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Emperor of the North Pole (Robert Aldrich, 1973)
Oct
25
Lobbycard. The blurb reads: “The battle for the title of “Emperor of the North Pole” begins between Shack (ERNEST BORGNINE) and A-No. 1 (LEE MARVIN)“. DP: Joseph F. Biroc.
“Stay off the tracks. Forget it. Its a bum's world for a bum.”
– Shack
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Idaho Transfer (Peter Fonda, 1973)
May
17
National Idaho Day
Teenagers Ronald (Kevin Hearst) and Karen (Kelly Bohanon) sitting next to each other in the desert. Karen, wearing untied shoes and a sleeping bag over her shoulders, looks distraught. DP: Bruce Logan.
A disaster has struck the future world. A private one, Karen's sister has had an accident. And a global one, one so severe that a Government project is put in place. The Project, located in the #Idaho desert and in different points in time, transfers teenagers 56 years forward so to repopulate the to-be-wiped-out land. Then, without warning or reason, The Project shuts down and the kids strand into a deserted future.
“Esto Perpetua”
– Idaho state motto
Idaho Transfer is, even for early 70s standards, an odd affair. It carries the weight of its time – hippie optimism had died thanks to #Manson, US meddling in Vietnam, the impending #EcoCrisis (we knew, we always did…) – but there too was this optimism for the upcoming millennium. Everything was going to be fine, in The Future. We'll be wiser, no more wars, no more famine, technology will save us. Released just 4 months before the first Oil Shock, Fonda somehow transferred a glimpse of our future.
