Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann

What do you do when a psycho “mountain man” apprehends you at gunpoint?

On May 11, 1966, a 17 year-old school girl from Shade Gap, Pennsylvania (Megan Follows), is kidnapped by some recluse hillbilly (David Morse) and forced to live in the wilds while on the run from authorities. David Soul plays an FBI agent while Dion Anderson is on hand as a Sheriff.

“Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann” (1991) is a TV flick that closely follows the true story with minor alterations. It was the most-watched primetime show of the week.

There are elements of "Deliverance" (1972), "First Blood" (1982) and another well-done TV movie, "Nightmare at Bittercreek” (1988). Of course it doesn’t have the budget of the first two, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a first-rate television film, realistic and compelling.

After watching, be sure to check out the 27-minute interview with Peggy Ann Bradnick on Youtube done on the 50th anniversary of the harrowing abduction in 2016. (The movie itself is also available on Youtube for free).

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Los Altos Hills, California, as well as nearby Cupertino & San Jose, at the south end of San Francisco Bay. While these locations are a far cry from south-central Pennsylvania, the producers did a good job of picking a lush, hilly area as a decent stand-in for the real locations.

GRADE: B