The Call of the Wild (1975)
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 incredibly dog Buck is by his side and part of how he survives.
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Too much of everything
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Because you don't see things through buck"s point of view much of the character development is missing. If you're looking for the best movie version though, this one would win
*Spoiler/plot- Call of the Wild, 1972. Two miners go to the North West territories during the gold strike there to get rich quick off the miners.*Special Stars- Charlton Heston.*Theme- Hard work is it's own best reward.*Trivia/location/goofs- TV show drama, Black & White.*Emotion- A rather slow version of the normally exciting tale about two guys and their special dog team in the frozen North country.*Based on- Jack London's story of the struggle to survive in snow North.
For a dog-lover, it is a moving and heart-touching story. For any other viewer, it is an old movie that features a bunch of sled dogs and Alaska. You really must read the book by Jack London before seeing the film. It follows the plot but it does confuse matters.The dog stunts do look very real and do tend do worry you. Fortunatly, you are assured before the movie begins that no animals were harmed in the making of the film. It was good quality for the time period with well-trained animals and nice camera shots. The soundtrack could have been improved but works for the general atmosphere. I was also disappointed by Buck's appearance. He was a German Shepherd mix as described in the book but was presented as a Newfoundland in the film. Curly was also the wrong breed. None of this honestly mattered once the film got started.It is no match for Disney's White Fang but Call of the Wild does come as its infamous partner.
All in all it felt like a made for TV flick. The greatest moment of the story and other movie versions, is the prospectors crossing the lake, however, here we hear a woman scream then see a close up of her going under. Big disappointment. The director should have played that up, but with the budget the movie could have done worse.The editing was jagged and tended to distract from the flow of the movie. Chuck Heston is good in it and even if you dont like him you should watch it just to see him willingly give up his firearm in one scene. It was an enjoyable adaptation and worth the $2.99 I paid for the DVD.