North Star (1996)

Director:

Nils Gaup

Writers:

Heck Allen (novel)
Gilles Béhat (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

25 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Western

Tagline:

Where land is power and revenge is obsession.

Plot:

Set during the Alaskan gold rush of the late 1800's. In his efforts to gain control of a small mining town...

Plot Keywords:

Wilderness | Revenge | Hunter | Gold Rush | Saloon

Cast

James Caan	...	Sean McLennon
Christopher Lambert	...	Hudson Saanteek (as Christophe Lambert)
Catherine McCormack	...	Sarah
Burt Young	...	Reno
Morten Faldaas
Jacques François	...	Colonel Henry Johnson
Mary M. Walker	...	Haina
Renny Hoalona Loren	...	Cheelik
Frank Salsedo	...	Nakki
Don Backhurst	...	Native American
Roddy 'Two Eagle' Randall	...	Native American
Reidar Sørensen	...	Bjorn Svenson (as Reidar Sorenson)
Pedea Torget	...	Jesper
Hilde Grythe	...	Hannah
John Cassady	...	Jim Hanson
Audun Meling	...	Raferty
Sverre Anker Ousdal	...	Lindberg
Kalle Øby	...	Bartender (as Kalle Oby)
Torgils Moe	...	Magnusson
Nicholas Hope	...	Sheriff Lamont
Frank Krog	...	Big Tim
Harald Brenna	...	Iron Mike
Stephen Sinclair	...	Auctioneer
Simon Lay	...	Pete
Åsmund Brede Eike	...	Gwill (as Asmund Brede Eike)
Norman Charles	...	Tonga
Øyvind Lie Thommesen	...	Graves (as Oywind Lie Thommesen)
Mikkel Gaup	...	Ross
Nicholas Cairis	...	Sergeant Lewis
Makka	...	The Wolf
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Luan Bexheti	...	(uncredited)
Bjorn Ungersness	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Nils Gaup

Writing credits
Heck Allen		(novel "The North Star") (as Will Henry)
Gilles Béhat		(story) (as Giles Behat) and
Philippe Schwartz		(story)
Sergio Donati		(screenplay) and
Lorenzo Donati		(screenplay) and
Paul Ohl		(screenplay)

Produced by
Conchita Airoldi	....	co-producer
Petter J. Borgli	....	co-producer (as Petter Borgli)
Linda Chabert	....	associate producer
Dino Di Dionisio	....	co-producer (as Dino de Dionisio)
Anne François	....	producer
Christopher Lambert	....	executive producer (as Christophe Lambert)
Luke Randolph	....	co-producer
Jean-Pierre Rosenberg	....	associate producer
Janice Shapiro	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone
Bruce Rowland
John Scott

Cinematography by
Bruno de Keyzer		(as Bruno De Keyser)

Film Editing by
Michael A. Hoey
Kant Pan

Casting by
Julie Wiggen
Jeremy Zimmerman		(as Jerry Zimmerman)

Production Design by
Ben Morahan

Art Direction by
Billy Johansson

Set Decoration by
Bo B. Randulff		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Mimi Lempicka

Makeup Department
Julie Clark	....	assistant makeup artist
Veslemøy Fosse Ree	....	makeup artist (as Veslemay Fosse Ree)
Didier Lavergne	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Catherine Adart	....	post-production manager
Josselyne Bucciali	....	production manager
François d'Artemare	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arne Dahr	....	third assistant director
Olivier Horlait	....	first assistant director
Magnus Waal	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Pål Petersen-Bergvik	....	set dresser (as Pal Petersen Bergvik)
Marius von Schack	....	props

Sound Department
Harry Barnes	....	sound effects editor
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Gerald Lamps)
Clancy T. Troutman	....	supervising sound editor
Ian Voigt	....	sound

Special Effects by
Richard Conway	....	special effects supervisor
Sam Conway	....	special effects
Aksel Rødseth	....	special effects (as Aksel Rodseth)
Tim Willis	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Thomas Duval	....	digital compositor
Antoine Simkine	....	visual effects supervisor

Stunts
Martin Grace	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Morten Andreassen	....	electrician
Daniel Leterrier	....	camera operator
Roland Savage	....	camera operator
Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen	....	still photographer (as Odd Steiner Tollefsen)

Editorial Department
Michael A. Hoey	....	additional editor
Xavier Loutreuil	....	first assistant editor
Paul Parsons	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Robin Gray	....	music scoring engineer
Bruce Rowland	....	conductor

Other crew
Carina Brattvik	....	production coordinator
Aslaug Konradsdottir	....	script supervisor
Brian Thomas	....	armorer

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures
• AFCL Productions
• M6 Films
• Federal Films
• Euroimages Fund of the Council of Europe (with the support of)
• Regency Enterprises
• Nordic Screen Development AS
• Urania Film
• Canal+
• Sofinergie 3
• Cofimage 6
• Procirep

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1996) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• Finnkino (1998) (Finland) (VHS)
• Finnkino (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Regency Enterprises
• TriPictures (Spain)
• Warner Home Video (1997) (Germany) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

The North Star (France) (promotional title) (International: English title) (UK) (promotional title)
Duello tra i ghiacci (Italy)
Grand nord
Tashunga

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and language.

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:89 min | UK:88 min | USA:88 min

Country:

France | UK | Italy | Norway

Language:

English | Inuktitut

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Maridalen, Oslo, Norway

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Army Officer who comes to Nome to declare martial law is wearing the crossed sabers on his hat; those of a cavalry officer. The hat badge is upside down. The hilts of the sabers should be in the lower half, not the upper. The blade tips belong at the upper half.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reno: Where is Hudson Saanteek?

Pretty good if you like this sort of thing

In Nome, Alaska, in the 1890s, the mining claim of Hudson Saanteek, deceased, is being auctioned off, only he's not really dead. Hudson is a 'half-breed' who wants to preserve land that belongs to the Indians who raised him. Meanwhile, Swedish immigrant Bjorn Svenson wants to claim the land where he has been mining for months, but immigrants are not allowed to have claims. He has to appeal to Sean McLennon, who seems to make the rules in this town and has plenty of money but could always use more. McLennon won't listen, because he despises immigrants as well as half-breeds, and anyone who stands in his way. Later, one of these two problems is dealt with by a kidnapping, and so begins a wintry wilderness adventure.

If you like scenes of sled dogs racing through the snow, this movie may be for you (though this wouldn't have been my first choice; it just happened to be on TV). There's lots of excitement once the adventure gets going, and some strange plot twists. James Caan made a deliciously evil and almost comical villain, at least at first. Later, he was just plain mean. The Indians talked mostly in a native language, which added to the realism, and I think most of them gave good performances. One Indian woman never said a word, and yet she could show emotion just with her face, even with very little movement. And one dog, who was listed in the credits as a wolf, even seemed to have a personality. Reidar Sorenson was also quite good as Bjorn, with a style that made me wonder if he has done Shakespeare.

Still, this is not that special, and maybe there have been movies like this which were done better.