White Fang and the Hunter (1975)

Robert Woods is Daniel, and he’s rescued from an avalanche by his wolf, White Fang, and a hard-drinking trapper named Dollar (Ignazio Spalla).

From that point on, Dollar becomes Daniel’s sidekick of sorts. And after they’ve fought off a wolf attack, they wind up at the Burton ranch to nurse their wounds.

There they find a pretty window named Linda (Malisa Longo), her son Johnny and their Indian maid, Rising Moon.

Linda warns Daniel not to interact with her son; he’s looking for a father figure and likely to get attached.

Of course, he doesn’t wind up being the only one attached to the tall stranger with a wolf for a pet.

But Linda’s also got her share of problems. Her husband died mysteriously, just after finding documents indicating his partner Thomas Ferguson (Robert Hundar) is a murderer and a thief.

Now he’s pressuring Linda to marry him. And if she refuses to do that, he at least wants to coerce her to sell him her ranch.

After all, the railroad is coming to Grisly. And to fulfill his promise of an unobstructed right of way for that railroad, Ferguson needs Linda’s land.

Review:

The setting is Alaska and there’s snow instead of dust or mud, but there’s no doubt this is cast in the Spaghetti Western mold.

Unfortunately, it’s cast in the 1970s Spaghetti mold, which means Spalla and his antics get way to much screen time, especially since most of the comic bits fall flat.

Example: Rising Moon asks which Dollar likes best: her or whiskey. His answer: Why not combine the two?

A short time later, they’re lying together, next to hay bales, surrounded by empty bottles. Dollar, stepping on those bottles, thinks there’s an earthquake. Then he mistakes his horse’s rear end for his new girlfriend.

Hillarious, right?

Eventually, Hundar gets down to acting like a villain, Linda and her son seem in real jeopardy and Daniel’s quest for justice is running out of time.

But Brescia can’t keep a straight face for long, so it’s all ruined by a twist near the end that’s likely to make you groan out loud.

As for White Fang, he shows his good manners early in the film by wiping off his paws before entering a saloon, but doesn’t get to do much until the film’s closing minutes.

Then he goes around collecting six-guns from the bad guys who are knocked silly in one of the film’s too plentiful fistfights.

Directed by:
Alfonso Brescia

Cast:
Robert Woods … Daniel
Ignazio Spalla … Dollar
as Pedro Sanchez
Malisa Longo … Linda Burton
Robert Hundar … Thomas Ferguson
as Claudio Undari
Franco Lantieri … Slider
Massimo De Cecco … Johnny Burton
Linda Sini … Rising Moon, Burton housekeeper
Sergio Smacchi … Burton foreman

Also with … Bruno Arie, Calogero Caruana, Jean-Pierre Clarain, Guido Mariotti, Amedeo Timpani, Giovanni Ukmar, Fulvio Pellegrino, Renzo Pevarello, Lina Franchi, Omero Capanna, Gilberto Galimberti, Clemente Ukmar, Franco Calogero

Runtime: 91 min. .

aka:
Zanna Bianca e il cacciatore solitario
White Fang and the Hunter

Music: Alessandro Alessandroni

Memorable lines:

Dollar: “Hey, there, Sitting Bull, how come you’re standing?”

Daniel, of Ferguson’s saloon: “That is a vulture’s nest. I don’t like to be taken for a ride.”

Trapper to Dollar, as he tries to sell a drummer’s satchel pull of neckties he won in a poker game: “Selling ties here is like selling fur coats in the tropics.”

Indian housekeeper Rising Moon to Dollar: “What do you love more? Me or the water that burns (whiskey)?”

Thomas Ferguson, threatening Linda Burton: “It’s not nice to see a bride wearing bruises. There are other ways, you know?”

Trivia:

Oddly, Thomas Ferguson’s office is complete with a miniature model of a railroad track, blocked by the Burton ranch. In a fit of frustration, Ferguson presses down on a tiny detonator and blows up the ranch.

This is one in a series of at least seven White Fang films that came out in the early to mid-70s and featured Spaghetti stars. The one that started the trend, 1973’s “White Fang,” starred Franco Nero and he returned for 1973’s “Challenge to White Fang.”

Robert Woods got top billing in two of those seven films. This one was preceded by “White Fang and the Gold Diggers” (1975). That movie also featured Ignazio Spalla in the Dollar role with Robert Hundar and Franco Lantieri on hand as well. Gabriella Lepori plays the female lead.