Christopher Lambert plays Hudson Saanteek, owner of the North Star claim, near Nome, Alaska, during the gold rush of the late 19th Century. A half-breed, he wants to preserve the land for the Indians.
That puts him at odds with Sean McLennon (James Caan), who wants to land his hands on every gold claim worth having, even if it means having the original owners, like Saanteek, killed to do so.
Only Saanteek proves difficult to kill, and the conflict between the men becomes more personal when he kidnaps McLennon’s pretty dark-haired lover (Catherine McCormick) during his getaway from Nome.
Sarah quickly comes to find that neither her rich lover nor the savage of the wilderness are the men she thought they were.
Review:
The snowy, mountain setting helps set this apart more than anything that happens in terms of the script. McLennon is not only determined to gobble up the richest claims through unscrupulous means, he’s decided to use a mining authority he controls to strip foreigners of all of their holdings.
Of course, Saanteek proves to be the fly in the ointment. McLennon is led to believe he’s been killed by two of his henchmen – Reno and Smiley. When Saanteek shows up back in Nome to confront McLennon, he winds up fleeing with Sarah, setting off an extended chase using bobsleds instead of horses.
And that’s where the film begins to unravel a bit. Where does Saanteek’s flee to? The Indian village where his claim is located, which also happens to be the first place McLennon and his men head in their search for him.
They fail to trap him there. They have better luck at his second stop, a mining shaft in the middle of a snowy frontier. But then McLennon begins losing touch with reality, turning against even the lover he’s been trying to rescue from Saanteek.
Christopher Lambert as Hudson Saanteek in North Star (1996)
James Caan as Sean McLennon in North Star (1996)
Directed by:
Nils Gaup
Cast:
James Caan … Sean McLennon
Christopher Lambert … Hudson Saanteek
Catherine McCormick … Sarah
Burt Young … Reno
Jacques Francois … Col. Johnson
Mary M. Walker … Haina
Renny Hoalona Loren … Cheelik
Reidar Sorensen … Bjorn Svenson
Nicholas Hope … Sheriff Lamont
Norman Charles … Tonga (scout)
Runtime: 88 min.
Catherine McCormick as Sarah in North Star (1996)
Nicholas Hope as Sheriff Lamont in North Star (1996)
Memorable lines:
Attorney: “Have you ever seen a man freeze to death, Mr. McLennon?”
McLennon: “A frozen man, or the actual freezing process? The actual freezing process is quite something to see. Because the body’s natural instinct is to fall asleep. But anyway, first the joints and the tendons, they contract into little knots. And then your extremities -– you know, your nose, your fingers, your sex organs – they get frostbitten and fall off. Then your breathing shuts off and you asphyxiate. It’s terrible”
McLennon, about foreigners staking claims on gold mines: “You’re stealing from the people to whom this country belongs. So you see, it’s either your lives or ours. That’s not a very hard decision to make, is it?”
Reno to Smiley: “Go ahead and shoot. I’m looking forward to hell.”
McLennon: “Nobody dies til I tell them to die.”
Norman Charles as Tonga in North Star (1996)
Burt Young as Reno in North Star (1996)
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