I've had this in the collection for years, but only realised that it belonged to the ultra-specific Italian sub-genre of "Spaghetti Westerns that take place in Alaska/Canada, and have a dog in them" after the first thirty seconds when the dog 'Buck' is introduced. Basically, its White Fang again. Sigh.
Buck is a dog who hangs out with a wolf pack but then gets caught up in human affairs when he hooks up with two kids. After gaining the trust of their father, Buck displays clairvoyant skills by trying to prevent the father heading to Dawson city. The father ignores these preternatural warnings and is swiftly killed by Indians about ten seconds later. Luckily for the kids two kind hearted gold prospectors turn up and everyone heads to Dawson city to avoid the Indians (one of which Buck kills, proving that he's not to be messed with). Unluckily for these prospectors, Jack Palance is the crooked businessman who is in charge of the town, and one dodgy card game later, the older of the two brothers gets the life jabbed out of him.
On the good side of Dawson city we have the other brother John, who also gets the green light from singer Joan Collins (her singing is the scariest thing about this film), Irish Barman Charlie, the two kids who start up a newspaper, and some lawyer guy the film forgets about. On the bad side is ugly bastard Jack Palance and his never ending parade of hired killers. I have realised from this film that Joan Collins, in young form at least, resembles my wife, as does Barbara Steele. What does it mean?
If you've been unlucky enough to sit through any of these White Fang films, you'll notice that this plot doesn't differ from any of the others. There's the kid who bonds with White Fang I mean Buck (who hilariously ditches the kid at the end!), the crooked businessman who tries to destroy all the good guys, and the macho hero who doesn't really do much at all until the end.
