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The Call of the Wild
20th Century Studios- 2020
- PG
- 1h 40m
- Adventure, Drama, Family
A sled dog struggles for survival in the wilds of the Yukon.
Feb 21, 2020 | Theatrical Wide (3,914 locations)
Box Office
Results
$24,791,624
$62,342,368
$48,915,510
$115,981,226
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Dolby Surround 7.1
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Summaries
Plot Summary
During the late 19th century Gold Rush, Buck, a large, gentle St. Bernard/Scotch Collie, lives contentedly with his master, Judge Miller (Bradley Whitford) in Santa Clara, California. One night, Buck is abducted (to be sold into slavery) and shipped to the Yukon (Alaska) aboard a freighter. During the voyage, a crew member ill-treats him (by beating and starving him). After arriving, Buck returns a dropped harmonica to a man named John Thornton (Harrison Ford), moments before being sold to Perrault (Omar Sy) and his assistant, Francoise (Cara Gee). They use a dog sled to deliver mail across the Yukon. Perrault hopes to make the long trek to the mail depot before the deadline. Buck is introduced to the other dogs, including the vicious pack leader, a Husky named Spitz.Throughout their travels, Buck gains the loyalty and trust of Francoise (by saving her life when she falls through an ice sheet) and the other sled dogs, antagonizing Spitz. Buck begins experiencing ancestral spiritual visions: a black wolf that acts as his guide throughout their travels. One night, Buck catches & then releases a rabbit. Spitz kills it, then attacks Buck to assert his dominance. Buck pins him down, displacing Spitz as pack leader, who disappears into the wild. Perrault grudgingly makes Buck the lead when no other dog assumes the position. Buck’s speed and strength allow the sled to arrive to deposit the mail on time. There, Thornton hands over a letter he has written to his former wife expressing his feeling about their dead son. When Perrault returns, he learns the mail route is being replaced by the telegraph, forcing him to sell the dogs. Hal (Dan Stevens), a corrupt wealthy man, buys the pack, working them to exhaustion carrying a heavy load in weather unsuitable for sledding.The exhausted dogs stop to rest before Hal can force them to cross an unstable frozen lake. When Buck refuses to move, Hal threatens to shoot him. Thornton appears and rescues Buck while Hal forces the other sled dogs to cross the lake. Under Thornton’s care, Buck recovers. Later, at a bar, Thornton is attacked by Hal, who reveals the dogs abandoned him. Witnessing the scene, Buck attacks Hal. Buck and Thornton then travel beyond the Yukon map where they can freely live in the wild. They come across an abandoned cabin in an open valley and settle in. Meanwhile, Hal relentlessly hunts them, believing Thornton is hiding gold.In the open wilderness, Thornton and Buck bond over their daily activities, primarily fishing and gold panning. Throughout their time together, Buck is drawn to a female white wolf. Going back and forth between Thornton and the white wolf, Buck is conflicted by his domesticated life with Thornton and his place with the wolf pack that the female belongs to. Thornton believes it is time to return home and tells Buck he is leaving in the morning, and to come and say good-bye. Buck heads into the forest and sleeps beside the white wolf, clearly conflicted. Hal subsequently finds and mortally shoots Thornton. Buck returns and kills Hal, pushing him into the cabin, which has caught on fire. Thornton, dying, wants Buck to live for himself. He embraces him and reassures him with his final words: “It’s okay, boy. You’re home.”
The next morning, Buck returns to the wilderness. There, he mates and has offspring with the white wolf and becomes the pack leader, fully embracing the call of the wild.
Storyline
The Call of the Wild is a vibrant story of Buck, a big and kindhearted dog, a crossbreed between a St. Bernard and a Scotch shepherd whose carefree life of leisure was suddenly upset when he was stolen from his home in Santa Clara County, California and deported up north, to be sold in Skagway, Alaska, and taken further north, to Dawson City, Yukon, during the late 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. As a newcomer to the dog team delivery service – and not before long their front-runner – Buck, a dog like no other, who had been spoiled, and who had suffered, but he could not be broken, is having the time of his life. Forced to fight to survive, eventually taken by his last owner, John Thornton, to proximity of the Arctic Circle, somewhere between Yukon and Alaska, he progressively depends on his primal instincts, sheds the comforts of civilization and responds to “the call of the wild”, as master of his own. — Davor Blazevic 1959
