I caught this on the late late movie and it was all right. My first complaint is it takes to long to get to the part where they are trapped in the snow. The second problem is a technical one. There are many scenes when they are trapped in the snow and they are talking and there is no steam coming out of their mouths. I had a hard time feeling they were really freezing to death. Also, there are times the movie seems unbelievable, but since it is a true story I guess I have to believe it. Now on the positive side the acting is pretty good and it is uplifting to see what someone willing to do to save their family. Final analysis: it is worth watching if you can't sleep.
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askjason9 December 2002
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kalkan426 January 2013Having this on real, old fashioned, vintage VHS, I plugged it in tonight for a blast from the past.
Through all the cheese, and swan music, I still found a good story with lots of beautiful chillingly cold scenery. And even the music sounded surprisingly good played through my old Dolby receiver.
One thing I didn't like about this film is how they portrayed them getting stuck in the first place. Here's a military soldier suddenly plowing into a thick snow covered road, as if he had no warning, while playing some kind of word game with his wife next to him in the car. And then trying to go further up the snow covered road instead of backing out. There must have been more to the real story.
I felt the final recovery efforts, and the people involved, were glanced over at the end. I would have liked to see much more of these people and their efforts. For example, the ham radio operator who made the initial call for help after Jim found him.
Overall, not a horrible movie. And fun to see Neil Patrick Harris just after his Doogie Howser days. -
krkptrckdvd8 April 2004This is about as good as a made for TV movie gets. The screenplay goes back and forth from the young couple stranded in their truck in a vast, frozen, and deserted wasteland to the desperate parents trying to find them. The movie draws you in as the various authorities, like the California Highway Patrol, search for days when the couple go missing-- with no luck. Meanwhile, Jim, Jennifer, and their baby are in a desperate life or death situation. They are 50 miles from the nearest town on a back road, in a blizzard, and no one knows they are actually in Northern Nevada. There is no one to help them. No people at all just sagebrush, snow, and rock across a wintry dark and deserted high desert valley. Having lived in Northeast California, I can attest to the frozen desolation the Stolpas faced in Northern Nevada. This movie captures that scenery well with the on location shots. The story is interesting, the acting and writing is decent, and the scenery is beautiful. The ending is incredible! I recommend this movie!
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SPOILER contained (although I would do you a favor if I... spoiled the film for you and thus prevented you from watching it!)
It's hard to start describing the amount of stupidity and... corniness amassed in this TV-film. I thought the script-writer was aiming for the brain-dead section of TV-market until I saw the (real) Stolpas appearing in a picture at the end of the film. Was this a sign that they had given their consent for this film after watching it or were they just happy to... "be on the TV"? Anyway, to make things worse, the director makes every scene look so predictable that it really gets on your nerves. Sad to see Michael Gross (I) (of classic TV sitcom "Family Ties") play in this flick! -
PeachHamBeach2 February 2005I love survival stories!!! I forgot about this above average TV movie for a long time and then it was on Lifetime the other day and I still really enjoy this one!!! A young California couple, Jim and Jennifer Stolpa, played by Neil Patrick Harris and Kelli Williams attempt to pay their respects to a grandmother who passed away in Idaho. They try to go up I 80 (the same route the famous Donner Party traveled!!!) but the highway is closed because of heavy snow. Their reluctance to wait (they want so badly to get to the funeral and lend moral support to Jim's mother)is a potentially fatal decision. They drive up to Redding and take highway 299 east to Cedarville and into desolate Northern Nevada. They find out too late that the snow is worse up there and they end up getting trapped in the snow miles from any civilization. Scary!!! To make matters worse they have a 5 month old infant and they both feel terrible for getting him into a deadly situation. They try to wait it out in their pickup, but when not one other car drives down the road they're on, they make another desperate decision: to walk 20 miles east to a highway they saw on their map. If they can just reach that highway, they can get help.
They take a wrong turn on a forked road and end up worse off than ever, and the cold is killing them and the baby. Kelli Williams was awesome when she was crying over Jim having to leave her and the baby behind in the cave!!! It just broke my heart!!! Neil Patrick Harris was great too. His character Jim had to walk some 20 miles back to the truck and then another 50 to Cedarville!!! When it's do or die, human beings are capable of incredible things!!! Like I said, I love survival movies and books, especially when the characters face harsh weather and LONG WALKS!!! FOLLOW THE RIVER and LEAVE NO TRACE are among some of my favorite stories, so SNOWBOUND is right up my alley!!! For a TV movie, it's very well done and I could watch it for many years to come!!! -
OK, the scenery is good and the freezing process is pretty realistic (even though no steam is coming from their mouths). But how do you treat your 5 months old baby in the deadly cold? Not by constantly keeping all the windows of the car open with the baby in it. Not by bumping him against any thing on the ground while carrying him in a sack and not by leaving this sack open all the time. Well, maybe a few minor details...
It's weird to see all the characters keep being friendly to each other under the worst circumstances. Man, this is a big crisis, and nobody loses his or her nerves just for once?? I know, this is just an other one of those God-inspired loving family TV films, but more down to earth dialogues would've made it a bit better. -
ruffrider30 January 2005All the saccharine, lovey-dovey stuff at the start almost made me turn this movie off, but now I see that the screenwriter was just trying to show us the strong bonds that helped three people survive an unbelievable ordeal. Things started moving quickly as the father, taking his young family to join the rest of the clan, ignored weather reports and drove through a blizzard. The snow got worse and worse and finally they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. Their struggles to stay alive kept me awake when a lot of movies would have left me sleeping at the hour when this film was broadcast. I kept saying to myself "No one could survive this long in the bitter cold." Adding to the tension were the decisions: do they stay in the SUV, which offered shelter, but where they will eventually freeze, or do all three brave the elements and face a much surer and sooner extinction, with only the slim chance of finding help? Once they've made that fateful choice, which way do they walk and what if they pick the wrong way? Does father leave wife and baby to freeze in a cave while he's asked to walk 50 miles with frost-bitten feet to get help? Seven days in the cold seems too much for anyone, much less a baby, but somehow all 3 survived it. I wouldn't have believed any of it had I not known it was all true. Good acting, especially from Kelli Williams of TV's "The Practice" series. I can recommend this movie.
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gowings805373 April 2005warning some parts of this review have spoiler material if you actually want to watch this movie before reading reviews don't read this until you have seen the movie.
let me start off by saying that Jim must have not been very smart when it came to driving.Because all he ever did was keep getting both of them into a hole. The movie was way to predictable and the music sucked because every time they were in trouble it just seemed like they would play a really nice song. The reason why i say this movie was predictable is probably because the real Jim and Jennifer Stolpa should have predicted what would happen if you just drove into 2 feet deep snow,you'll get stuck. the actors were not extremely bad because they really got the stupidity down but they didn't even look like they really did when they show the real Jim and Jennifer Stolpa. But anyway it was a okay story to make a movie but i think it would be better if they made their own story that would be like the Jim and Jennifer Stolpa story but they shouldn't have used Jim and Jennifer Stolpas real story. -
Kesa-dk9 February 2003I have just seen this movie on Danish national television (prime time) for the second time. The story of the Stolpas is really worth watching. I still can´t understand that they really went through all that... but I will not tell any details if some of you haven´t seen the film yet. The actors were just great, especially Kelli Williams. Check out the movie next time it´s showing on your television or rent or bye it to day.
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vitanostra200422 May 2005It took a lot of talent to play that baby in a garment bag. There were so many lines for him to learn. Heck- he was the one with the brains in that family. His mom and dad thought it would be fun to go for a stroll in the snow and forced the kid to come along but he made the best of it--especially when he was very quiet and didn't make a peep at one point in the movie making his mom cry when she thought he was dead. That kid had one mean sense of humor -- scared his mom, but had me laughing so hard. I think they should have a sequel where the family decided to have a vacation in the desert..instead of a blizzard they can have a sand storm. Wouldn't that be exciting! They can call it sand-bound!
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Hollywood_Yoda27 October 2006The story of Jim and Jennifer Stolpa stuck out in the freezing snow is a sad one to say the least. With their baby Clayton, they are on their way to a family funeral, but on the way, they get stranded. For over a week, they must survive the harsh coldness of Nevada's winter. While the local police do nothing to help the family, the Stolpa's parents take it upon themselves to organize a rescue operation, if they ever want to see the kids again. Eventually, Jim must leave Jennifer out in the cold, and brave the elements himself as he walks nearly 100 miles in the freezing weather to find help.
At the end of the movie, they are rescued. While baby Clayton may have health issues, Jim and Jennifer pray that he will not die. During this time, they are told the tragic news that part of each of their feet must be amputated in order to save them from being infected even more. Truly a great ending to this story when Clayton is found to be okay, and the family is relieved to know they will be together to take that walk on the beach just like they promised. -
stoinkee6 May 2009I remember watching at least some of the movie, but I was so astounded by how stupid and unthoughtful the parents were, I had to shut it off. No movie, for TV or theater, should have been made about adults who put their children in harm's way due to restricted intelligence. For shame, Jim and Jennifer. For shame.
In fact, during the year this movie was released, I held a Stolpa party and one of my good friends came dressed as Jennifer. She had on ragged clothes and used a suit bag in which she put one of her daughter's dolls with a diaper smeared with chunky Skippy peanut butter mixed with frozen peas. She won the award for Most Stupid. Just my thoughts and remembrances. -
I remember when this event actually occurred. The same 2 storms that had them stranded, had kept my new wife and I from crossing over the mountains from California, enroute to Minnesota. I followed it on the news.
I was impressed by the strength of the parents, how they battled to survive, for themselves and their son.
Many reviewers have dissed Mr. Stropa for getting into trouble in the first place. I am glad that so many people have their own lives so together, and are so far removed from any of life's foibles that they are in a position to be so critical. However, for we mere humans, his error in judgment does not lessen his courage and strength.
It is sad that this type of life experience could not help to keep the Stropas together. They were obviously intended for each other.