The Other Side of the Mountain

Director: Larry Peerce (1975)

Cast: Marilyn Hassett, Beau Bridges, Belinda Montgomery, Nan Martin

The early 1970’s had a ton of sports movies that dealt with overcoming tragedy and dealing with heroic figures like Chicago Bears football player Brian Piccolo (“Brian’s Song”) and blind ice skaters “Ice Castles,” but one of the truly compelling true stories was skier Jill Kinmont, who overcame serious injuries to succeed in other areas.

In 1955 up-and-coming skier Jill Kinmont was injured in a skiing accident while training for a chance to be a member of the 1956 Olympic Ski team. Kinmomt is paralyzed from the shoulders down, but after feeling sorry for herself for a moment she realized she didn't want go through her life as a cripple and graduated high school and college and eventually taught remedial reading mainly in the Beverly Hills school district for many years and in the early 1970's she married John Boothe until her death in 2012.

Fun Facts: Lead actress Marilyn Hassett first appeared in the 1969 underrated film “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” which was a huge launching pad for Jane Fonda at the time. Hassett also made several TV appearances at the time in shows like “Emergency” and “The Six Million Dollar Man.”