North Star (1996)

★ 4.7 1h 30m IMDb

Action Drama Adventure Western

Set during the Alaskan gold rush of the late 1800s. In his efforts to gain control of a small mining town, Sean McLennon is buying up every claim that becomes available, usually after the deaths of the previous owners at the hands of McLennon's 'assistants'. One of the miners targeted by McLennon, a half-Indian hunter named Hudson Saanteek, manages to escape his hired thugs and comes back into town looking to re-establish his claim and get revenge. McLennon and his men have the advantage of numbers and weapons, but Saanteek has his survival skills and knowledge of the Alaskan wilderness.

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Cast

James Caan as Sean McLennon Died 2022 · The Bronx, New York, USA James Edmund Caan (March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor who was nominated for several awards, including four Golden Globes, an Emmy, and an Oscar. Caan was awarded a motion pictures st...

Christopher Lambert as Hudson Saanteek Age 69 · Great Neck, Long Island, New York, USA Christophe Guy Denis "Christopher" Lambert (born 29 March 1957) is an American-born French actor who has appeared in American, as well as French and other European productions. He is best known for hi...

Catherine McCormack as Sarah Age 54 · Epsom, Surrey, England, UK Catherine Jane McCormack (born 3 April 1972) is an English actress. Her film appearances include Braveheart (1995), The Land Girls (1998), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Spy Game...

Burt Young as Reno Died 2023 · New York City, New York, USA Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (April 30, 1940 – October 8, 2023), known professionally as Burt Young, was an American actor who played Rocky Balboa's friend Paulie in the Rocky film series. He also appeared...

Morten Faldaas as Smiley Age 67

Director Nils Gaup

Cast James Caan, Christopher Lambert, Catherine McCormack, Burt Young, Morten Faldaas, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Jacques François, Frank Salsedo, Reidar Sørensen, Hilde Grythe

Wuchak 6/10 Jul 24, 2018

A Winter Western with a curiously rushed ending

RELEASED IN 1996 and directed by Nils Gaup, "North Star" is a Western that takes place in Nome, Alaska, during a gold rush in 1899. James Caan plays the love-to-hate mogul who denies mining claims to foreigners and attempts to kill a half-breed Indian (Christopher Lambert) for the claim to a cave filled with gold, which the Natives use in their ceremonies. The half-breed ends up abducting the mogul's woman, played by the beautiful Catherine McCormack, who you might remember as Wallace's doomed wife at the beginning of "Braveheart" (1995). The Winter chase is on!

There are elements of other Westerns here, like "Death Hunt" (1981), "Valdez is Coming" (1971), "The Far Country" (1954), “North to Alaska” (1960) and "Dances With Wolves” (1990), but that's to be expected. On the originality side, it's one of the few fully Winter Westerns of which I can remember beyond “The Great Silence” (1968) and “The Hateful Eight” (2015). Of course, films like "Will Penny" (1967), "Jeremiah Johnson" (1972), “A Man Called Sledge” (1970) and a few others have some fairly long Winter sequences.

While Caan's villainy is too over-the-top for my tastes (although he does it well), I found "North Star" to be a well-done Western, except that the final 11 minutes or so feel rushed. As noted above, I was impressed that this was one of the first Westerns I’ve seen that focused exclusively on Winter conditions. It goes without saying that shooting in the snow is way more challenging than shooting in other seasons; and even more so if the locale is mountainous. The locations, sets and cast are all first-rate even while the storytelling has somewhat of a comic booky Grade B vibe.

But the filmmakers seemed to hurry the ending. Maybe they wanted to just complete the project and keep it under 90 minutes; or perhaps they weren't confident with the closing footage and awkwardly tried to "make it work" in the editing room. But it’s not THAT bad and didn’t ruin the experience for me. At the end of the day “North Star” is a worthwhile ‘modern Western’ that attempts something unique even while being a pastiche of the genre.

THE FILM RUNS 88 minutes and was shot in Norway. WRITERS: No less than five scripters are credited to adopting Heck Allen’s novel.

GRADE: B-/C+ (5.5/10)