Emperor of the North

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.

Ernest Borgnine is the meanest sonofabitch on the railroad and Lee Marvin is the hobo who gives him a hard time riding the rails. The period is the Depression when hobos rode the rails with impunity and it was up to hard-as-nails guys like Ernest to stop them. Robert Aldrich's "Emperor of the North" is one of his male-orientated pictures, displaying a good deal of his signature brutality and while it's a minor work in the Aldrich canon it has much to recommend it; here it's the duel to the death between Marvin and Borgnine who makes for a truly nasty villain and is just one of the reasons why this is such a ridiculously entertaining picture. Nice work too from a young Keith Carradine as a fellow hobo with aspirations to take Marvin's crown as 'Emperor of the North'.

Impressive portrait of Depression . and splendid meet between Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. and,not the less, a young Keith Carradine as one of a cruel, liar, classic spoiled teenager looking for easy glory . a film who gives admirable cinematography, admirable performances, a perfect plot in each detail and a sort of lesson about the rules of the rules of hobos. long time, for me the performance of Borgnine was more than fascinating. not only for the character, so far by the many roles of him, but for the traits of bad guy who are more clear scene by scene. because that is the basic virtue of film - to be a realistic page of history. more than convincing, dramatic or touching. but usefull. for see the essence and for discover the attitudes in near reality. and, not the last, for feel. the old fashion cinema art.

When I first saw this movie, it was released as "Emperor of the North", although some of the early promos added "Pole' to the title. Since the top hobo of the old days was "Emperor of the North Pole", I assumed the studio wasn't sure if the average viewer would get the title. The literary character of A-number One, is based on a legendary hobo from the turn of the century, who was possibly real, as his graffiti 'A-1', or A-No-1, appeared regularly on water towers and bridges along the rails all over the USA. This film really gets the feel of a depression-era USA, and the conflict between Marvin and Borgnine is visceral and cunning, and the scene with the near-miss of the oncoming train has great tension. Carridine is great as a blowhard punk who might grow up to be something. This flick has an almost religious overtone of good versus evil. It also has a good feel for railroading, kinda like ""The Train"

Ernest Borgnine was superb as the murderous railroad agent intent on keeping a legendary hobo off his train. Lee Marvin gave one of his best performances as A#1, the hobo's hobo, who is equally set on riding the rails on Borgnine's unrideable #19. Keith Carradine almost stole the show as a useless, me first punk out to prove his manhood in the harsh hobo camps. Very realistic looking sets and the entire film captured the flavor of the depression era perfectly. 4 stars.