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Those Calloways is a 1964 American family drama film, adapted from the 1950 children's novel Swiftwater by Paul Annixter. The film was produced by Walt Disney and directed by Norman Tokar. It was the last credit for veteran film composer Max Steiner. TCM: Those Calloways (1965)
It stars Brian Keith, Vera Miles, Brandon deWilde, Walter Brennan, Ed Wynn and Linda Evans.
Following the patterned formula for Disney family entertainment, the film follows the trials and tribulations of a Vermont family over a period of time as they attempt to establish a sanctuary for the Canada geese that stopover in their rural community during their seasonal bird migration.
Filming location New England filming contributes to the film's appeal.
Brandon deWilde had previously worked with Walter Brennan in 1956's Good-bye, My Lady and with Brian Keith in the 3-part The Tenderfoot for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1964.
Cam has his sights on making $1100 to buy 30 acres of surrounding Swiftwater Lake, where he will plant a patch of maize to lure the geese into his proposed sanctuary. The final mortgage payment on Cam's own property is also coming due, so with winter approaching he and Bucky seek a virgin area to set out two , hoping for a lucrative season in fox and Stoat that will finance Liddy's dreams for a nice home as well as his own. They scout the rough Jack pine Valley, an area never trapped before because it is unknown to the local whites and feared as a place of bad spirits by the Micmacs. Disregarding his own superstitions, Cam forges ahead but falls and breaks his leg.
Bucky and Sounder return to the Jackpine to set out their lines and spend the season working them. When most of the traps are ravaged by a wolverine, Bucky saves the fur season and an injured Sounder by killing the wolverine when it attacks him. Unfortunately the bottom of the fur market has inexplicably fallen out and they realize only a quarter of the profits they have planned for. In his despair, Cam spends nearly all of it as a down payment on buying Swiftwater Lake. As a result, he is unable to pay off the loan on their home and he and his family are evicted. Forced to move to the lake, the Calloways are surprised when many of their neighbors help them build a new home.
Meanwhile, Dell Fraser, a traveling salesman, schemes to convert Swiftwater into a resort for goose hunters. Posing as a conservationist photographer, Dell feigns interest in the project and gives Cam money to plant the corn patch. When the corn comes in, Bucky learns of the deception and Cam confronts the profiteers. Cam drunkenly tries to burn his corn patch to thwart the plan but Liddy saves it. After Cam is seriously wounded by a hunter's shotgun blast, the entire town rallies around him. They organize a petition asking the federal government to buy the marshland for a Nature preserve and keep it out of the hands of the hunters. As Cam recovers from his wound, Fraser and his cohorts leave town, and the dream of those Calloways becomes a reality.
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