Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
- Original title
- Emperor of the North
- Directed by
- Robert Aldrich
- Genre
- drama film, action film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 2h 02m
- Rated
- PG
- Rating
- 6.8 of 10 from 144 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
Two hobos struggle to survive and outwit a sadistic railroad conductor during the Great Depression in 1930s Oregon. The older hobo takes on a young companion, and together they try to ride a train against the conductor's brutal orders.
roughbleakgrittytenseslow-burngrimdarkly comicvisceral
What happens
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 an 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. 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Girls of the Road (1940)
Paper Moon (1973)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
The Sting (1973)
Hex (1973)
Of Mice and Men (1968)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.