Charlton Heston, Raimund Harmstorf, Michele Mercier, George Eastman, Maria Rohm. Based on the novel by Jack London. Director: Ken Annakin.
John Thornton is a fearless man who’s after more than gold; he wants to do what’s right. Thornton works for the U.S. mail and is the only person daring and smart enough to figure out how to travel the deadly 600 miles from Skagway to Dawson, Alaska in the icy winter. His incredible dog Buck is by his side and is part of how he survives.
Prospector John Thornton (Charlton Heston) and his companion Pete (Raimund Harmstorf) seek gold in the snow-drenched mountains of Yukon.
They employ the services of a German Shepherd and huskies to plow through the snow. The two set up camp and later make it to a settlement on the mountain where they encounter some dodgy characters and a change in direction complications ensue.
There was a 2020 version of Jack London’s book The Call of the Wild, but to my surprise, there was an earlier film version, from 1972, which I review here. In this 1972 version, the lives of huskies and German Shepherds are given due consideration in this film for families. For a film with a narrow range of action, the direction and movement of the film are paced well and the story is immediate.
In a brief scene, the key character’s liberality with a female does not score one for families, but one should find some empathy for the lives of huskies and German Shepherds in what amounts to a criticism of the gold prospectors of the time, those ones who treated their animals unfairly. But the film has a good word for caring owners.
Set around the turn of the 19th century, prospectors are seeking riches and gold in the Yukon snow-drenched mountains, and central to this are the dogs who carry their owner’s belongings and tools on sleds.
Some dogs are treated like slaves in the name of a get-rich-quick scheme, using whips, and forcefully pushing the sleds up ridges and on thick snow. Yet you think that the prospectors should have a sense of goodness yet they seem hell-bent on their ‘mission’ to get gold no matter what they do to the dogs. Though one is a good one, played by Charlton Heston, it’s the dogs who are the thematic backbone of the story treat your animal well and a dog knows a good owner.
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