70s Rewind: EMPEROR OF THE NORTH
Times are tough all over. Nowadays, a desperate man might enter a winner-take-all MMA tournament and end up on a collision course with his estranged brother, as Joel Edgerton does with Tom Hardy in Warrior. Rewind to 1933, and that same man might become a hobo, riding the rails across America, and end up on a collision course with an angry, sadistic, downright mean son of a bitch, as Lee Marvin does with Ernest Borgnine in Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North.
Borgnine plays a bug-eyed conductor known as Shack, the absolute ruler of Engine 19. He will brook no hobos on his train, and he has become legendary for his steel hammer, which he is known to wield with a wicked smile on his face. No hobo has ever ridden for long on his train; he hunts intruders down with murderous intent, scaring them into jumping off or whacking them viciously with his hammer.
A-No. 1 (Marvin), however, is willing to test out Shack, and manages to sneak on board an empty freight car one morning. A young man who calls himself Cigaret (Keith Carradine) also jumps on, quickly establishing himself as an arrogant so-and-so. When A-No. 1 causes the train to stop and hops off safely, Cigaret is caught by railroad yard employees, and then begins to brag that he is the first hobo to ever catch a free ride on one of Shack's trains and live to tell the tale. That prompts A-No. 1 to make it known that he will ride Shack's train all the way to Portland without getting caught, setting up an epic -- and vicious -- game of cat and mouse between Shack, A-No. 1, and Cigaret.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about John Milius' Dillinger, released the same year as Emperor of the North and Paper Moon; all three films are set in the 30s, but it's Dillinger and Emperor of the North that I called spiritual brothers, "both being hard-bitten, down to earth portrayals of the criminal element."
I saw Emperor of the North for the first time in 2006, and it found a place on my "Top 10 Experiences" of the year. I wrote: "Whenever you're feeling down and out, you simply must plug this movie into your DVD player. Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine are the grottiest-looking hero/villain duos ever displayed on any screen, the pace is brisk, the scenery is beautiful, and you may even learn a thing or two about human nature. Weren't the 70s grand?"
A few years later, I included it in a feature I wrote for Cinematical on "Terrific Train Thrills," where I described it thusly: "The late, great director Robert Aldrich staged a series of brutal, kinetic battles on briskly-moving freight trains against the magnificent scenic backdrops of the Pacific Northwest. Depression-era hobo A-#1 (Lee Marvin) is determined to keep his position as the titular Emperor, able to ride any train he damn well pleases, while merciless train conductor Shack (Ernest Borgnine) is even more determined to keep all hobos off 'his' train. A-#1 and Shack wage an increasingly bloody war, with the interference / help of ambitious hobo Cigaret (Keith Carradine)."
Watching the Emperor of the North tonight, for the first time in five years, deepened my positive impressions of the film. In comparison with Warrior, what struck me was the bright and sunny landscapes in which Emperor is set. We never learn anything about Shack, other than he looks like he's constantly popping blood vessels and really doesn't want anybody to ride for free on his train. He'd fit perfectly well in an MMA tournament today; he might give Tom Hardy a bloody nose.
A-No. 1 (or A-#1, or "A No 1" as the end credits show) is gruff and charming. While we don't learn anything about his personal history either, we can see how the other hobos respect him. We want how he handles himself on the trains, and we know he's a crafty, quick thinking, mostly fearless survivor. We also see him break down and start to share his stored body of knowledge with Cigaret. Surprised and suspicious, Cigaret asks why, and A-No. 1 replies, "I don't know. I'm working on it."
Marvin and Borgnine had both worked under Aldrich's direction in 1967's The Dirty Dozen, but I think it's more fitting to compare Emperor to Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which pitted Bette Davis against Joan Crawford in a melodramatic battle between wily screen veterans who could really chew scenery when needed. Marvin and Borgnine are very entertaining to watch, though we never forget we're watching two Academy Award winners giving slightly hammy performances.
Originally released as Emperor of the North Pole, reportedly the film was pulled and retitled because it was felt that audiences were confused by the title, though it doesn't appear that anyone were much interested in the minimal amount of sentimental nostalgia on display. It's worth noting that American Graffiti was a monster hit in the summer of 1973, The Sting cleaned up at the end of the year, and Paper Moon also did well. Ah, the triumph of sentimental nostalgia!
Emperor of the North may have slipped away from public view for several decades, but the Region 1 DVD from 20th Century Fox is still widely available (and looks excellent), and a Region 2 DVD from Optimum Home Entertainment is available as well. For U.S. readers, it's also available to watch via Netflix's Instant streaming program.
If you want to talk about really good movies with the warrior spirit, Emperor of the North definitely belongs in that discussion.
