Wolf Lake

A trio of American World War II vets take a hunting trip in the rural Canadian woods where they find out the American caretaker of the place they are staying is a Vietnam deserter (David Huffman). Thanks to a lot of alcohol and the influence of the embittered, flag-waving leader of trio (Rod Steiger), what starts out as a mere "generation gap" political disagreement, quickly escalates into a violent, armed conflict.

Rod Steiger is excellent as the vicious leader of the veterans whose blind patriotism and narrow-minded prejudices leave almost everyone in the cast dead by the end. His more weak-willed friends are only along for the ride at first, but they too are quickly caught up in the escalating violence. And adding no small amount of fuel to the fire is Robin Mattson, as the Huffman character's sexy girlfriend. Playing an only slightly more sympathetic variation on the malicious tease she played in her most famous film "Bonnie's Kids", her character takes her showers outdoors, even with all the drunken, dirty old men lingering about, and when she catches Steiger staring at her bra-less chest, she tauntingly lifts up her shirt to give him a better look at her yummy breasts. This is not to say she deserves what happens to her--the tragedy here is that all the characters are actually sympathetic to SOME extent, even if only Huffman approaches ever really being too likable.

With several gun battles, a gang rape, a wilderness chase, and lots of explosions, this works pretty well as a violent action movie. But it is one of those dark, cynical 70's ones like "Deliverance", "Southern Comfort", or "Who'll Stop the Rain?" that show only the ultimate futility and stupidity of violence. Definitely recommended, especially to fans of Rod Steiger, Robin Mattson, and/or downbeat 70's-era action fare.

Melvin Simon tried to release this film as WOLF LAKE (with bad ending), but that version kept having flashback and flash forward scenes, and kind of made the film confusing. Later, re-edited and fixed in 1980 as HONOR GUARDS(with a good ending). The film has Steiger and his WW2 buddies going on a trip up in the cabin, which is run by a Vietnam draft dodger (Huffman, who was real life murdered by a 16 year old mugger in 1980, who got off real easy for murder) and his girlfriend (Matteson). Steiger's son was killed in Nam and blames it on Huffman. Violence and rape occurs in end in this suspenseful film. I don't know what ending Burt Kennedy, and even Steiger had wanted for the film. Steiger, who really gets into his character, gives one of the best performance of his career.

Wolf Lake (1980)

*** (out of 4)

War buddies Charlie (Rod Steiger), Wilbur (Jerry Hardin), George (Richard Herd) and Sweeney (Paul Mantee) head up to Canada for a weekend getaway like they do every year. This year they notice that the cabins are being taken care of by David (David Huffman) and Linda (Robin Mattson). It doesn't take long for Charlie to start messing around and picking on David but things turn much darker when the men find out that David dodged the war.

WOLF LAKE is a film that not many people saw when it was originally released and I doubt too many people have seen it since. In fact, had I not stumbled across it during a sale then I probably would have missed it as well and that's really too bad because it's a rather interesting, if flawed, thriller. What makes the film work and especially in today's times is its views on how people should treat their country and we also get some fabulous performances.

It should go without saying that it's Steiger who steals the picture with yet another wonderful performance. The actor really has to show off pain and anger and he does so wonderfully. The way Steiger mixes both the anger and pain to explain why his character is the way he is really helps sell the film. The supporting players are all extremely good as well and that's especially true for both Huffman and Mattson.

The film basically starts off as a weekend getaway picture before turning much darker once the friends learn about David's past. Even then there are some interesting ideas being floated around about what it means to serve your country and love it. I do think things take a turn for the worse during the final third of the picture when we basically have everyone lose their mind and so some things that I just didn't believe would happen. I'm not going to ruin anything but Charlie basically makes the three other do a very criminal act and I just didn't believe they would have gone through with it.

With that being said, it's really too bad WOLF LAKE isn't a better known movie but it's certainly a gem that needs to be rediscovered.

Given that the movie takes place in Canada, and with producer Melvin Simon having dabbled with the Canadian tax shelter system, you might have reason to believe WOLF LAKE is one of the outputs Canada made during its tax shelter period. Especially since it happens to be a thriller taking place in the backwoods. Surprisingly, though, the credits reveal that the movie was in fact shot in Mexico!

While the premise of the movie may seem somewhat familiar, even though I can't think of any movie with a plot that's *exactly* like this one, it does have some exceptional elements, part due to writer/director Kennedy, a veteran western director. (In fact, some parts of the movie do resemble a western.) The production values are really strong, boosted no doubt by the ability to squeeze more value out of a dollar in Mexico, and the camera placing and other directional touches are very professional. Kennedy manages to give this lakeside setting an unsettling feeling, a sense of the threats to come.

Kennedy also handles the cast pretty well, though all the actors seem well prepared and up to the challenge. The acting is really good, due in part that Kennedy gives the actors dialogue that fleshes out their characters. Steiger, no surprise, towers over everyone. Though his character is a villain whose eventual behavior can't be excused, you really sense the grief his character has been suffering for years - a grief that has eaten him up and filled him with poison. He's a frightening character even before crossing the line, because his behavior is so believable.

The movie is not perfect, though. The biggest flaw is that (at least in the version I saw) there are flashforwards in the first half of the movie that manage to spoil almost *every* major happening in the second half. (The second half has a flashBACK to a previously unseen event, which makes as much sense as those flashforwards!) Also, it takes over half of the running time before the crisis actually starts!

Incidently, the movie runs only 87 minutes, which is a pretty short running time. Given that short running time and those confusing edits, there's a chance the movie's slow (though not boring) first half panicked the investors and resulted in some drastic changes. Apparently the movie was re-released a few years later in its original form as THE HIGHEST HONOR, which I would like to see and compare. Maybe some enterprising DVD company could re-release the movie on that format, with each version on a separate side of the DVD. It's not as if the rights for such an obscurity would cost that much.

"Wolf Lake" is obscure 70's exploitation at its finest: raw & moody atmosphere, straightforward action and real manly actors in the roles of hard-headed chauvinist macho characters! Originality might not be this film's biggest trump, perhaps, but it's intense and unsettling from start to finish and brought to an even higher level by the phenomenal performance of Rod Steiger as the embittered War veteran with outmoded patriotic ideals. Charlie, along with three of his obedient and docile buddies, arrive at Wolf Lake for their annual weekend of duck hunting, poker gaming and whiskey boozing. Their usual contact person isn't there, but they meet with the young caretaker David and his sexy girlfriend Linda. They find out David is a fugitive Vietnam deserter, and this happens to be a very sensitive issue for Charlie, because he lost his son there. To him, all deserters are cowards who're to blame for the downfall of America. Charlie taunts and provokes David, but the posse really goes too far during a wild drinking party. And you know how that goes, once you cross a certain line …. there's no way back. "Wolf Lake" is obviously inspired by the 70's trends of (Vietnam) veterans going mental ("Open Season", "Rolling Thunder") and remote backwoods survival thrillers ("Deliverance", "Straw Dogs"). Writer/director Burt Kennedy may not be Sam Peckinpah or John Boorman, but he undeniably manages to keep his movie suspenseful and creepy. The isolated setting is very effective, for starters, and so are Ken Thorne's pounding score and the unnervingly slow pacing. Some political debate sequences are so intelligent and powerful that it's a real shame that the film remained so obscure and unavailable on DVD. The only really annoying thing about "Wolf Lake" is that the plot stupidly spoils itself the entire time by showing brief but revealing images of vital things happening later in the film. What the hell's the point of that?