Reviews

This movie is based on "Nomads of the North" by James Oliver Curwood, who also wrote "King Grizzly", which was made into the movie "The Bear".

Nikki, a malamute that's 1/8 wolf, and his kind fur trapper owner encounter an orphaned bear cub. The cub and puppy initially don't get along. An overturned canoe separates them, while tethered together, from their master, and they set out on their own in a "Defiant Ones" sequence that shows their different approaches to survival in the wild. The puppy wants to hunt critters, but can't catch any due to the cub stubbornly anchoring the other end of the tether. The cub tears into a rotten tree stump to get at a beehive, but the puppy runs away after getting stung, dragging the cub along with him. The cub climbs a tree to sleep, resulting in the puppy trying to snooze with his rear end slung a foot off the ground. After a number of weeks they escape their tether and become friends, until the bear hibernates, and Nikki heads out on his own. Over a year or so, he grows up, gets into scuffles with a wolverine, and tries to join a wolf pack who let him know violently that he's not welcome. Eventually Nikki gets captured by an evil fur trader who beats him into an aggressive pit fighting dog. At the movie's end, his original owner confronts a snarling bloodthirsty Nikki, but both eventually recognize each other, and resume their friendly travels.

NOTE - there are many fights in this movie: bear vs bear, Nikki vs wolverine, wolverine vs lynx, Nikki vs wild wolves, Nikki vs wolf-dog, and even good fur trader vs bad fur trader, and a number of "dead" animals are shown. An Indian is treated in typically poor 60's cinematic fashion as well, although he is shown as noble and smart, becoming a companion to Nikki and the good fur trader at the end.

All -in -all though, this is a Disney dog movie that deserves to be a little better remembered. The DVD I saw was put out by a company named Anchor Bay, and not Disney, so there were no extra features at all. This, combined with Disney's "Alaska Sled Dog" from 1957 would make a good Disney DVD package.

***This contains explicit spoilers near the end of the text!!*** I love this movie. We visited the real Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station in Tokyo twice, and after trying to find it for 10 years, and finally saw the Japanese Region 2 DVD.

Hachiko was born in 11/1923, and was sent to Tokyo in 1/1924 to live with Dr Eizaburo Euno, who walked Hachiko every day to the Shibuya Station, where he took a train to teach at Tokyo University. Dr Ueno died on campus on 5/21/1925. His widow sold the home and moved away, giving Hachiko to Dr Euno's relatives in Asakusa, but Hachiko repeatedly ran away to go back to his prior home, and to wait at Shibuya Station for his never-to-return master. Eventually, he was taken in by Dr Ueno's gardener, who lived near the Station and prior home. When he was older, Hachiko lived mostly at the Station in a store room prepared for him by the Station Manager Chuichi Yoshikawa, who loved him like his own pet. A newspaper article made Hachiko a celebrity on 10/4/1932, and many people came from all over to see him. A number of vets cared for him. A statue was erected in his honor 4/21/1934 attended by a huge crowd. Hachiko finally died of heart worm and kidney failure a few blocks away from the Station at 6:30am on 3/8/1935. A full Buddhist ceremony including 49 days of mourning ensued. Dr Ueno's widow, the Station Manager, the gardener, and many others all across Japan, grieved.

The movie contains many heartwarming scenes of Hachiko: being born, getting into mischief in the garden, walking to the train station with his master and even taking a bath with him, attending his master's funeral service and chasing the hearse, etc.

**Do Not Read the Following if you don't want to know how the movie ends**

In the movie, however, there is no statue built in his honor. After he runs away from Dr Euno's relatives, he stays with the gardener who also dies, leaving Hachiko homeless. When Dr Euno's widow comes back after seeing the newspaper article, Hachiko runs away from her as well. The station manager in the movie, like most all other people at the Station, generally ignore him, and he's portrayed often as a pitiful stray. A couple selling Yakitori from a nearby cart befriend him repeatedly, and the husband even gets in a fight to defend Hachiko's honor. But in the end, as the final credits roll, Hachiko lies dead, alone, in the snow, at the spot where he waited for 10 years, with people walking past him with no show of concern. It is absolutely heartbreaking. There is a sequence right before the final tragic scene that shows Hachiko reuniting with his beloved master. It could just be Hachiko's final dream, but I like to think it shows them reuniting in the afterlife.

'Pawprints in Japan' by Nicholas Rhoden is a great book that includes many facts and photos of the real Hachiko, including him with the Station Manager, the actual newpaper article, and Ueno's widow putting funeral ribbons on the original statue (which was melted down during WWII, then remade by the original sculpture's son). You can find it at www.akitaclub.org. The movie was re-released as a limited time offer from 1/1/07 to 4/30/07. Search for "Hachiko Monogatari" at www.cdjapan.co.jp. for the Japenese-only Region 2 DVD. Another movie about famous Japanese dogs to get is "Nankyoku Monogatari" which tells the story of Taro and Jiro who survived a year alone in Antarctica after being abandoned by their human team of scientists. It was Japan's #1 box office champ from 1983 until 1997 when Princess Mononke and Titanic surpassed it.