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Bookmark this pageThe Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
Director: Robert Aldrich
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Set during the Depression, Aldrich's film starts out from a lovely gamesmanship premise derived from the legendary enmity between railwaymen and the hoboes who rode the rails. It's a duel to the death, developed with dark humour and nailbiting excitement, between Borgnine's sadistic guard - up to all the tricks and armed with a fearsome array of sledgehammers and steel chains - and Marvin's laconically contrary hobo, whocannot resist the challenge of making a lie of Borgnine's boast that no one has ever jumped his train and lived to tell the tale. A pity, perhaps, that the script pursues a vague political allegory instead of exploring its characters more deeply, but the vivid background detail (including a Baptist river-dunking which is the occasion for a cheeky theft of clothes) is brilliantly realised.Author: TM
User reviews of this film
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- mark ingram said...
- Posted on Sep 09 2008 12:22 perfect role for lee marvin,nobody else could have done it that easy & convicing.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Aldrich
Producer: Stan Hough
Cast: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner, Simon Oakland, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Duration: 119 mins
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