Emperor of the North Pole (1973)

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writer:

Christopher Knopf (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Lee Marvin & Ernest Borgnine meet in the fight of the century.

Plot:

It is during the great depression in the US, and the land is full of people who are now homeless. Those people...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Hobo | Great Depression | Railway | Sadist

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	A No. 1
Ernest Borgnine	...	Shack
Keith Carradine	...	Cigaret
Charles Tyner	...	Cracker
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Hogger
Simon Oakland	...	Policeman
Harry Caesar	...	Coaly
Hal Baylor	...	Yardman's Helper
Matt Clark	...	Yardlet
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Gray Cat (as Elisha Cook)
Joe Di Reda	...	Dinger (as Joe di Reda)
Liam Dunn	...	Smile
Diane Dye	...	Girl in Water
Robert Foulk	...	Conductor
James Goodwin	...	Fakir

Also Known As:

Emperor of the North (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

118 min | 116 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1973) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1987) | USA:TV-PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1973) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Cottage Grove, Oregon, USA

Company:

Inter Hemisphere

Trivia:

Final film of Malcolm Atterbury.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Among the freight cars seen in the train yard is a plug-door boxcar. These were not invented until the 1960s.

Quotes:

A no. 1: You got a chance to be a good bum. You can be a meat eater, kid. I mean people, not their garbage.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paranoid Park (2007)

Soundtrack:

A Man and a Train

Based on Jack London story

The credits of Aldrich's Emperor of the North don't mention the fact that it is an adaptation of Jack London's story 'The Road'.

The Road is a long short story/short novel, based on London's own experiences as a young man, riding the rails as a hobo. Most importantly, the central conflict between Borgnine's Shack and Marvin's A Number One, and the methods both use to overcome their enemy are very closely based on the Jack London story, in which a group of hobo's set out to ride the train on which a particularly brutal shack, or railway guard works.