The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)

Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

When I saw Meredith Salenger in the Title role of (The Journey of) Natty Gann as a TV Movie shortly after it was made I literally fell in love with her and I've followed her career ever since. She played a child a few years younger than her true age - she was 15 playing a 12 year old I believe but was able to carry it off quite easily due to her ultra slim figure and being small for her age. In the film her father has to leave her alone while he goes looking for work across the other side of the States BUT she is soon in hot pursuit and thus her journey, adventure and the excitement begins and what a series of episodes it is. She befriends and is befriended by a human(a young John Cusack) and a Wolf and they all look out for one another. A wonderful film, extremely good performances with Scatman Crothers in one of his final roles.

With so many movies around, "The Journey of Natty Gann" is worth its while. The 1930's is a tough time in some places. The Great Depression is happening, work is out in the Western part of the U.S. And being stuck at home with a hot-headed guardian is the pits. For Natty Gann(Meredith Salenger) she makes a quest to go find him. She goes to all different places, have no troubles finding food, rides along different trains, and gets herself a non-human companion: a full-blooded wolf that's been used in dogfights. Atfer she freed him they would meet again following a storm. When the weather lets up, she was sleeping on a friend; The Wolf. He would return the favor by giving her a rabbit, for food. Then there's the mis-adventures when she failed to getaway from the law, put in reform school. But that didn't stop her. She would later meet Harry(John Cusack), who tags along with her. There's listening to the rails, Harry's soon departure, and finally meeting her father, burned and happy to see her. Very heart-warming, and very endearing, I enjoyed this movie well! 5 stars!

For whatever reason I always watch the animals in movies. The absolute best was the dog in the 1948 "Oliver Twist" with Alec Guiness. The wolf in this film is great. Only one time do you see him looking to a handler for his cue. In the closing credits he "Jed" got top billing. Yet another 'journey' story but well done. Cusack played his part well and Salenger was perfect. The guidelines for comments call for ten lines of text so: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN This was in the back of my video cabinet and I haven't watched it since I was a child. NATTY GANN is a rather unknown Disney release from 1985 that takes places in the '30's. Natty Gann is a young girl living with just her father in a bleak time. She is rough around the edges and has clearly built up a crocodile skin due to the life she has led. However, at her core, she truly loves her father.So when he is forced to leave her at a moment's notice to travel to Washington (the only place he can find work) Natty is left in the care of a bitter Landlord. It doesn't take long for Natty, played by Meredith Salenger, to runaway in an attempt to travel the 2,000 miles to be with her father again.On her journey, Natty meets all kinds of people who are suffering due to the nation's economic situation. One thing she witnesses is a dogfight where one of the dog's is a rather wild wolf. Natty reaches out for the wolf though and eventually manages to establish a bond with the wild animal. Together, they continue to travel towards her Washington State in pursuit of Natty's father.As the plot description above makes clear, the framework of this film is not horribly unique or important. However, what does give the film some extra quality is the approach in which the material is taken on.This film is very much in the same vein as another under-appreciatted Disney classic, RETURN TO OZ. This is a very dark family film that lacks all of the standard, corny Disney clichés (aside from the animal friend, but here he doesn't talk... and he isn't particularly nice at first).THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN portrays the depression-era and it's effects on the poor very honestly. We see Natty eating out of garbage pales and sleeping in filth. We see the type of work her father is forced to take on. And we see the bitterness and resentment Natty feels towards her situation.She is not your typical "hopelessly-optimistic" Disney heroine. She gets angry, she defends herself, and she doesn't make excuses. She starts fight, even smokes what appears to be weed in the opening scene (this was something I certainly didn't notice as a child). However, the role of Natty is always grounded by an appealing and fully realized performance from the young Meredith Salenger. She hasn't found much success in film following this movie, but it is definitely one of the best child performances of the 80's.Now aside from the good qualities of the film, THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN moves a little too slow for me to really love it. Despite the many Disney clichés it avoids, it's still always obvious Natty will find her father and all will be happy. So the fact that it takes 105 minutes to do so is a bit much. And there is a supporting role / love interest played by John Cusack who is essentially useless to the plot.But Disney deserves some credit for boldly taking family films to a darker, more artistically developed place in 1985 (both RETURN TO OZ and NATTY GANN were released in that year). There haven't been children's films that really embrace the darker side of things like these 2 films do since '85... and these under-viewed films deserve a little more credit and public acknowledgment for looking outside of the lines in a genre that is too often trapped within the lines.... B- ...