The Bears and I

Now on his own in the Cascades, inspecting his rented cabin, Vietnam veteran Bob (Patrick Wayne, John’s son) narrates his first encounter with the title characters, in the Walt Disney live action feature The Bears And I, 1974.

Patrick Wayne, second son of John and his first wife Josephine Saenz, in one of his few starring roles, strides through the Cascades in British Columbia, directed by Bernard McEveety, with a licensed John Denver song that reached #13 that year, amid his streak of #1 hits, opening Walt Disney’s The Bears And I, 1974.

Patrick Wayne’s opening narration as U.S. Army veteran Bob Leslie (a real person, the original author), hiking through the Cascades in British Columbia, and meeting friends and family of his late comrade, including Valentin de Vargas, Michael Ansara and Chief Dan George as Chief Peter, in Walt Disney’s The Bears And I, 1974.