Hellhounds of Alaska is a film that is generally dismissed as belonging to the bottom of the barrel of Westerns made in Germany. I had seen it a while ago on a DVD of horrible quality and frankly I was left with a question mark about making a review.
But, surfing the internet I acquired a version that turned out to be much better than my old DVD because it kept the original wide format of the film. The image looked a bit faded but had no cuts and the language was English so I was happy to recognize the voice of Doug McClure, the protagonist and star who was invited for this experience of filming a western with an unusual setting.
The action is supposed to take place in the inhospitable Alaska but in reality exteriors in Austria and Croatia were used, interesting because they are not the usual settings of spaghetti westerns in those semi-arid regions of Spain.
Doug McClure earned every penny he was paid for his participation in this film. All of his hard-earned charisma on television and in mid-budget movies is put into his role as the rough, lonely fur trapper Don Rutland. Also Doug's fondness for outdoor activities was used and we look him horseback riding, dog sledding, doing everything possible to make fistfights and gunfights credible, since it seems that the stuntmen were not very numerous.
It all starts when he tries to do a favor to a gold-seeking friend and tries to take his son, who is suffering from a high fever, to the nearest town to see a doctor. He leaves the boy with a sheriff and his small contingent, who are transporting a shipment of gold from the local miners to be deposited in a bank. He returns to his friend, who has a wounded leg, and finds him in the hands of some aborigines who are slowly killing him. Don challenges the Indian chief to a single combat with knives and demands his friend's life as a reward if he wins. He manages to win the fight, but it is too late. His friend dies and previously asks him to take care of his son. But when Don enters the town where they were supposed to take care of the child, he learns that the gold had been stolen in transit and the sheriff and his party murdered. No one knows anything about the child. As you can see, it is a plot that quickly captures the interest and the film is filled to the brim with different characters: Mark Monti (Harald Leipnitz), the leader of the robbers, Betty (Angelica Ott) a bartender with a heart of gold, Rose Cotton (Kristina Nel), the energetic daughter of the murdered sheriff, Ham a Ham (Roberto Blanco) an African-American ex-boxer who does not want to cause more harm to another human being, Captain Brandy (Hanz Reincke), the owner of the tavern, a good-natured alcoholic, Buffins (Miha Baloh) the deputy sheriff and accomplice to the robbery, Billy Sanders (Ivan Stimac) the brave boy who finds himself a hostage among the murderers and even a dog that also plays a heroic part towards the end defending the life of this boy. All in all, it is a very decent action-adventure film, which did not in any way boost Doug McClure's career, but which showed him with the same enthusiasm as always to give his best for the project for which he had been hired. Finally, I am at peace with Hell hounds of Alaska.
