White Fang (1973) / White Fang to the Rescue (1974)

WHITE FANG (1973): Out on the Alaskan wilderness, a young Indian named Mistah falls through the ice. He is rescued by a brave wolf dog, who drags him to the nearby town of Dawson to recover. Dawson is in the midst of the Gold Rush, but a greedy businessman has been using a gang of hired thugs to make sure no one sees any of the profits except himself. Mistah and his canine companion - now named White Fang - help a crusading journalist to rid Dawson City of corruption.

Jack London's classic adventure novel was adapted for the big screen in 1973 by an unlikely candidate - Italian director Lucio Fulci, famous for his bloody horror pictures Zombie (1979), The Beyond (1980) and House by the Cemetery (1981). A version of London's other well-known tale, The Call of the Wild, starring Charlton Heston, had been a surprise hit in Italy the year before, leading to a deluge of films loosely "inspired" by it in that country. White Fang could at least claim to be based on a book by the same author, but Fulci - already an acclaimed master of the Italian giallo - had little interest in utilizing the characters and situations from the novel. Fulci's White Fang is more along the lines of his Spaghetti Westerns like Four of the Apocalypse (1975) with an emphasis on themes of tragedy, loss and redemption, in addition to scenes of shocking violence. Star Franco Nero is best known for playing the title character in Sergio Corbucci's Django (1966) and its sequel Django Strikes Again (1987). Fernando Rey is most famous for his role in The French Connection (1970).

WHITE FANG TO THE RESCUE (1974): Despite its violent content, 1973's White Fang became an international success as a family movie. So Tonino Ricci, Fulci's second unit director, was enlisted to make a sequel, White Fang to the Rescue. Ricci specialized in making Italian knock-offs of popular American films, like Cave of the Sharks (1978) and Encounters in the Deep (1979). In White Fang to the Rescue, the titular canine's owner is killed over the deed to a gold mine, so his best friend, Burt Halloway, assumes his identity and ownership of the dog. Burt and White Fang then work together to track down the murderers and uncover the secret of the hidden gold mine. Leading man Maurizio Merli was chosen for his resemblance to Franco Nero. The actor that will be most familiar to American audiences is Henry Silva, known for playing villains in countless movies and his friendship with Frank Sinatra, which made him an honorary member of "The Rat Pack."

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