LEE MARVIN & ERNEST BORGNINE IN 'EMPEROR OF THE NORTH'

Foreign Poster for EMPEROR OF THE NORTH Year: 1973

EMPEROR OF THE NORTH has us believe that, during the Depression when hobos made their way jumping trains, the railway workers were deadlier than Germany's Stormtroopers...

Meanwhile, Hitler's American double, played by Ernest Borgnine, kills any and all vagrants with a big hammer, and when Lee Marvin successfully leaps a train, along with young, counter-culture representative Keith Carradine, Borgnine has to live up to his reputation and thus a battle between good and evil, Marvin and Borgnine, ensues in this Robert Aldrich venture directed and edited wonderfully, but is as far-fetched and convoluted as can be. The actors are good but much of the pulpy dialogue is downright embarrassing. Some terrific fight scenes occur even though the plot derails less than halfway through. A handsome wreck.