Continental Divide (1981) on Netflix
Chicago reporter Ernie Souchak is sent to the Rockies after an exposé on a corrupt alderman lands him in the hospital. There he meets Dr. Nell Porter, who studies bald eagles.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.2/106,143 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ernie Souchak reports for a Chicago newspaper and has been digging into the dealings of a corrupt alderman. Two police officers working for the alderman beat him, and he wakes in a hospital. His editor, Howard McDermott, orders him out of the city for his own safety and hands him an assignment in the Rockies: an interview with Dr. Nell Porter, who has spent years studying bald eagles. Souchak, a city man, cannot survive in the mountains alone; his guide will not return for two weeks. Porter is unhappy to learn he is a reporter and tells him he may stay only if he does not write about her. He doubts the value of her work, and the two argue as he learns the terrain.
Cast
- Eddie Schwartzas Jimmy
- Harold Holmesas Mr. Feeney
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Continental Divide (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- This romantic comedy with John Belushi was the first picture credited to Steven Spielberg's new company Amblin Entertainment, with Spielberg as executive producer alongside Bernie Brillstein.
- The newspaperman John Belushi plays, hard-nosed Chicago reporter Ernie Souchak, was modeled loosely on a real journalist: Mike Royko, for many years a columnist on the Chicago newspapers.
- The tent scenes were shot at Crystal Mountain, a Washington ski area near Mount Rainier, at 6,872 feet. The snow was genuine, but just out of frame stood the Summit House restaurant at the top of the chairlift.
- The Chicago rail scenes did not use Union Station at all: the old Chicago & Northwestern Terminal, now the Ogilvie Transportation Center, was dressed up as an Amtrak station even though Amtrak runs no trains from there.
