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Storyline
Natty Gann (played by Meredith Salenger) is a twelve year old Depression era girl whose single-parent father leaves her behind in Chicago while he goes to Washington State to look for work in the timber industry. Natty runs away from the guardian she was left with to follow Dad. She befriends and is befriended by a wolf that has been abused in dog fights, hops a freight train west, and is presumed dead when her wallet is found after the train crashes. Dad gets bitter and endangers himself in his new job. Meanwhile Natty has a series of adventures and mis- adventures in various farmhouses, police stations, hobo camps, reform schools, and boxcars. Written by
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With innocence behind her and danger ahead, only courage and love were on her side. [UK]
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Did You Know?
Trivia
James Horner replaced
Elmer Bernstein as the film's music composer. According to website "Filmtracks', only two short bits of Bernstein's score music remain in the picture.
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Goofs
The story takes place in 1935, but in the scene where Natty finds the puppy behind the cinema, the movie poster behind her is for "The Buccaneer" (the name of the film star, Fredric March, can be seen in the close up), which was released in 1938.
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Quotes
Harry:
[
Harry has just hauled Natty into the boxcar, where she was dangling dangerously over the edge]
You know, uh, you can get hurt that way.
Hobo:
I thought *that* one was a goner.
Hobo:
*Rail* meat.
Hobo:
Little bits of blood and busted...
Harry:
Leave the kid alone!
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Connections
Referenced in
Starlight Hotel (1987)
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This movie was really great, it had an exciting and plausible plot, reasonable acting -- and it wasn't just cheesy crap compared to most of the other drivel that was being played for us kids at that time. This clearly stood out shining in my mind, up there with "The Neverending Story" and "Flight Of The Navigator". This movie didn't talk down to me as a child, which I quite liked. And it wasn't just another cartoon, which for the most part I found painfully dull in their lack of realism. The Natty character, and all those she meets on her adventures (including the wolf that she befriends), are unique, interesting, thought provoking ... and you actually care what happens to them all by the end.
And how many other movies aimed at youth have a kid getting chased away from eating out of a garbage dumpster ? Heh.
Great film !
I want to watch it again to see if I still like it as much, but I know I probably will ... I know the plot quite well, I did watch the movie at least 8 or 10 times as kid.