I’m agreeing with Optimstie here. This one really reminds me of The Final Sacrifice. The beautiful forestry scenery. Really cheap amateurish feel. But that’s why I love it! As good as this is I can’t get over the Native American guy bursting into spontaneous laughter. It’s really quite creepy. I haven’t seen this one for a while and I need to rewatch it ASAP.
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The auto-laughter is a standout in Cry Wilderness (1987). Who thought it was a good idea? And throughout the film? A head-scratcher. Particularly when Paul and the Rangers are laughing like there’s no tomorrow. Such weirdness aided by the atmosphere creates classic MST3K. This is the spitting image of Pod People (1983) and pairs so perfectly with it.
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So is BANG! the first revival-era original running gag? (Meaning it’s the first one to be presented chronologically. We have a few now.) It’s been used a lot this season (And gets me every time.)
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Yes. I think so. The first running gag of The Return and it had legs. Pretty Nice! is the other major running gag of the new ones. What am I missing? Those two are what stand out to me.
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There’s Capsule, but that one never made it outside of Yongary, I don’t think.
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Yes. Capsule would be the third. And I swear it appeared in another show. Since it’s one word it flies by you so fast. Like a CAPSULE!!! LOL!!!
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@TheHippy A fan of Cry Wilderness (1987)?
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A fan? Of course! It isn’t an instant classic like Reptillicus, and there are a few episodes I like better in the season, but it is fun. We get a bit more MST3K lore building here with KingaChrome, which I can’t think of without Paul Simon’s “KodaChrome” becoming an earworm (thanks a lot guys!).
The riffing picks up pace a bit from the previous episode here, and there really are a lot of good references that resonated with me… Seinfeld, The Honeymooners, Andy Griffith, Pee Wee Herman, the list goes on. They all just made me feel right at home. Reptillicus could have been a fluke, but Cry Wilderness proved to me that MST3K was back for good.
There are some pretty solid host segments in this episode as well. The bots as raccoons was a lot of fun, and I was super excited to see Pearl, Bobo, and Brain Guy drop by. Of course the cameos during host segments are non-stop in Season 11, and this really is just the first of the many great segments that result.
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Yeah, “BANG!” always gets to me too! 
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See, I find that one even creepier than all the weird laughing. [shrug] But to each their own. John Tallman isn’t actually Native American, either. Which adds an extra layer of discomfort to the proceedings. Again, just one fan’s opinion.
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MAybe my favorite episode of season 11. Probably the best find of great, brilliantly bizarre, riffable material of that season too.
And for the record, I’m not high , but my dog is, and I am…
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The films of MST3K have had more than their fair share of obnoxious snot-nosed punks as protagonists. But none of them provoke the same amount of revulsion as Paul does in this movie. Not Johnny of Time of the Apes. Not Sean of Gorgo. Not even Kenny of Gamera.
A particularly infuriating trait is how he always ignores instructions from adults, constantly running off after being told to stay. Now you might argue that this is no different from any other child protagonist. But what makes Paul different is how his actions always make the situation far worse.
Considering this, the whole premise where he ran away from his boarding school because some sort of mystical contact with Bigfoot warning him that his father was in danger is flawed. About the only time the dad was in peril was when he got trapped in a cave-in at an abandoned mine. Which his moronic son previously charged into after being told to stay put. The brat truly is a menace to himself and others.
Another unfortunate aspect is the Bigfoot costume. Compared to the one in Boggy Creek II, it’s very much an inferior design. It’s not like it was left to some random shmuck. A bit of research shows that special effects technician Michael Hoover has worked on quality productions like 2010, Ghostbusters, and Spider-Man 2. Then again, even the best can only do so much with sufficiently limited resources. Just look at some of the stuff Rick Baker produced in his own MST3K credits.
Finally, there’s the bizarre situation with the tiger. Early on, it’s implied that they have no idea what is menacing the local wildlife. But when the tiger is revealed, they act as if they always knew. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that a scene where they’re contacted by the circus from which the tiger escaped was cut. Personally, I’m not inclined to dig up an unedited copy to be sure.
And to any impressionable kids out there, you should realize that the portrayal of raccoons in this movie as lovable scamps has no basis in reality. The truth is that they are vicious little bastards, with a significant percentage of the wild variety being carriers of rabies.
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C’mere ya little disease vector 
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Lee’s expression in this picture screams “They know of our love!”
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It’s Just A Show 5. [MST3K 1102. Cry Wilderness]
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As I mentioned elsewhere, with all the bad gun handling in movies riffed here, I am surprised it took that long for this gag to start.
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I’m reviving this thread because I’ve been thinking about the plot hook, “your father’s in great danger.”
Assuming Paul wasn’t himself the danger (even though he seemed to embrace that role eagerly), was Paul’s father ever in great danger? If so, what exactly was the danger?
Bigfoot
The danger clearly was not Bigfoot, right? He’s Paul’s friend, and he knows that Will Cooper is Paul’s father. Besides, Bigfoot is the one who warns Paul of the danger. Does Bigfoot have some sort of werewolf-like murderous urge he cannot control unless he is around Paul?
The tiger
The circus tiger is clearly dangerous to other wildlife, but Paul’s father was already warned about a “mysterious beast”, and he seemed to be approaching the problem with semi-reasonable caution. He traveled with Jim, and both were armed.
other animals
True, some of the animals they designated as to-be-dealt-with-later were potentially dangerous, but we can assume that Will Cooper understood these animals well enough. And, again, Jim was with him, and they were armed. Granted, Jim is an idiot who would wrestle a wild bear while laughing, but Will could’ve easily run to safety while Jim was dispatched by the bear.
Red Hawk
Red Hawk seems to spend most of his time sitting and listening to the animals. He’s also dead, maybe. He seems harmless until he uses his Bigfoot amulet to command an animal to mutilate Morgan Hicks. Red Hawk’s vengeance is swift and deadly. Mostly peaceful, but at least capable of danger. Probably not dangerous to Paul’s father though.
high cholesterol or other potentially dangerous medical risk factors
We have insufficient data on the state of Will’s health. We do know he is physically active and relatively intelligent. His intelligence seems to decrease when Jim wrestles a bear., but he definitely has a sense of self-preservation.
Morgan Hicks
Morgan had too many guns and no respect for private property or other forms of privacy. He broke into Will’s cabin uninvited, armed with at least his finger guns. He also raided Will’s pantry, opened a bunch of food with reckless abandon, and clearly didn’t respect the owner of the property he was occupying. He is a U.S. Marshal, but he seems somewhat confused about the chain of command in such a role. He tells Will, “I get my orders from your higher-ups.” Will is a state (or perhaps county)-level forest ranger. We know this because the sheriff’s jurisdiction includes the forest (he says so). In short, Morgan is heavily armed, and doesn’t seem to understand who he is, where he is, or why he is there. Definitely dangerous.
If we ignore Paul, then Morgan Hicks seems to be the best source of great danger. That raises more questions, of course…
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I think Paul’s whole family is a source of danger for everyone around them.
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Hashtag: “THAT Shoulda’ Been Your Movie!!”
Too bad Marc Singer was busy that week.
[shrug] You write your script on a spent matchbook and three soggy bar napkins? You’re gonna’ get this.
The main question about Hicks is why he looks so much like David Duchovny but still this movie had no flying saucers. Tsk!
So you’re saying his family descended from those swamp-dwellers in Giant Leeches but moving away from the swamp didn’t help them any. Got it.
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I can sort of see that from the way Paul’s dad reacts upon seeing him in the woods. He isn’t freaking out and saying, “Oh my god! Why are you wandering in the woods?! I thought you were safely at school!” Instead, he seems to react as if Paul has escaped from school and hitchhiked after hallucinating about Bigfoot before.
Does he actually say, “I’ve told you a million times. There is no Bigfoot,” or am I remembering it wrong?
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