Cool News
The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day is gonna show you what happens to people who ride on its train without a ticket!
Update: I've been away from the computer all day, but it's been brought to my attention that I took the below picture at face value as an Emperor of the North image, but it is really from The Professionals, another quality Lee Marvin picture. So, apologies for the mistake, even if it was an honest one. I mean, Lee Marvin on a train... right? The picture is still cool and I'm trying to dig up another set of cool Emperor of the North images to make amends with.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
How badass is Emperor of the North? Lee Marvin hits people with live chickens. Ernest Borgnine murders train-hopping bums with a twinkle in his eye that is less than sane. Directed by the great Robert Aldrich, Emperor of the North is one of the most badass men’s men movies from the ‘70s that nobody talks about.
I did my part when interviewed Ernest Borgnine, but I could devote a fansite to this movie I love it so much, so here my enthusiasm leaks into this BTS column.
Aldrich insisted on filming on a real, moving train, which is pure balls and makes all the difference in the world when you see the finished product.
That also means a great behind the scenes shot of the camera crew precariously placed on a small platform built into the steam engine as Lee Marvin holds on, probably for dear life.
The movie is out on DVD, seek it out. Trust me. In the meantime let’s look at the pic!
Once again thanks to Pat Barnett for the cool image! Click to embiggen!
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Even tomorrow’s Behind the Scenes Pic goes a little crazy sometimes!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
Readers Talkback
comments powered by Disqus-
+ Expand All
-
Nice shot, Eric! Love to see some BTS shots of Marvin and Borgnine fighting on the boxcars! This was my late brother John's fave movies! Thanks for spreading the word about this great movie.
-
Also, this movie is totally unknown to me... so I will check it out.
-
is probably why it underperformed at the box office. Sounds like a quaint Merchant/Ivory fiim. Badasses on a train would have been better. Underrated film by an underrated director. This film, Flight of the Phoenix, Dirty Dozen.
-
well worth tracking down
-
to Aint it BTS
-
May 13, 2011, 4:44 p.m. CST
Why do fuckers complain about features like this that are actually consistently updated?
by SierraTangoFoxtrotUniform
I mean, Harry isn't doing shit anymore but sitting on his studio kickbacks so it's good that the other contributors actually put up material. Granted it isn't scoops or unbiased reviews, but at least it's SOMETHING.
-
Where else you gonna see these?
-
These days that would be a porn title. But in 1976 it was a badass movie w/ Heston and Coburn. I'd like to see a BTS from that.
-
I got value from my visit to AICN. The trolls who keep posting are obviously from competing sites. Real people don't keep posting how much they hate a site, they just stop coming.
-
I never expected to see a still from this one. I watched this SO many times.
-
Bustin balls the whole way (if you can stomach the unnecessary title song, and Carradine's character is [by design] a fuckin idiot). Real ass-kicking movie, very well written/directed/acted/cut, and all without the cgi spfx safety net (or 9 writers; read Chris Knopf's well-researched screenplay [see Hollywood B&P] ; he knew what the hell he was writing about). -Then just when you think its over - POW! What a mean, dirty-ass fight! (SPOILERS) I didn't see this as EMP/NORTH POLE at first release, but wondered something about the re-edit to simply EMP/NORTH: Borgnine's last line seems tacked onto the end of the revised EMP/NORTH - could it be in the original (titled) version A#1 actually does KILL Shack by pushing him off the train with the ax -? (guy woulda probably croaked from blood loss nonetheless) Maybe it wouldn't been "best" (in 73) to have the audience rooting for some guy who violently kills two people (and half-fried the coaly) hitching a train ride to Portland. But while there's much more to it than simply that (and of course A#1 would eventually be hunted down for murder), Shack's death is actually more important to the film than some tidied-up ending where "they'll go at it again some day" ... Its about in part (class) conflict and SURVIVAL, and probably more relevant today than when it came out in 73. (film is set during the original Depression 1933) "You gotta chance to be a good bum. You could be a meat eater, kid - I mean people, not their garbage." and Borgie (corners Carradine atop the caboose after all the mayhem): "And there's no place to hide. My Brakey's cracked his neck, the hide's peeling off the Black, and the Hogger's ready for the looney bin. And all because of you. That's a pretty fair day's work for a tender-foot." (dammit I gotta get Borgnine to write that on my NORTH POLE half sheet) Then: "Your fights over HERE!" Check out the supporting characters too (Sid Haig as Greasetail, Liam Dunne as Smile, Elisha Cook Jr, Harry Caesar, more) An overlooked near-gem, with some hair-raising scenes and perhaps the best Marvin-Borgnine slugfest (certainly ax and chain-fight) in memory. (I could be wrong - but see this anyway).
-
Yeah, that's really badass filming on a train that isn't even moving. Lee Marvin could have stumbled and hurt his toe or something.
-
Haven't seen this in decades. It's an awesome movie, I'm going to have to track it down. First time I saw this I was about 7, and what happens to Ernie B was very disturbing to me.
-
Don't let nobody tell you the big boom cgi stuff ain't real or badass just cuz the "talent" is hanging in front of some blue scrn inside some studio or warehouse (waiting to break their own toes or worse).
Top Talkbacks
- MAN OF STEEL TV Spot #6 - I give up, I'm just dying to see this thing! -- 188 total posts 188 posts
- Spoilery early review of MAN OF STEEL!! -- 515 total posts 97 posts
-
HERCULES ON THE RADIO!!
Learn What Ain’t It Cool’s TV Critic Thinks About The New WOLVERINE Trailer, Soderbergh’s CANDELABBRA, FURIOUS 6, HANGOVER III, EPIC, GAME OF THRONES, MAD MEN And More!! Listen And Call In LIVE Saturday 8pm PT/11pm ET!! -- 76 total posts 76 posts - Capone believes that FAST & FURIOUS 6 is the best in a bizarre, crowded franchise!!! -- 136 total posts 70 posts
- Beware Epileptics - we have a new motion poster for the upcoming remake of CARRIE! -- 128 total posts 68 posts
- New trailer for Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara's upcoming western, AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS!! -- 76 total posts 35 posts
- The INDY 500 Featurette about TURBO proves that Ferrari moves at a Snail's Pace! -- 41 total posts 34 posts
- Harry dives into STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS' spoilers to reveal the truth behind the blockbuster we're seeing! -- 1504 total posts 33 posts
- Capone makes the case that THE HANGOVER PART III is neither a comedy nor a movie!!! -- 91 total posts 32 posts
- The Friday Docback Revisits DOCTOR WHO Season 7!! A Fuller Review Of 'The Name of the Doctor,' And More!! -- 102 total posts 27 posts