This Montana Cowboy Ran The Real John Dutton Yellowstone Ranch. He Had It All.

His name was Spike Van Cleve. Back in 1976 I spent weeks at his 21,000 acre ranch high in the mountains above Big Timber, Montana, going out with him each day and reflecting on the magnificent life that he and the people who came before him lived. Ranchers. Horsemen. Cowboys. Generations on the land.

But Spike was more than just a horseman & cowboy (he raised hundreds of cattle on his ranch as well as horses). He had a 6th sense and locals said he could whisper horses. He was a poet & an author (he wrote two books – 40 Years' Gatherings and A Day Late & A Dollar Short) and he spoke in a way that mesmerized me and I have never forgotten phrases like "I caught the tail end of the horse age" and “If I wasn't a man, I'd like to be a horse"… and so many others.

And he was what he would call a rugged individualist. A true American political conservative. Leave me alone – keep the government away – and I will do the right thing in the right way and live a good life and support my country. Those were his views and indeed he lived them. I saw those values and that lifestyle on the ranch and how he lived his life and how he treated the people around him.

His family before him taught him how to run a horse ranch and gather horses. They had peaceful relationships with the Indians who lived in the area in those early days - the mid 1800s. Although he had a good deal of metal in his body from all of the injuries, he got on a horse every day (especially Sam who is described in this video) and rode out from his small home to do some kind of work with horses and with cattle. That was easy in the summer when I made this film but was pure hell during the winter with the blinding wind and snow and below zero temperatures.

Spike Van Cleve loved horses and from what I could tell, they loved him.

Spike went to Harvard and graduated and went back to the ranch, drawn to its beauty and its challenges. His incredible wife stayed with him through thick and thin and he was a rough character as a young man and pretty ornery as an old one.

I made this documentary as a short subject to honor him and to express his philosophy towards life and towards his animals. It was nominated for an Academy award short subject back when I made it. Spike gave me an understanding of the life of a horse rancher and of life in Montana that I never forgot. Thank you Spike Van Cleve, and thank you Earl Scruggs and his sons Randy Scruggs and Gary Scruggs for creating the just perfect country western (with a bit of bluegrass) music track.

My short film won the 1st prize at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame that year and was nominated for an Academy award (it didn't win).

I have made many film & video portraits in my life and I would like to share them all with you. Please support my efforts by clicking the Super Thanks button below the video screen.
Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker

Видео This Montana Cowboy Ran The Real John Dutton Yellowstone Ranch. He Had It All. канала David Hoffman