Movie: First Journey, Fort William

Top 8 Billed Cast

Bobby Kitchkeesic
Bobby Kitchkeesic

John Mackenzie

Daniel McGoey
Daniel McGoey

Father

Cheryl Kylander
Cheryl Kylander

Mother

Denis Malette
Denis Malette

Bissonnette

James Hughes
James Hughes

Mr. McLeod

Walter Massey
Walter Massey

Self - Narrator (voice)

Thomas Lackey
Thomas Lackey

Self - Narrator (voice)

Gloria Demers
Gloria Demers

Self - Narrator (voice)

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    Set in 1815, this is the dramatic story of a child of the fur trade, son of a Native mother and a Scottish-Canadian fur trader. John Mackenzie's father is a wintering partner of the Montréal-based North West Company, which was for decades the wealthiest merchant enterprise in North America. To mark his entry into adulthood, twelve-year-old John is travelling for the first time to Fort William, the Company's lavish winter headquarters by Lake Superior. In following his journey, the film reveals the complex network of people--Scottish, French and Native Canadian--that made up fur-trading society and gave a unique flavor to the opening up of Canada's northwest.

  • Release Date

    1987-01-01

  • Average

    8

  • Rating:

    4.0 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    English
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Unconquered
64%

Unconquered(en)

1947-10-10

England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.

First Cow
71%

First Cow(en)

2020-03-06

In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow—the first, and only, in the territory.

Northwest Passage
66%

Northwest Passage(en)

1940-02-23

Based on the Kenneth Roberts novel of the same name, this film tells the story of two friends who join Rogers' Rangers, as the legendary elite force engages the enemy during the French and Indian War. The film focuses on their famous raid at Fort St. Francis and their marches before and after the battle.

Black Robe
65%

Black Robe(en)

1991-10-04

Missionary Father LaForgue travels to the New World in hopes of converting Algonquin Indians to Catholicism. Accepted, though warily, by the Indians, LaForgue travels with the Indians using his strict Catholic rules and ideals to try and impose his religion.

The Doctor and the Devils
62%

The Doctor and the Devils(en)

1985-10-04

In Victorian England, graverobbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to seek an easier means of getting the job done.

Hundreds of Beavers
73%

Hundreds of Beavers(en)

2022-09-29

In the 19th century, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

The Scalphunters
64%

The Scalphunters(en)

1968-02-29

Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them.

The Dead Don't Hurt
65%

The Dead Don't Hurt(en)

2024-05-01

In the 1860s, fiercely independent French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy embarks on a journey with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen, attempting to forge a life together in the dusty town of Elk Flats, Nevada. When Holger decides to go fight for the Union in the burgeoning Civil War, Vivienne must fend for herself, which isn't easy in a town controlled by a corrupt mayor.

The Wolf and the Lion
75%

The Wolf and the Lion(en)

2021-10-13

After her grandfather's death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home - a little island in the heart of the majestic Canadian forest. Whilst there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses as the forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cub brothers must now embark on a treacherous journey across Canada to be reunited with one another and Alma once more.

Death Hunt
66%

Death Hunt(en)

1981-04-15

Yukon Territory, Canada, November 1931. Albert Johnson, a trapper who lives alone in the mountains, buys a dog almost dead after a brutal dogfight, a good deed that will put him in trouble.

The Undefeated
63%

The Undefeated(en)

1969-10-04

After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.

Santa Fe Trail
58%

Santa Fe Trail(en)

1940-12-20

As a penalty for fighting fellow classmates days before graduating from West Point, J.E.B. Stuart, George Armstrong Custer and four friends are assigned to the 2nd Cavalry, stationed at Fort Leavenworth. While there they aid in the capture and execution of the abolitionist, John Brown following the Battle of Harper's Ferry.

Emperor
76%

Emperor(en)

2020-08-18

An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.

Butter
59%

Butter(en)

2012-10-05

An adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their Iowa town's annual contest.

Outlaw King
68%

Outlaw King(en)

2018-09-06

Forced into exile by the English after being crowned King of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the Bruce fights to reclaim the throne.

North West Mounted Police
64%

North West Mounted Police(en)

1940-10-22

Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)

Little Big Man
75%

Little Big Man(en)

1970-12-23

Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.

The Retrieval
64%

The Retrieval(en)

2013-03-11

On the outskirts of the Civil War, a boy is sent north by a bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.

49th Parallel
70%

49th Parallel(en)

1941-11-24

In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.

The Last of the Mohicans
63%

The Last of the Mohicans(en)

1920-11-21

As Alice and Cora Munro attempt to find their father, a British officer in the French and Indian War, they are set upon by French soldiers and their cohorts, Huron tribesmen led by the evil Magua. Fighting to rescue the women are Chingachgook and his son Uncas, the last of the Mohican tribe, and their white ally, the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, known as Hawkeye.

Similar Movies

Panoramas of War
63%

Panoramas of War(fr)

2018-09-27

The end of the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) saw the birth of the panoramas of war, huge circular paintings depicting scenes of war, cruelty and desolation that were contemplated by thousands of spectators, a kind of inmersive static newsreels, a mass media prior to the era of mass media, a virtual reality on canvas.

Killing the Indian in the Child
65%

Killing the Indian in the Child(fr)

2021-02-18

The Indian Act, passed in Canada in 1876, made members of Aboriginal peoples second-class citizens, separated from the white population: nomadic for centuries, they were moved to reservations to control their behavior and resources; and thousands of their youngest members were separated from their families to be Christianized: a cultural genocide that still resonates in Canadian society today.

Khartoum
63%

Khartoum(en)

1966-06-09

English General Charles George Gordon is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.

The Four Feathers
71%

The Four Feathers(en)

1939-04-20

A disgraced officer risks his life to help his childhood friends in battle.

9/11: Cleared for Chaos
40%

9/11: Cleared for Chaos(en)

2019-09-11

On September 11, 2001, the unimaginable transpired when devastating attacks on the World Trade Center forced the shutdown of the entire U.S. airspace. Thousands of kilometres away in Gander, Newfoundland, a group of Nav Canada air traffic controllers suddenly had the lives of 33,000 people in their hands and had to think fast to find a place for them to go. Discovery uncovers how these unsung heroes managed to safely land 224 planes in four hours, without incident.

Passchendaele
61%

Passchendaele(en)

2008-10-17

Sergeant Michael Dunne fights in the 10th Battalion, AKA The "Fighting Tenth" with the 1st Canadian Division and participated in all major Canadian battles of the war, and set the record for highest number of individual bravery awards for a single battle

The Stand
10%

The Stand(en)

2024-10-03

On a misty morning in the fall of 1985, a small group of Haida people blockaded a muddy dirt road on Lyell Island, demanding the government work with Indigenous people to find a way to protect the land and the future. In a riveting new feature documentary drawn from more than a hundred hours of archival footage and audio, award-winning director Christopher Auchter (Now Is the Time) recreates the critical moment when the Haida Nation’s resolute act of vision and conscience changed the world.

Divided Loyalties
80%

Divided Loyalties(en)

1990-02-13

Story of Joseph Brant, chief of the Mohawks. During the time of the American Revolution, Britain faces insurrection in its American colonies. The Iroquois Confederacy of the Six Nations must choose between their British ally and the American revolutionaries, whose democratic ideals they share.

Festival Express
72%

Festival Express(en)

2003-09-19

The filmed account of a large Canadian rock festival train tour boasting major acts. In the summer of 1970, a chartered train crossed Canada carrying some of the world's greatest rock bands. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and others lived (and partied) together for five days, stopping in major cities along the way to play live concerts. Their journey was filmed.

The White Dawn
67%

The White Dawn(en)

1974-07-21

In 1896, three survivors of a whaling ship-wreck in the Canadian Arctic are saved and adopted by an Eskimo tribe but frictions arise when the three start misbehaving.

Coup 53
80%

Coup 53(en)

2019-09-01

Tehran, Iran, August 19, 1953. A group of Iranian conspirators who, with the approval of the deposed tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, have conspired with agents of the British MI6 and the US CIA, manage to put an end to the democratic government led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a dramatic event that will begin the tragic era of coups d'état that, orchestrated by the CIA, will take place, over the following decades, in dozens of countries around the world.

De Gaulle, le commencement
80%

De Gaulle, le commencement(fr)

2025-01-15

Looking for Angelina
100%

Looking for Angelina(en)

2005-02-11

Looking for Angelina is based on one of the most important murder trials in Canada. Angelina Napolitano murdered her husband with an axe and was sentenced to be executed...

Bethune: The Making of a Hero
52%

Bethune: The Making of a Hero(en)

1993-09-17

True story of Norman Bethune, a medical doctor who fought for justice in China during Mao's rise to power.

The Grey Fox
69%

The Grey Fox(en)

1982-12-16

Old West highwayman Bill Miner, known to Pinkertons as "The Gentleman Bandit," is released in 1901 after 33 years in prison. A genial and charming old man, he re-enters a world unfamiliar to him, and returns to the only thing that gives him purpose — robbery.

Thrown into Canada
0%

Thrown into Canada(en)

2022-11-19

This documentary explores the history of Canada’s first major migration of non-European and non-white refugees who arrived in 1972 when Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled all South Asians from the country. Their story of struggle and hope became part of Canada’s conversations about refugees and cultural pluralism, and informed the Canadian response to future refugee movements.

Ice-Breaker: The '72 Summit Series
10%

Ice-Breaker: The '72 Summit Series(en)

2025-02-20

September 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the Summit Series, the iconic hockey tournament that pitted the best players from Canada against the best from the Soviet Union. This documentary enlarges the canvas to tell the story from the unique perspectives of a diverse group who are rarely, if ever, heard: diplomats, NHL hockey legends, Soviet players, journalists, fans, broadcasters, business leaders and Team Canada’s Chairman – all reveal untold stories about what happened before, during, and after September ‘72.

Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy
63%

Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy(te)

2019-09-27

Gwalior Fort, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In a moment of despair, Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, encourages her men by telling them the heroic story of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy, a brave Telugu chieftain who took up arms in 1846 to protest against the numerous arbitrariness and crimes perpetrated by the leaders and military forces of the East India Company.

Black October
75%

Black October(en)

2000-01-01

A documentary recounting the kidnappings of British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Vice-Premier & Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte by the FLQ on October 5, 1970 in Quebec.

The Klondike Gold Rush
50%

The Klondike Gold Rush(en)

2015-01-06

Renowned as the richest gold strike in North American mining history, the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) set off a stampede of over 100,000 people on a colossal journey from Alaska to the gold fields of Canada's Yukon Territory. Filled with the frontier spirit, prospectors came and gave rise to what was one of the largest cities in Canada at that time - Dawson City. The boomtown, which became known as "the Paris of the North", earned the reputation as a place where lives could be revolutionized. Brought to life with excerpts from the celebrated book The Klondike Stampede - published in 1900 by Harper's Weekly correspondent Tappan Adney - and featuring interviews with award-winning author Charlotte Gray, and historians Terrence Cole and Michael Gates, The Klondike Gold Rush is an incredible story of determination, luck, fortune, and loss. In the end, it isn't all about the gold, but rather the journey to the Klondike itself.