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Friday, June 2, 2017

SIFF 2017: 'Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey' (2017) Movie Review



Fred Beckey is something of a myth, a legendary “dirtbag”—think a vagabond ski bum for the mountaineering set—who sacrifices everything to climbing. Normal people don’t know his name, but the hardcore speak of him with reverence and awe. It’s difficult to live up to such hype, but when we meet the man himself in Dave O’Leske’s documentary, Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey, he more than lives up to the billing.


At one point, an ex-girlfriend—one of many—calls him, “A different sort of creature,” and there’s no better description. Beckey makes for perfect documentary fodder. He’s led a fascinating life and had a wide-reaching impact, but outside of certain small circles and a specific niche, he’s almost wholly unknown.



And he’s also a bit of a wingnut. While it recounts his earlier years, Dirtbag also keeps up with his current life, tracking him from his mid-80s into his 90s, where he’s still trying to summit mountains and leave his mark. Even today, he talks a mile a minute, always with an eye towards the skyline.

Singularly driven, starting as a youth in Seattle, Beckey began climbing mountains and never stopped. He owns first ascents on peaks all over the world and has climbed just about anything you can climb. But like any obsessive, this comes with a cost. He never married or had kids; he’s left a trail of burned bridges behind him; and watched colleagues, friends, and lesser climbers become stars, get all the glory, and find success. Not that any of that matters to him. For the most part, he appears perfectly happy and satisfied.



Beckey is an iconoclastic outsider wholly by choice. Everything in his life is second to the climb. There’s an enviable freedom to this way of living, where he’s beholden to no one and nothing but himself. Dirtbag features endless stories from friends about Fred dropping everything to drive cross-country for an ascent or to find the next adventure.

There’s an unbridled joy, but there’s also a lingering sadness. Again, he’s paid a steep price. A meticulous note-taker—he’s written multiple climbing guides and books—he lives surrounded by envelopes cataloging various climbs, ascents, and routes. He has friends and well-wishers, but while it’s funny to watch him scroll through his phone looking for his next climbing partner, it’s equally heartbreaking to see him fail and realize how alone he is.



And while his mind remains sharp, over the course of the film, we see age finally start to catch up with and overtake him. Though his spirit is still willing, he continually, doggedly tries and fails to conquer mountains, trails, and routes he could have done with his eyes closed in earlier days. This takes a toll, and his heart is still in the game, but his body simply can’t keep up.

Rebellious and uninhibited, Fred Beckey inspires and frustrates, enthralls and confounds. It’s easy to see why he attracted people to him like moths to fire for his whole life. He’s compelling, engaging, and kind of a dick, and all of this makes Dirtbag, playing as part of the Seattle International Film Festival, fascinating and entertaining as all hell. [Grade: B+]



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