movie themes, "Tammy," and requested changes to the title and the name of the female protagonist, resulting in the song "Angela."¹ The credited songs are "Angela," words and music by Livingston and Evans, and "Pine Tree Tall," words and music by Clint Walker and Charlie Aldrich; Leith Stevens composed the score.¹

Production

Principal photography began 4 Oct 1965, with the production dated 4 Oct to early Nov 1965.¹ A news item in the 21 Sep 1965 Daily Variety stated that Olivia de Havilland was offered a role, but a broken ankle prevented her participation.¹ A few days after shooting began, an ax cut Walker's foot open, and he had to use a cane when not on camera until the dozen stitches came out. The following week, director of photography Loyal Griggs contracted an intestinal virus and was temporarily replaced by Daniel Fapp. On 12 Nov 1965, Daily Variety reported that Leo Gordon had recently completed his role, possibly indicating the end of photography, but filming resumed two months later when child actress Victoria Meyerink was called back to Paramount for additional scenes.¹

Although the story is set in Wyoming, filming took place in California. The credits acknowledge the cooperation of the United States Forest Service in filming scenes in San Bernardino National Forest,³ and reviewers note the Big Bear Lake and Big Bear Valley scenery standing in for the frontier setting.⁷ The bear itself was played, uncredited, by Bozo the Bear, the animal later known for the title role in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1977).⁸

Cast and crew

Clint Walker stars as Jim Cole, Martha Hyer as his wife Angela Cole, and Keenan Wynn as Jed Curry. The supporting cast includes Nancy Kulp (Wilhelmina Peterson), Kevin Brodie (Charlie Cole), Ellen Corby (Hazel Squires), Jack Elam (Hank), Ron Ely (Tad Curry), Med Flory (Duke Squires), Leo Gordon (Cass Dowdy), Don Haggerty (Sam Potts), Sammy Jackson (Cal Curry), Victoria Meyerink (Gypsy Cole), Candy Moore (Meg), and Regis Toomey (Cotton Benson); writer Warren Douglas appears uncredited as the minister.¹^•⁸

Behind the camera, Burt Dunne produced, Loyal Griggs and Harold Lipstein shared cinematography, Philip W. Anderson edited, and Hal Pereira and William Campbell were the art directors.¹ Pevney, a veteran of films such as Man of a Thousand Faces and of episodic television from The Munsters to Star Trek, directed; this was his final feature film.⁶^•⁹

Release and reception

Walker attended the world premiere at the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs, California, on 30 Mar 1966, with proceeds benefiting United Charities. The picture opened in early May 1966 in Los Angeles and on 22 Jun 1966 in New York City, double-billed with the comedy The Last of the Secret Agents (1966).¹ Contemporary reviews were tepid, several emphasizing the clichéd nature of the plot and dialogue, but audience response was more positive: the film earned $105,000 from twenty-six locations during its opening week in Los Angeles, and Paramount president Howard Koch was sufficiently satisfied to offer Walker another starring role.¹ A later retrospective calls it a surprise hit that scored well with audiences, particularly in middle America, and earned generally favorable reviews; Walker stated in his interview that it was his favorite of his films.⁶

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 55% Tomatometer from two critics and a Popcornmeter score from more than 100 audience ratings, with an average audience rating of 3.4 out of 5.² Reviewers have described it as a family western that mixes comedy with suspense: Paul Mavis, a movie and television historian and member of the Online Film Critics Society, calls it "a solid, G-rated suspenser, perfect for little kids and families" with a fast-moving, often humorous script, and notes that the maulings are kept mostly off-camera with sound effects and screaming carrying the fear.⁶ Other critics have been cooler: Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy rated it 2.5/4, and Nicholas Bell of IONCINEMA.com 2.5/5, calling it a "fusty obscurity" for audiences who like thematically uncomplicated material.²

Legacy

The film remained a television staple for younger audiences and was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Olive Films in 2012, with a 27-minute interview with Walker and, on the 2016 Signature Edition, premiere newsreel footage and a vintage interview feature.⁶^•¹⁰ Walker kept a framed poster of the film near his home office, and a Cowboys & Indians retrospective calls it arguably the most popular of his films.¹¹ It is distinct from the unrelated 1969 Jack Olsen nonfiction book Night of the Grizzlies about fatal 1967 bear attacks in Glacier National Park, and from the separate feature film project Night Of The Grizzlies based on those events.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026