When I was very young – kindergarten perhaps, maybe even a touch younger – I ran away from home. I let my parents know beforehand, of course. I gave a quick, squeaky speech explaining that I was leaving home to live in the mountains instead, then high-tailed it out the door with my empty backpack to stock up with provisions at the local Safeway. How I was to pay for these foodstuffs would be determined when I got there.

My parents – in the only decision they ever made that I found myself agreeing with – let me go, following from a distance as I made my way to the grocery store.

The impetus of making such a major life decision at a relatively young age was, of course, Grizzly Adams. He was the man who inspired me to risk frostbite, wolverines and grizzlies for a life less traveled. Seriously, he could have gotten me killed.

Dan Haggerty starred as Grizzly Adams. Joined by Ben, Mad Jack and Number Seven, and his blood brother, Nakoma.

Seventies glory.

I grew up on the television series. I also grew up in Alaska, where ducking off into the woods and disappearing didn’t seem all that farfetched. Then again, frostbite and getting eaten by a not-so friendly relative of Ben wasn’t all that farfetched either. I watched every episode as a youngling. A few years back the series came out on DVD, I snatched up my copies in record time. A made-for-tv movie too. I even have a Grizzly Adams t-shirt. Correction: I have a misprint Grizzly Adams t-shirt. I’m a dork, unashamed. I made my kids watch a few episodes with me, but they never displayed the proper verve.

(If you think of L.A. Story every time you hear the word, verve, you’re my kind of people.)

The one thing I never got a chance to see however, was the original theatrical release of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

Thank goodness for YouTube. It took a few tries, but I finally found the original movie there. This was a big deal for me, I was finally going to see how and why old Adams got framed for murder and had to leave in exile.

Or so I thought.

Instead, I got burned by one of my favorite seventies tropes – the complete and utter lack of backstory. I’ve been carrying a torch for The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams since I was a kid. And the damned thing opens the same way as the series. Adams got framed for murder, so he’s out of there.

I got suckered. And at my favorite game too.

Still, we’re talking Grizzly Adams. Dan freaking Haggerty. A former animal trainer turned actor. There’s woodland creatures a plenty and the kind of scenery that kept Bob Ross up at night.

It was all of that and more. And less.

Don’t get me wrong, I got nostalgia chills up and down my spine watching this, but there were a few left turns that took me out of the bubble. Whereas the series was a typical one hour family show, the feature film is more or less a silent movie. The movie stars Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams and features narration by Grizzly Adams, however, the narrator is not Dan Haggerty. That took a little getting used to. The simplicity of it all had a tendency to drift into Dick and Jane territory – swim, Ben, swim! It was a trip.

Still, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams was made for under $150,000 and upwards of $60,000,000 at the box office. The dollar amounts vary slightly from source to source, but are no less impressive. Even more impressive when you consider we’re talking 1974 dollars.

And the funniest thing is, I’m still tempted to run away to the woods. Aren’t we all?