Grizzly Adams

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Grizzly Adams is the main character from The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, a 1974 film. Produced by Sunn Classic Pictures, the movie spawned a television series of the same name in 1977. The title character was loosely based on an actual trapper, James/John Capen "Grizzly" Adams.

Grizzly Adams is a woodsman who fled into the mountains when he was wrongly accused of murder. While struggling to survive, Adams discovers an orphaned grizzly bear cub whom he takes in and calls Ben. The bear, despite his huge adult size, becomes Adams' closest companion. Adams has an uncanny link to most of the indigenous wildlife of the region, who have no fear of him. In return, he resolves never to harm another animal whenever possible.

In the television series, Adams has two human companions, an old trader named Mad Jack the Mountain Man (Denver Pyle, commonly featured with a mule named "Number Seven") and a Native American named Nakoma (Don Shanks). Together, they help various visitors while protecting the wildlife. The series is also notable for its theme song, "Maybe" by Thom Pace, which is goodhearted tune about love, sorrow and friendship.

The series concluded with a 1982 TV movie called The Capture of Grizzly Adams where a bounty hunter used Adams' hitherto unknown daughter to draw him back to civilization. In the end, Adams proves his innocence.

Dan Haggerty portrayed Grizzly Adams in the initial movie and series, as well as in the 1982 follow up. Two subsequent projects, not well known, starred other actors in the main role and were not produced by Sunn. Some films of the era of the show were obviously influenced by it, such as the notoriously bad movie "The Grizzly and the Treasure."

[edit] Cultural References

In the 1994 Kevin Smith movie, Clerks., Jay says "What you want, Grizzly Adams?", to a bearded man.
The television show Family Guy parodied the show in one of its episodes.(season 3 episode 17 "Brian Wallows & Peter's Swallows").
Arrested Development made reference to popular merchandise of the TV series with the use of a 'Grizzly Adams' sleeping bag in the third series episode "The Cabin Show".
The 1996 movie Happy Gilmore contains the now-famous quote "Grizzly Adams did have a beard."
The HBO show The Sopranos contains a reference to Grizzly Adams in a season 6 episode. Chris Moltisanti refers to one of the bikers he and Tony robbed as a "Grizzly Adams motherfucker".
The Mighty Boosh, a 2005 UK comedy series, made reference to Grizzly Adams in the first episode of Series 2, "Call of The Yeti". After being left alone with the woodsman they are renting their holiday cabin from, Vince Noir tells Howard Moon he has just "narrowly avoided a bumming from Grizzly Adams".
The German professional ice hockey league ("Deutsche Eishockey-Liga") features a team named "Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg".