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Emperor of the North

Play trailer Poster for Emperor of the North PG 1973 1h 58m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
63% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A legendary hobo, A No.1 (Lee Marvin) is renowned for his expertise in riding the rails for free, but he meets his match with Shack (Ernest Borgnine), a fierce railroad conductor who mercilessly kicks stowaways off of his train. Joined by brash young hobo Cigaret (Keith Carradine), A No.1 manages to elude Shack but issues a challenge to the heavily armed conductor, announcing that he will ride the train for its entire route, leading to a violent showdown between the two strong-willed men.

Critics Reviews

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Judith Crist New York Magazine/Vulture Robert Aldrich's The Emperor of the North Pole, is hard, contrived, pointless in its thesis, repulsive in its people, singularly joyless and, above all, incredible in its concoction. Jun 29, 2020 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times The suspense of the film (which is so hugely violent that its PG rating is a mystery), is unrelenting and the performances first-rate. Rated: 3.5/5 May 20, 2006 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times The movie itself isn't sure where the basic conflict lies. Is it between Marvin and Borgnine, or between Marvin and the young punk he travels with? Even in the movie's key fight scene this confusion remains. Rated: 2.5/4 Oct 23, 2004 Full Review Dick Lochte Los Angeles Free Press Christopher Knopf's script is so arid, its dialogue so mountainous when silence would suffice, that we are very quickly lulled into a complete lack of interest. Dec 31, 2019 Full Review Bernard Drew Gannett News Service I can't recall ever seeing Marvin better. He plays a man with no past, little future and a shaky present, his every word and gesture indicates larger reserves of feeling, held in abeyance for a better day and a world which may receive it. Jul 22, 2019 Full Review Matt Brunson Creative Loafing Doesn't match the high-octane likes of such Aldrich efforts as The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Yard or even the offbeat, early-career twofer of The Big Knife and Ten Seconds to Hell, but it's a compelling piece of tough-guy strutting in a minimalist setting. Rated: 3/4 Sep 26, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Kenneth B One of the very best guy flicks of all time Forget about the violence, the language and the lack of special effects..if you're a male comfortable in his own skin, watch it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/06/25 Full Review CodyZamboni Quasi watchable comedy drama about the king of the hobos. Nice Oregon location cinematography and lots of famous faces in supporting roles. Strong but not empathetic performances by Lee Marvin and Ketih Carridine, as the hobo king and his wannabe hobo. But what makes the film is the mad dog , brutal, vicious performance by Ernest Borginine. He blows everyone off the screen. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/12/23 Full Review j f Best hobo movie I've ever seen. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Ashley H Emperor of the North is a decent film. It is about a legendary hobo who is renowned for his expertise in riding the rails for free, but he meets his match in a fierce railroad conductor. Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Robert Aldrich did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the adventure and drama. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review deke p Awesome! Loved it. From the first time I saw it, on the tv set, yars ago, I thot it was riveting. And it's on The Movie Channel again today, 4.2.22. (posted to RT with max 5 stars). Sadistic train engineer Borgnine fights king of the train-riding hoboes LEE MARVIN. + keith CARRADINE Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member It has some flaws, the comedy isn't very funny, the sound design sounds cheap sometimes, and the story doesn't always feel like it flows so smooth, but I thought Emperor of the North was an entertaining action-thriller with some intense scenes, dangerous looking stunt work pulled off by the actors, and good performances by Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Emperor of the North

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Emperor of the North

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Movie Info

Synopsis A legendary hobo, A No.1 (Lee Marvin) is renowned for his expertise in riding the rails for free, but he meets his match with Shack (Ernest Borgnine), a fierce railroad conductor who mercilessly kicks stowaways off of his train. Joined by brash young hobo Cigaret (Keith Carradine), A No.1 manages to elude Shack but issues a challenge to the heavily armed conductor, announcing that he will ride the train for its entire route, leading to a violent showdown between the two strong-willed men.
Director
Robert Aldrich
Producer
Stanley Hough
Screenwriter
Christopher Knopf
Production Co
Inter-Hemisphere, Twentieth Century Fox
Rating
PG
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 6, 2006
Runtime
1h 58m