Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Matthew_Capitano A pioneer family heads out west. All of them are likable enough except for the oldest boy, John Sager, whom, if I were working on this family's farm, he would be found hanging from the nearest tree by nightfall.A perennial bully, John Sager isn't worth the stink of the farts he pushes out. His lazy, lying, loathsome presence wouldn't make good fertilizer, but the parents (Dewey Martin and Anne Collings) haven't quite given up on the little sonuvabitch yet.Other poor souls who must contend with John's evil and hateful self are Billy Shaw (James Griffiths) and Kit Carson (Dean Smith). Most of the children in the film are real-life siblings, but the best actress of these is the non-related little girl, Debbie Van Orden.Passable family fare. Good performances by Martin, Collings, and Smith.

ShelbyTMItchell Really a great family film for the whole entire family. As saw this as an fifth grader at school. Really a touching movie about a family that is wanting to have a really better life over in Oregon.But things really in the middle get very complicated. As both parents die on the way to Oregon. The father over a blood illness after an Indian attack and the mother from pneumonia.As the oldest brother John, described as worthless and lazy from not just his father but the other adults on the Oregon trail. As the other people in the wagon train go back to Missouri feeling that going to Oregon is only going to make it worse.And they do not get or want the kids along with them. As John takes the lead and tries to make the dream a possibility despite butting heads with other siblings. But still, really a good family film!

bcolquho I never read the book that this movie's based on. It's about the Sager Party. The father, Henry, the mother Naome, and six children, starting with the oldest son, John, who leave Missouri for Oregon along the Oregon Trail in 1844. At the time they leave, Naome, John's mother, is pregnant with a seventh child. Catherine, born along the way, comes into a world of hardship. Henry dies of blood poisoning in an Indian raid. Naome, the mother, dies of pneumonia. The other members of the wagon train don't want John and his six brothers and sisters in the wagon train and order them to go back to Missouri. All the men in the wagon train regard John as shiftless and lazy. However, John refuses to turn back and is determined to get his family to Oregon. Along the way, they meet Kit Carson, and other historical characters. A couple of reviewers didn't like it. I liked it when it was on TV back in '70s. It should be remembered that back in the '70s, it didn't take very long for movies to make it to television from the movie screen.

MickeyTo Take a bad script, some lousy acting and throw in a politically incorrect morality tale and what do you get? Something that is supposed to pass for quality family viewing.Seven Alone is the story of a family in the 19th century who travel across America in a wagon train, hoping for a new life in Oregon. There are seven children (three boys, three girls and a baby whose sex I'm not quite sure of) hence the title of the film.The story opens up with the family living a seemingly normal 19th century life on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Eldest son John is a precocious teenager, 'lazy and good for nothing' as his father constantly reminds him. We see right off the bat that he has a penchant for practical jokes when he ties string to the hair of his sleeping sisters and connects it to a nearby mule. When the mule is moved of course the poor girls are jolted out of bed. John is caught by his father and is immediately punished with a strap.That same day a wagon train passes through. Pa is tempted to join up as it promises a new life in the wild, wild west. So the family hitches up their belongings and head off.From the very beginning the film seems weak and amateurish. The acting is below grade, as if from one of those films shown in school about the pioneers. I can't blame the actors, however, because the lines in this film are silly and just too sickeningly sweet and optimistic. I must tell you that I caught this film while flipping channels one boring Saturday afternoon on a Christian television station. Not of a religious mind myself, I watched in horror as Seven Alone offered up moral statements that were not only outdated, but downright offensive! If I were a good Christian I would hope that I would have had the good sense to complain to the television station for airing such trash. However, because I am a cynical, non-believer with a wicked sense of humor, I chose to sit back and laugh myself silly.In one of the opening scenes, the role of the father as the stern ruler of the house is established when he proposes the idea of heading off for Oregon to his wife. Her response is a heated "Over my dead body." We are expected to laugh, I suppose, as the film cuts to the next scene with Pa and Ma smiling as he steers the wagon along through the prairies. Oh I suppose even the most staunch feminist would have to admit that this 'Father-knows-best' attitude was the norm in those days, and one could argue the need for such dictatorial rule when living conditions were difficult, but I somehow got the feeling that this film supported that notion, even for today. Lovely message coming from a Christian television station.Anyway, things get worse for the family, and the films moral integrity is further diminished. An Indian (or Native American) robs John as he lay sleeping in a field. Like a common savage, the Indian takes Johns clothes and belongings. Thankfully Pa, with the help of passerby Kit Carson, is able to kill the Indian, as well as a couple of his delinquent friends. Kit Carson tells John that his father is a true hero.The family is accompanied by the wagon train's resident doctor, Dr. Dutch (played by Aldo Ray). He shares Pa's sentiments about John, stating that he is a useless brat. Perhaps so, but he also the best thing about this film. Aldo Ray's doctor is buffoon, who seems unable to tie his own shoes, let alone treat one of the girls for a broken leg. Thankfully the young child didn't cry when the wagon ran over and snapped her leg in two, because Dr. Dutch didn't seem to have the appropriate bedside manner. We know the drawbacks of constantly belittling a child. Here's a film that promotes that behavior.Later on Pa develops food poisoning, or something, I wasn't paying much attention, and he dies. His death bed scene is the stuff great acting is made of. Frankly, the man didn't even look sick.Soon after, Ma dies too. The children are left to fend for themselves. And that's when the real adventure begins. Slugging it through the rapids, encountering more Indians (these ones are nice though) and venturing through snowy terrain, these children do it all. And I was left thinking, "What a bunch of garbage!"Sorry, but there was nothing redeeming about this film. This low-budget Little House on the Prairie is a shameful waste of time and an insult to 'families' everywhere. I'm surprised that in 1975, at the tail end of the feminist movement, and at a time when treatment of Native Americans was coming into focus, that something like this could actually be made.