Emperor of the North (1973)
May 23, 1973Release Date
Emperor of the North (1973)
May 23, 1973Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Lee Marvin
A No. 1
Ernest Borgnine
Shack
Keith Carradine
Cigaret
Charles Tyner
Cracker
Malcolm Atterbury
Hogger
Simon Oakland
Policeman
Harry Caesar
Coaly
Hal Baylor
Yardman's Helper
Matt Clark
Yardlet
Elisha Cook Jr.
Gray Cat
Joe Di Reda
Dinger
Liam Dunn
Smile
Diane Dye
Girl in Water
Robert Foulk
Conductor
Jim Goodwin
Fakir
Raymond Guth
Preacher
Sid Haig
Grease Tail
Karl Lukas
Pokey Stiff
Edward McNally
Yard Clerk
John Steadman
Stew Bum
Vic Tayback
Yardman
Dave Willock
Groundhog
Don Blackman
Old Shine (uncredited)
Jack Collins
Dispatcher (uncredited)
Richard Daughty
The Cub (uncredited)
Bennie E. Dobbins
Mechanic (uncredited)
Dennis Falt
Hobo Camp Occupant (uncredited)
Joe Haworth
Ash Eater (uncredited)
Lance Henriksen
Railroad Worker (uncredited)
Harry Hickox
Elder (uncredited)
Bern Hoffman
Halfy (uncredited)
James Kingsley
Machinist (uncredited)
Ralph Montgomery
Alkee Stiff (uncredited)
Hal Jon Norman
Hobo (uncredited)
Danny 'Big Black' Rey
Hobo (uncredited)
Wayne Sutherlin
Gink (uncredited)
Forrest Wood
Station Agent (uncredited)
Robert Aldrich
Director
Christopher Knopf
Writer
Jack London
Story
Stanley Hough
Producer
Frank De Vol
Original Music Composer
Joseph F. Biroc
Director of Photography
Kenneth Hyman
Executive Producer
Saul Wurtzel
Unit Production Manager
Malcolm R. Harding
Assistant Director
Michael D. Moore
Second Unit Director
Larry Powell
Second Assistant Director
Barry Steinberg
Second Assistant Director
Richard Overton
Sound Mixer
Frank Capacchione
Associate Editor
Roland Gross
Associate Editor
Dave Davies
Unit Publicist
Jack Baur
Casting
Michael Luciano
Editor
Jack Martin Smith
Art Direction
Media.
Details.
Release DateMay 23, 1973
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 58m
Content RatingPG
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
Emperor of the North Pole is a 1973 American action adventure film directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, and Charles Tyner. It was later re-released on home media (and is more widely known) under the shorter title Emperor of the North, ostensibly chosen by studio executives to avoid being mistaken for a heartwarming holiday story. This original title is a homage to the historic joke among Great Depression-era hobos that the world's best hobo was "Emperor of the North Pole", a way of poking fun at their own desperate situation, implying that somebody ruling over the North Pole would reign over nothing but a vast, barren, cold, empty, and stark wasteland.
The film depicts the story of two hobos' struggle (esp. vs. "The Establishment") during the Great Depression in 1930s Oregon. Its screenplay is quite significantly inspired by three separate yet inter-related self-published seminal writings from earlier decades: Jack London's 1907 travel memoir, The Road; and two lesser-known books, both by legendary hobo "A-No.-1", pen-name of Leon Ray Livingston: The Trail of the Tramp (1913) and From Coast to Coast with Jack London, his 1917 travelogue.
Carradine's character, Cigaret, uses the moniker that Jack London used during his hobo escapades, and like London, is portrayed as a young traveling companion to the older Livingston's A-No.-1 (played by Marvin), but that is where (some assert) the similarity between Carradine's character and Jack London ends, as Cigaret is portrayed in the film as immature, loud-mouthed, and not bright, opposite A-No.-1's gracious and graceful seasoned veteran.