Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone “ride the rails” for free.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• A No. 1: Lee Marvin
• Shack: Ernest Borgnine
• Cigaret: Keith Carradine
• Cracker: Charles Tyner
• Hogger: Malcolm Atterbury
• Policeman: Simon Oakland
• Coaly: Harry Caesar
• Yardman’s Helper: Hal Baylor
• Yardlet: Matt Clark
• Gray Cat: Elisha Cook Jr.
• Dinger: Joe Di Reda
• Smile: Liam Dunn
• Girl in Water: Diane Dye
• Conductor: Robert Foulk
• Fakir: Jim Goodwin
• Preacher: Raymond Guth
• Grease Tail: Sid Haig
• Pokey Stiff: Karl Lukas
• Yard Clerk: Edward McNally
• Stew Bum: John Steadman
• Yardman: Vic Tayback
• Groundhog: Dave Willock
• Old Shine (uncredited): Don Blackman
• Dispatcher (uncredited): Jack Collins
• The Cub (uncredited): Richard Daughty
• Mechanic (uncredited): Bennie E. Dobbins
• Hobo Camp Occupant (uncredited): Dennis Falt
• Ash Eater (uncredited): Joe Haworth
• Railroad Worker (uncredited): Lance Henriksen
• Elder (uncredited): Harry Hickox
• Halfy (uncredited): Bern Hoffman
• Machinist (uncredited): James Kingsley
• Alkee Stiff (uncredited): Ralph Montgomery
• Hobo (uncredited): Hal Jon Norman
• Hobo (uncredited): Danny ‘Big Black’ Rey
• Gink (uncredited): Wayne Sutherlin
• Station Agent (uncredited): Forrest Wood

Film Crew:

• Original Music Composer: Frank De Vol
• Producer: Stanley Hough
• Story: Jack London
• Director: Robert Aldrich
• Director of Photography: Joseph F. Biroc
• Writer: Christopher Knopf
• Unit Production Manager: Saul Wurtzel
• Associate Editor: Roland Gross
• Second Assistant Director: Barry Steinberg
• Second Assistant Director: Larry Powell
• Associate Editor: Frank Capacchione
• Sound Mixer: Richard Overton
• Executive Producer: Kenneth Hyman
• Assistant Director: Malcolm R. Harding
• Second Unit Director: Michael D. Moore
• Unit Publicist: Dave Davies
• Casting: Jack Baur
• Editor: Michael Luciano
• Makeup Artist: William Turner
• Property Master: Ygnacio Sepulveda
• Title Designer: Walter Blake
• Construction Coordinator: John LaSalandra
• Camera Operator: Kenneth Peach Jr.
• Set Decoration: Raphael Bretton
• Script Supervisor: Howard Hohler
• Camera Operator: Joe Jackman
• Special Effects: Henry Millar Jr.
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Theodore Soderberg
• Art Direction: Jack Martin Smith
• Stunt Double: Walter Scott

Movie Reviews:

• John Chard: Nobody gets a free ride on this train!
• It’s the great depression and the US is now home to many homeless hobos. Shack is a particularly nasty piece of work, devoid of any compassion for the homeless, he prides himself on not letting any one ride free aboard the train he conducts upon. But in the midst is hobo supreme, A No. 1, a man who is never afraid to take up a challenge, so along with Cigaret, a young wannabe legend, he sets about destroying Shack’s reputation whilst furthering his own.
• Make no bones about it, Emperor Of The North Pole is unashamedly macho, director Robert Aldrich filling his picture with machismo beefcakes and molding a story of brawn versus brawn aboard the unlikely setting of a steam train journey. Boasting Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine (both excellent) as the twin main leads signals the films intent, yet the picture offers more than just egotistical bluster. We get a very engrossing feel of a most depressing time in history, a time when men wanted to be men but were struck down by misfortune. Some of the dialogue is very sharp, listen to Marvin’s A No. 1’s wry observations on the world and you know that this film has quite a bit to say.
• The other major thing to note is that some of the technical work is brilliant, the photography from Joseph F. Biroc is priceless, and some of the train sequences are feasts for the eyes. Aldrich’s undervalued flair for action also comes to the fore here, from a near miss train crash to the defining confrontation between our two pit bull protagonists, it really is a most accomplished piece across the board. Even young Keith Carradine as Cigaret comes out with much credit, it would have been easy for him to have been lost under the sheer weight of the beef talent around him, but he holds his own and is integral to the picture’s ultimate success.
• It’s a difficult one to recommend with any great confidence because it has kind of got an acquired taste to it, but to me it remains one of the 70s hidden treasures. Simply put it’s a film that I’m always going to have the utmost regard for. 9/10