BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 6, 2022
“Dead River Rough Cut,” shot over the course of a year in 1974 and released in 1976, followed Lane and Wagg as they lived on their terms — entirely off the land, in tarred-paper shacks in The Forks that once housed German prisoners of war, with little in the way of material possessions but with all the freedom the woods of Maine allows. The film has become a bit of a Maine cult classic, though it’s been little-seen outside the state. It’s a vital document of a way of life that’s now all but disappeared — one that had much in common with the Maine woodsmen of the 19th century. Lane and Wagg were two of the last Maine woodsmen. They died decades ago — but thankfully their way of life and story have been preserved.