L'enfer blanc

You're telling me James MacArthur and Mackenzie Astin aren't related? I'm not even joking, they looked exactly the same in their respective youngers years; I thought I was back in 1950s Disney when I saw Astin appear.

'Iron Will' is a good film. It begins quite slowly but soon enough picks up the pace thanks to the dog-sled racing, which I enjoyed alongside the newspaper and animal parts of the story. The stuff, meanwhile, with Will (Astin), McTeague (Brian Cox) et al. isn't majorly interesting to me, but it still makes for alright viewing. Astin is more than decent in the lead role, while Kevin Spacey is (unfortunately) solid in his role as media man Kingsley.

With that noted, it isn't really a film that is set alight by its cast. They all serve their purpose but aren't anything great. The animals, racing and hearty narrative make up for that though. A fine film, even if it does just narrowly avoid 6*.

I like this movie for its' basic "realism" It looks like America might have looked in 1917 attitudes included. The irasible Storekeeper who Will works for pretty well sums up the local attitude after the Newspaper man Kingsley sent arrives " Where's the box? " He asks, assuming young Stoneman has died in the course of the race. " Don't You get the Newspapers here ? " the shocked reporter responses and passes him several.

I enjoyed Mackenzie Astin's performance, but it didn't surprise me, He's Sean's brother and the son of John Astin and Patty Duke who both did a fair bit of acting. David Ogden Stiers' character was almost strictly Charles Winchester. I also liked Kevin Spacey's reporter out for the "big story" who in a sense was the biggest underdog of all... Imagine getting to page One in the midst of a World War from the K 9 section. uplifting , though not too believable. There's also that scene where wealthy gambler Angus McTeague visits Will in the dog shed and offers him 3000 dollars to drop out of the race. The Boy is sorely tempted and after He leaves, lead dog Gus gives him a almost disgusted look and Will says " I didn't take it... did I ?" No. young Stoneman is not cowed by anyone or anything but Gus the dog and is not all that nice... just human. Could it really happen ? doubtful, but then it is Disney.

We rented this film because Kevin Spacey is in it. When it came on, my daughter (12 yrs old) exclaimed "Oh no, not another cheap Disney film!" My wife also made noises of discontent and I was wondering why Kevin was in it and if I'd made a terrible mistake.

Well, it was good. True it had some bad Disney unrealistic heart-jerking story in it, especially at the end. The bad guys were really Disney evil, but the rest of the film worked.

Kevin Spacey gives his best at whatever role he tackles, and this is no exception. The sledding scenes are very good and it is really cold - you can feel it, and so can the actors judging by the breath.

The film get a few tears out and we decided that, although we never would have rented it if we knew it was a Disney film, we liked it. We give it 8.

Awesome movie, In the same league as Rocky. Just too good. A must watch.

After his dad "buys the farm" in a tragic dogsledding accident, it's up to young Will Stoneman (Mackenzie Astin) to pay off the mortgage. And there's only one way to do it: Win a $10,000 prize in a 500-mile dogsled race. David Ogden Stiers is the railroad magnate who puts up the prize money, and August Schellenberg is the sage Indian who helps the plucky lad develop an iron will to win.

There was one more hero in this movie apart from Mackenzie Astin, the Dog "Gus" which in the movie was his father's favourite dog. The dog was really terrific.

How much of this story is true is up for dispute. I suspect most of it is highly exaggerated. Nonetheless, it is inspirational and fun to watch: an excellent adventure tale.

The movie reminded me of "White Fang" with the winter scenery and the young hero, played by MacKenzie Astin, looking and sounding much like Ethan Hawke. The story was simply about a dog-sled race in the early part of the 20th century.

The picture is beautifully shot, especially the train scenes, and looks very good on DVD. The villains in here aren't as despicable as in other films, so it's more pleasant to watch. I enjoyed the entire story except for the whistling at the finish line which was a bit stupid, but that's minor.

This is one of Disney's better efforts.