Donner Pass: The Road to Survival (1978)
TV MovieAdventureDramaHistoryWestern
A grim incident from American pioneer history is recreated as a determined group of settlers, facing almost insurmountable odds, struggles to reach California in 1846. Already divided by internal dissension over the choice of a leader and the selection of a route, the wagon train is soon decimated by Indian raids, a scarcity of food and water, and the unrelenting forces of nature. Finally after months of hardship, the party reaches the High Sierras, only to be stranded in the middle of the pass by an early snowstorm. And as fear of an agonizing death from starvation forces the abandonment of conventional rules of human behavior, the pioneers face a new enemy - each other.
Director: James L. Conway
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Robert Fuller as James Reed |
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Andrew Prine as Lewis Keyser |
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Michael Callan as William Eddy |
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Diane McBain as Margaret Reed |
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John Anderson as Patrick Breen |
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John Doucette as George Donner |
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Cindy Eilbacher as Mary Graves |
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Royal Dano as Sutter |
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Gregory Walcott as Will Mckutcheon |
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Lance LeGault as Charles Stanton |
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Whit Bissell as Uncle Billy Graves |
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Peggy Stewart as Mrs. Breen |
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Reid Cruickshanks as John Synder |
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Robert Carricart as |
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Rudy Diaz as |
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Brian Erickson as |
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John Hansen as |
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Paul Grace as |
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Barta Heiner as Sarah Fosdick |
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Augustin Vallejo as |
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George Barrows as |
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Richard Jury as |
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Elaine Daniel as |
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Michael Ruud as |
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Jorge Moreno as |
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Kristen Curry as Virginia Reed |
| Writing | S.S. Schweitzer | Writer |
| Art | Paul Staheli | Art Direction |
| Production | James Simmons | Producer |
| Production | Charles E. Sellier Jr. | Executive Producer |
| Sound | Bob Summers | Music |
| Editing | Trevor Jolly | Editor |
| Directing | James L. Conway | Director |
| Crew | Henning Schellerup | Cinematography |