Emperor of the North
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Movie Reviews of Emperor of the North
Movie Review: Disappointing Teaming of Classic Tough Guys
Summary: 3 Stars
Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine don't have to stretch very much to project on-screen toughness. Unfortunately, "Emperor of the North" isn't much of a stretch for either actor. My problems with the film are numerous. There isn't much of a story here and it's expanded to an overlong two hours. Director Robert Aldrich struggles with tone here. At times I feel like I'm watching a Warner Brothers cartoon and at other times the film gets overly serious and dark with violence that is over-the-top. It's most apparent in the penultimate confrontation between Marvin's king of the hoboes and Borgnine's sadistic train conductor. Not only is this sequence a disappointment it is excessively violent. Keith Carradine is also on hand here as a tag-along to Marvin's character. I can't decide whether Carradine's performance is annoying or it's just the way the character is written.Movie Review: deserves more than five stars
Summary: 5 Stars
i must say that this is one of the best films ever made. the best railroad film for sure. anyway lee marvin and ernest borgnine were great in this motion picture. one of the best train films you will ever see.Movie Review: Best Railroad Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I have often wondered why this movie never appeared on DVD. This may be the best railroad movie of all time. It has great plot, a great cast and it's believable. Even if you've never considered becoming a hobo, after seeing this film you'll be able to relate.Movie Review: "I can fight like a house on fire. I'm ready."
Summary: 4 Stars
Lee Marvin is terrific in this Depression era action-on-the-railroad film, helmed by the great and seemingly unheralded Robert Aldrich. Ernest Borgnine is also good as the nemesis, the brutal and murderous Shack, captain of the No. 19 train, and the most feared captain in the land, what with a slew of weapons, hammers, chains, and a brilliantly used steel peg tied to a rope!
His match is made as Marvin's A-No.1, the toughest legendary bull out there, who takes the challenge of jumping the No. 19 when the upstart Cigaret, played by Keith Carradine, pawns A-No.1's exploits as his own. A-No.1 and Cigaret essentially partner up, reluctantly as the cliche holds, leading to a buddy film in the second act.
The writing, which is winning, keeps the action and the dialogue fresh, and the simple issue of a challenge between men desperate and full of pride to get somewhere, or not let someone get somewhere, stands out as a compelling characteristic of Depression-era men. Some memorable lines:
"...shot fulla holes by nobody knows..."
"...you coulda been a meat eater..."
"...beat The Shack, climbed the sky and slept with the
stars..."
"I can fight like a house on fire. I'm ready."
"I've got my monikers on towers from Seattle to Miami..."
"You ain't even ready for a half-grown girl..."
In no uncertain terms were the 1970's a high water mark for American film. The Emperor of the North Pole merely adds to such sentiment. Well written, acted, shot, with an illumination of the hopes and actions of desperation, in a time when nothing was safe, and home was truly where you hung your hat. Big ups to Lee Marvin here, and Borgnine, two old dogs who thrash their way through this, to a terrific climax on the end of the No. 19.
Movie Review: Hands down, the best railroad movie of all time!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're a working railroader or just a railfan, Emperor of the North deserves to be in your DVD collection. There is no better film out there about steam railroading, period. The opening scenes of No. 19 steaming through Oregon's scenic Doe River Valley are alone enough to recommend this DVD - rarely has a steam locomotive been captured so well on celluloid. Sure, the acting can get a little corny at times, but the train scenes more than make up for this.
FYI: the film was shot on the Oregon Pacific & Eastern out of Cottage Grove, Oregon. The "main" locomotive, No. 19, is a 2-8-2 Mikado type built by Baldwin in 1915 for the Caddo & Choctaw, and it later spent time on the McCloud River and the Yreka Western before being moved to the OP&E in 1971. For the movie, No. 19 was given a different tender and a basic black paint job lacking the fancy silver trim that it normally wore. Its main duty on the OP&E was to haul the Saturday-Sunday tourist train between the Village Green Station at Cottage Grove to Culp Creek, which it did from 1971-1988. There are some fantastic close-up scenes of No. 19 in Emperor of the North, and Malcom Atterbury is perfectly cast as "Hogger," No. 19's faithful engineer.
The other engine seen in the movie is 2-8-0 No. 5 from the Magma Arizona, an American Locomotive Company product of 1922. If you look carefully you'll see that it wore three numbers in Emperor of the North - #4, #27, and #5. Both of these engines still exist. No. 19 is at Yreka, California on the Yreka Western where it is being repaired to haul tourist trains again, and No. 5 is on display at a railroad museum in Galveston, Texas.
Unfortunately, the railroad as seen in the movie no longer exists. The OP&E tracks were torn up in 1988, and the right-of-way is now a hiking trail. Interestingly, Emperor of the North was not the first movie filmed along the OP&E, as in 1926 it was used for Buster Keaton's classic film, The General (at that time the railroad was still owned by a logging firm, the J. H. Chambers Lumber Company).
We've waited a long, long time for Emperor of the North to be released on DVD, and I'd like to give a heartfelt Thank You to 20th Century Fox for bringing back a classic!
- Jeff Terry