The Grizzly

Logline: A 12-year-old boy is reunited on a fishing trip with a father he scarcely knows and has not seen for years. Their emotions collide as they work together to overcome their conflict and survive Grizzly bears.

When Mark, the father David scarcely knows, arrives to take him on a weekend fishing trip, the twelve-year-old David is tense and nervous. His parents have separated due to work, and David is afraid that his rugged, outdoorsman father will put him to the test he cannot meet. Other kids had fathers around, but he had only vague memories of his father leaving him to work in the oil fields halfway around the world.

David felt uneasy and alone as he drove with his father passed Trapper’s Creek and headed into the wilderness. Mark went deep into a seldom-used valley, where they were the only humans about for miles. Once settled in their camping spot, David thinks fishing is much different than how his dad fishes. His Dad is a Fly-fisherman and never used worms like David intends to find and use.

David feels they are not alone in the valley, and something lurks around them. David is unnerved to be out and away from civilization. For the first time, he sees his Dad is not what his imagination had remembered.

The weekend proves to be a turning point for both father and son. The intrusion of a giant mother grizzly, which chases David up into a tree, turns on Mark and injures him, eats their provisions, and finally puts their pickup truck out of commission. This forces David to take charge. But can he get himself and his injured father out of the forest in time?

David finds resources in himself he never dreamed he had, and in taking care of his injured father, he overcomes his fear of him. When Mark is on his feet, the truck is repaired, and they are on their way home, the two are much closer. There’s hope that David, his mother, and his father can become a family again, and as it ends, Mark comes home to stay.