After reading the description I thought this is a movie I have to see.I searched it on the internet & found out it was based on the same story Death Hunt was based on which made me want to see it even more.Let me tell you straight away, if you're expecting another Death Hunt, forget about it.This movie version is the complete opposite of what Death Hunt was.After watching it or what I was able to watch of it, I'd say skip this movie & watch Death Hunt instead.Challenge To Be Free reminded me of some of the Disney movies I was forced to watch as a kid (I don't know why but at the time I HATED Disney movies) I watched about 35 minutes & after nodding off a bunch of times,I gave up & let sleep take over.Normally I'd fight sleep but this time I just did not care.If you want to watch the family friendly version of the story, watch Challenge To Be Free.If you want to watch the adult version, watch Death Hunt.I don't know about you but I prefer Death Hunt myself

I really enjoyed this film when I saw it at the Saturday matinée during its release, and remember that experience vividly, but watching it now nearly 40 years later, I can appreciate that it has not aged well at all. This was clearly re-packaged to capitalize on the mountain adventure movies of the time, and to that end it has some gorgeous photography, but the story-- and especially the ham-fisted narration-- are just too hackneyed to bear. Even if it's based on truth, which the film clearly asks you to question, especially with its grossly fake documentary stylings, I can't imagine kids today would enjoy its slow pacing, stiff acting, and real animals. If you want to study it as an artifact of truly typical fare for the '70s, it does have its curiosities-- and for that matter, you could look at the "Benji" films too. But there's a reason why the "Benji" films are not considered classics, which is that they were simply bad. So is this.There are far better films from the era to enjoy, even for children.

My friends, there is no other way to put it: The weirdest, most disturbing entertainments have always been those which are made with children in mind. Take CHALLENGE TO BE FREE, an admirable effort to tell the very worthy tale of The Mad Trapper of Rat River, but with lots of happy animal friends and a big, burly, friendly guy (Mike Mazurki, best known as the Igor character in that "Gilligan's Island" episode where the mad scientist starts switching the castaways' brains around) as "Trapper", who instead of a desperate criminal with seemingly no past has been transformed as a sort of Doctor Doolittle of the Klondike. He eats trans-fat rich breakfasts with an elk, has a moose for a hiking buddy, and pans gold as needed out of a nearby stream whenever he's hard up for a fresh carrot as a moose treat. I can see the appeal in the lifestyle.Nonetheless, this is easily the most violent, morally questionable and ethically dubious "family" movie I have ever seen, and that includes ARK II, LITTLE MONSTERS with Fred Savage, CAPTAIN KIRK'S ALIEN MYSTERIES and the granddaddy of disturbing family oriented movies, IN SEARCH OF NOAH'S ARK. The real trouble starts when "Trapper" blows away a couple of Mounties with his sawed off double barreled breech loading shotgun, a common stage prop for children's films. Later during the big manhunt chase scenes, the audience is treated to an image of strings of distressed looking sled dogs being winched up a sheer cliff face, and one of the poochies apparently slips loose of it's harness & falls to it's doom. My favorite bizarre moment from the film comes when "Trapper" finds himself unexpectedly dunked into an icy mountain stream in sub zero degree weather. But he's a plucky sort, pulls himself out of the drink, manages to start a fire while his clothes freeze to him, and by golly if we aren't gifted with a shot of him trying to thaw out his knickers over the fire, his pants frozen perfectly flat with the legs stuck out stiffly like in a cartoon. He holds them like Wile E. Coyote might after being dunked into an ACME Deep-Freeze Unit, stiff as a board.There are shootouts with real guns, cabins being dynamited, evil native Indian trappers who kidnap wolf pups for evil purposes, shirtless fat men warming their bodies by campfires, guys being menaced up close & personal by ax blades, and a big climax where the hero appears to commit suicide. Anyone who might subject their kids to this movie will end up with years of bills for psychotherapy, or young men who enjoy bending nails with their teeth. Either way it's a crapshoot, and the MPAA "G" rating for this film is proof indeed of how the times have changed since 1975. If this movie was made today it would probably be banned by PETA demonstrators before even making it to the ratings board. "Trapper" wrestles bears, plays mean looking tricks on beavers, insists on bunking with a lynx, and even manages to annoy a herd of caribou without being trampled to death. The suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy this movie probably doesn't exist anymore, even in kids.The one good thing the movie sort of has going for it is that the scriptwriters actually did pay some attention to the research work of Dick North, the world's foremost authority on "Albert Johnson", the Mad Trapper who eluded a Royal Canadian Mounted Police posse in the arctic wilds of Canada's Northwestern Territories for 52 days in conditions that would convert any normal person into human beef jerky in about 36 hours. And indeed when compared to the ultra violent 1981 version of the tale -- DEATH HUNT with Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin -- it actually does score a couple of extra bonus points for authenticity. Even if it does essentially re-create DEATH HUNT's most memorable scene of Charles Bronson popping up out of the smoking ruins of a dynamited cabin whilst pumping a sawed off shotgun at a pack of hicks. "Trapper" is just a little bit nicer about it.I understand the nostalgic appeal noted by some of the other comments posted about this film, and indeed back in the 1970s when it was made this probably would have been perfectly fine entertainment for families to enjoy together. We were all a little more bloodthirsty, callous and accepting of the implacable jaws of fate back then, as well as on screen smoking. And if anything there is some genuine comedy to be had watching this film with a contemporary sensibility whilst guffawing at the parts that the Liberals would just be horrified by. The film is also adventurously staged in realistic looking sub-arctic environments, with Mike Mazurki and the rest of the cast apparently struggling through some rather physically demanding stretches that no member of the actor's guild in their right mind would ever agree to.So there's definitely some material to be admired here, especially for those who have a twisted sense of humor and a willingness to be offended by movies that were thought to be inoffensive in the earlier cultural climates in which they were made. With a kid de-sensitized enough to violence by five years of the war on terror and a few beers for dad to swig down as responsibly as possible this is probably still a fine film for the whole family to enjoy together. Just make sure you explain to the li'l moppet that elks don't really eat pancakes, wild snow wolves don't really make good pets, that nobody in their right mind would actually have thought this was a good idea for a movie nowadays, and that they can go to sleep peacefully assured that the film is probably banned in Finland.6/10, and no, I'm not drunk.

This was on odd film. I liked the adventure of it though it seems to be aimed at children. (SPOILER AHEAD) Ironically, the main character murders a federal official. Then he's a fugitive on the run. They later blow up his house and then he finally commits suicide. Seems like they should have just made it a film for a more mature audience or made it more family friendly.This was on odd film. I liked the adventure of it though it seems to be aimed at children. (SPOILER AHEAD) Ironically, the main character murders a federal official. Then he's a fugitive on the run. They later blow up his house and then he finally commits suicide. Seems like they should have just made it a film for a more mature audience or made it more family friendly.