The Call of the Wild (1972)

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Federico De Urrutia (Italian version)
Hubert Frank (German version)

Release Date:

March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Tagline:

Jack London's epic saga of gold fever, romance and adventure.

Plot:

A house dog is abducted and brought to the north as a sled dog. |

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Tragedy | Dog Sled | Wolf | Gold Rush

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	John Thornton
Michèle Mercier	...	Calliope Laurent
Raimund Harmstorf	...	Pete (as Raymond Harmstorf)
George Eastman	...	Black Burton
Maria Rohm	...	Mercedes
Juan Luis Galiardo	...	Seze
Sancho Gracia	...	Taglish Charlie
Friedhelm Lehmann	...	Charles
Horst Heuck	...	Hal
Rik Battaglia	...	Dutch Harry
Alf Malland	...	Constantine
Alfredo Mayo	...	Judge Miller
Sverre Wilberg	...	Colonel
Olov Pedersen	...	Red Sweater
Per Amvik	...	François

Also Known As:

Il richiamo della foresta (Italy)
L'appel de la forêt (France)
La selva blanca (Spain)
Ruf der Wildnis (West Germany)

Runtime:

Norway:104 min | Spain:105 min | USA:100 min

Country:

UK | France | West Germany | Italy | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (cut) | Australia:PG | Norway:12 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Lapland, Finland

Company:

Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)

Quotes:

John Thornton: You hit that dog one more time, I'm gonna kill ya.
Hal: Go to hell! He's mine and I'll do what I like with him.
John Thornton: I shot four varmints already this morning. One more don't matter none to me.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997) (TV)

A Shadow in the Snow

***SPOILERS*** At the beginning of the movie we see this handsome and powerful German Shepherd leading a wolf pack as they run down and kill a caribou for their supper. Later looking under the icy river the dog sees his master frozen to death beneath it; The dog's name is Buck the master is John Thornton, Charlton Heston.

The story of Buck and how he became the leader of a wolf pack in the Yukon territory starts some time back in the sunny climate of Santa Clara Calif. It's 1897 and gold was discovered around the Klondike River in the Yukon and Alaskan territory's up north and dogs like Buck were worth their weight in gold as sled dogs in that country's deep snows and freezing weather. Dognaped by Judge Miller's, Alfredo Mayo, gardener Manuel for a price of $75.00 Buck was well on his way from being a sweet and loving pet to becoming a strong and ferocious wild animal.

Beaten and broken for weeks by a number of different owners of sled-dog teams Buck was almost dead when he was bought and put into the service of John Thorrnton and his partner Pete's, Ralmund Harmstorf, dog team. With John & Pete's kind and tender handling of him Buck became the lead sled dog and the most powerful and at the same time feared dog in the Yukon territory. Buck led the dog team in covering the treacherous 600 mile journey from Skaguay to Dawson as the lead sled-dog for John & Pete in record time when no other dog team and it's owners would dare to try it.

In the movie Buck is stolen a number of times from John, and was once almost shot and killed by the local bootlegger, but Buck always managed to escape and return home to John & Pete. It's later that the dog begins to yarn for his home in the wild. The reason Buck didn't go back to the woods, where he developed a strong friendship with the local Timber Wolves in the area, was his love for and loyalty to the persons who saved his life John & Pete.

Torn between his two kind and caring human masters and his wolf family Buck can't quite bring himself to break away from civilization to live in the wild. Later one night a band of local Indians attack the cabin where both John & Pete were staying in and ended up killing both of them. Buck and his wolf pack tried to come to their rescue but were too late to save them as we saw in the beginning of the movie.

With the two persons who Buck had a mutual bond with now gone Buck can now return to his distant descendants, the wild wolves, in the dark and cold woods of the Klondike. Buck, in th end, ended up answering to something that he understood and that was ingrained in his consciousness from the thousands of generations of canines over millions of years that he eventually evolved from: The Call of the Wild.