Review: Emperor of the North Pole


Set in the Depression Era, with hoboes trying to hitch rides on trains. Sicko conductor named ‘Shack’ (Ernest Borgnine) doesn’t take kindly to free-loaders, and in fact, isn’t adverse to killing the mooching bastards. No one’s ever survived hitching a ride on his train, but veteran tramp Lee Marvin decides to take up the challenge, alongside green Keith Carradine, who isn’t really your usual hobo material. A familiar face, Charles Tyner, who next starred in Aldrich’s “The Longest Yard”, has a good role as one of Borgnine’s men, whilst amongst the hoboes are such legendary faces and names as Elisha Cook Jr. (from “The Maltese Falcon” to “Carny”), Sid Haig (“Coffy”, “House of 1,000 Corpses”), stage veteran Liam Dunn, and Vic Tayback (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”).



Rough, tough, and thoroughly enjoyable 1973 Robert Aldrich (“The Dirty Dozen”) flick, made in his inimitable, masculine style (and yet, this is the same guy who made “Baby Jane” and “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”). Marvin is a joy as the grizzled, sly old tramp, but Borgnine is superlative in one of his meanest, most sadistic and best-ever performances, aided by some choice close-ups I might add. Excellent supporting cast, headed by youthful Carradine, but some of the best (Elisha Cook, Matt Clark, and Sid Haig for instance) are barely glimpsed. Still, this is one helluva ‘guy movie’.



Scripted by Christopher Knopf (“Hell Bent for Leather”, with Audie Murphy), the film isn’t exactly rich with character development, but the main actors filled in most of the gaps for me that their rather symbolic characters perhaps didn’t. Excellent cinematography by Joseph Biroc (“The Towering Inferno”, “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”, “It’s a Wonderful Life”), but an abysmal title song sung by Marty Robbins.



Look, it’s Aldrich, Marvin, and Ernest Borgnine running around atop a train with a friggin’ axe. What more do you want? What more could you want? This is a bit of an unheralded minor classic, in my view, even if the characters might not be as fleshed out as some might prefer.



Rating: B+

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