Von Wölfen gehetzt

Not since Clash of the Ninja has there been a foreign film so retched, so putrid, so inane that you actually love it.

The story of this movie, well - from it's American title (White Fang and the Hunter) you'd figure it had something to do with Jack London's legendary wolf, right?

Wrong! This is the story of Daniel and Dollar the alcoholic (two hunters) and their quest to save Linda Burton's farm from the clutches of the Evil Mr.Furgusen.

Oh, did I mention that Daniel has a dog named white fang?

OK, now if you are a fan of crap, this is the movie to see - the editing sucks, the directing is horrid and the 'story' is as silly as it can get.

If you are a serious film buff, avoid this film like the plague. But if you love cheesy movies, give it a whirl - you laugh your face off.

Trust Alfonso Breschia to break my run of enjoyable Spaghetti Westerns! It's bad enough that he provided what I reckon must be the most painful Italian cinema experience around (War of the Robots), but here he is stinking up the wild west with his bad editing, brain damaged plot, endless scenes and a mood that literally sent me to snoozeland two nights running!

Please note however that this film in no way reaches such lows as War of the Robots. You can get through this one fairly unscathed...it's just that you'll also have to be very forgiving to the film.

Daniel is out hunting when he is crushed by an avalanche caused by Dollar. Obviously this makes them pals and the two of them, plus white fang, head into town for whiskey and perhaps hand relief. There they find some kid and his mum who are getting leaned on to sell their land to the local evil guy. That's yer plot.

There's a bit of the quirkiness we've come to expect from these films. White Fang wipes his feet before entering the saloon. Dollar keeps trying to sell ties he won in a bet and drinks literally gallons of whiskey throughout the film. The baddie keeps a miniature model of his railway. There's a wolf attack, some punch ups, a couple of shootouts and what not.

This is a fairly dodgy effort from a fairly dodgy director but if you can around the confusing editing and endless scenes of Daniel on his sled, you can get some fun out of this. That said, out of the twenty or so Italian Westerns I've watched, this sits at the bottom of the pile.

Finally, a movie fit for a drunken Yukon tie salesman. Wahooo! The 'inebriated couple wallowing in the hay' scene caused me to sympathy-puke. I then began sobbing as I thought of just how nasty this movie turned out to be. The soundtrack features redundant noises such as the moo of just one cow dubbed and re-dubbed to suggest multiple cows fleeing a burning log cabin. Granted, this sorry flick was produced in 1975 but come on!?? Daniel's 'pusskins' fur-topped boots just don't seem to fit in with the rugged Alaskan (or Canadian) outback, but who's taking note? The close-up on little Johnny's face during an early mindless fight scene was an interesting study of pre-adolescent bicuspids. Mr. Director, why not study a single nostril while you are at it? OMG! The stunt of all movie stunts occurs in this film when David (who is dangling (1) meters above the ground by a damaged hemp rope) tells little Johnny to run and fetch some water to pour over the top rope. He then demands that the runt pack it with snow to quick-freeze the frays thus eliminating the dreaded suggestion of a tragic fall incident. Don't try this at home kiddies! The unintelligible babble between Ferguson and railroad developers doesn't offer a clue during this blizzardous plot. It's too bad Ferguson (who planted a mini-bomb in his model of the mountains next to Grizzly City) didn't blow up the entire cast and production crew.

The Buhdist monk who performed a Catholic wedding in falsetto Greek gibberish marked by a distinct Italian accent was hilarious! He looked sort of like a hooded Cheech from the movie, Up In Smoke. The surreal and wacky music during the fist fight that ensues was apropos for such a sleazy shtick.

Do yourself a favor, rent an old Godzilla movie instead of this horrid excuse of legitimate cinema.

Just viewed this with the intent of helping my boy do a book report on White Fang by Jack London. VHS jacket says "A boy and his dog in the wilds of Alaska", but the dog belongs to the hunter, and it's set in Canada, where the good guy sets off to deliver incriminating documents to the Mounties. I haven't read the book yet, but since the title dog does almost nothing except bite the bad guy, I suspect "based on the story by Jack London" means that the dog got his name from the book. Dubbing is terrible, music is silly and repetitive, reminds me of bad Kung Fu movie dubs, but scenery and costumes are OK. Does have a fake First People (that's Canadian for Indian) woman. They actually have a guy in snowshoes leading a dog sled through the snow and hike through snow covered mountains. The only clue that something is up is "directed by Alfonso Brescia", and a big credit at the end to some Italian guard dog training unit or something to that effect.

Wondered what IMDb had to say, and sure enough, it's an Italian stinker. I agree, if you want to expose your kids to a really hokey north-western, this it. Don't pay more than $1 if you find it in the video bin.