In your Sunday night movie this weekend, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba face an almost insurmountable obstacle: a mountain. Will they be able to confront the treacherous peaks and terrible weather? We look at five movies that tried.
- 127 Hours
Pinioned by a boulder in Canyonlands National Park, it takes mountaineer Aron Ralston 127 hours to escape from his seemingly hopeless situation. This desperate plight is not mere imagination. Based on Ralston’s memoir about his terrifying ordeal, his experience is heart-wrenchingly brought to life by director Danny Boyle, with James Franco impressing with an immersive performance as Ralston.
- Cliffhanger
For something slightly less serious, there’s this Sly Stallone-starring flick. Mixing Rockies-set action with a dastardly heist plot, it’s exactly the kind of adrenalin-fuelled fun you’d expect from a ‘90s Sly pic.
- Everest
Another true tale, this one’s based on Beck Weathers' memoir Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest. It’s one of many books released about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which climbers heading towards Everest’s summit were caught in a blizzard, killing eight people. Weathers was one of the survivors and is portrayed by Josh Brolin in the movie.
- Touching the Void
These movies certainly don’t inspire much desire to start climbing mountains, but hopefully inspire an awesome respect for nature’s power over us. Like 127 Hours and Everest, this docudrama is based on a book, which in turn is based on mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' catastrophic climb of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes.
- Vertical Limit
Another fictional entry on our list, this Chris O’Donnell starrer is set in Monument Valley. O’Donnell’s character abandons mountain climbing after his father’s death during an expedition; but when his sister, also an avid climber, is trapped during a climb, he takes up his ropes once more.
Honorary Mention
While it's not a mountain movie, Tom Cruise's fantastic climb in the opening scene of Mission: Impossible II is definitely worth a mention. He can currently be seen on circuit doing more death-defying stunts in Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Watch the #LallaLand interview here.
How will Winslet and Elba fare when they crash-land into the High Uintas Wilderness? Find out in your #SundayNightMovie The Mountain Between Us on 5 August at 20:05 on M-Net channel 101.