The film deals with the stark realities of an isolated ranching family pitting itself against the forces of nature an early winter snowstorm, and the ravages of a wild panther
Mitchum's character, Curt Bridges is on the hunt and also struggling to survive
If we meditate the way he measures it, we see how his mind begins more and more to wander and less and less able to focus
We see him more and more aware of pain and discomfort
His hope comes and diminishes and departs and then returns
So there's an unceasing sense of doom in those sequences that simply were hunting
The brothers represent different approaches by man to nature
Curt wants to dominate nature, wishes to control it
Arthur is just the opposite
He is so gentle and understanding that he can't deal with nature
He doesn't have the hardness that Curt has
And there's Harold who was the successful one because he has enough strength to deal with harshness of nature
The Indian is the one who believes in the cat as a myth, as a mystery and as something almost sacred
Because of the legend of the cat he has Arthur carve wooden cats out every year to avert danger
Now this is a very sterile family
The old man only deal with life through drink and through remembering the past
The mother is a very unlikable woman
She is manipulative, and she simply wants to be heard
You don't see any love interests or connections except for the younger brother
Fear is very much a part of "Track of the Cat." It is the foreboding, ever-present backdrop really to the drama
