Jack London’s book ‘White Fang’ has had half a dozen movie adaptations and you’ll be pleased to learn that we are just going to have a look at one of them. This review is for the 1991 version starring Ethan Hawke and directed by ‘Grease’ helmer, Randal Kleiser. It’s a Disney adaptation and probably the safest and most family friendly of the bunch. It does have a couple of slightly upsetting moments that may cause the five year olds in our readership a small pause before they decide that it’s OK, no one has really been hurt.
The film is set at the time of the Klondike gold rush. Hawke plays ‘Jack’ - presumably named after the author as there is no one of that name in the book - one of many prospectors seeking their fortune. Jack is heading to his father’s gold claim and is a complete novice who gets robbed as soon as he arrives in town by Ajax out of ‘The Warriors’. He manages to traverse the steep mountain pass that leads to the gold fields and hooks up with his Dad’s old pals, Largo off ‘Never Say Never Again’ and poor old Seymour Cassel who plays a wolf banquet.
The two journeymen gold hunters take Hawke on their trip to bury a dead colleague at his favourite spot. As they set off we also witness a pack of wolves killing a rabbit - one claims a paw which it takes back to its lair to feed to its young cub. We later learn that this is a wolf/dog hybrid is of course, our old pal, White Fang.
The lads manage to spill the body into a frozen lake and lose most of their gear. They are being stalked by a pack of wolves and soon Cassel becomes their dinner. Largo and Jack form a bond and soon they are at Dad’s old claim. Meanwhile White Fang has grown up and is being looked after by native American, Grey Beaver - I think I’ve seen that film.
Grey Beaver gets conned out of White Fang by Ajax who starts to fight the dog/wolf for cash just as Jack strikes it rich. Can White Fang and Jack get together and forge the bond we always suspected they had?
This was a decent offering that had a few moments that made me forget it was a schmaltzy Disney interpretation, of this tough frontier text. I liked it when the blue corpse escaped from the coffin and dragged Jack under the ice of the frozen lake - bet that gave a few kids nightmares. To be fair the animal action betrayed any sense that the film was realistic with the central casting animals failing to deliver a drop of blood. The action was OK though, with a grizzly fight being the most impressive.
The mining was well done and my experiences of watching a dozen seasons of ‘Gold Rush’ meant that I enjoyed the proto-trommel and shaker beds. The cast were serviceable but clearly second string to the animals and scenery. Hawke didn’t convince as Jack and his relationship with the dog seemed perfunctory at best. It would have worked better if he had raised the wolf as a cub rather than just picking it up after a dog fight.
Largo went through the motions and Cassel became a motion just 20 minutes in. The baddies were scenery chewing bad, although they did exhibit most of the ‘boo hiss’ qualities their thinly written panto baddie roles deserved. The murderous showdown ended tamely with Ajax getting a bite on the bum for all of his nefarious deeds.
The gold strike seemed somewhat unlikely as did the cast's plans to bugger off to San Francisco the day after striking it rich.
I never bought into the boy and wolf bond, but the film was well shot and hit enough marks to allow it a pass on the ‘turned out well in the end’ front.
Best Bit - Grizzly Attack - ‘W’ Rating : 16/23
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