# The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

The Call of the Wild is a 2020 American adventure film based on the Jack London 1903 novel of the same name and on Twentieth Century Pictures' 1935 film adaptation. Set during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, the film follows a dog named Buck as he is stolen from his home in California and sent to the Yukon, where he befriends an old outdoorsman and begins a life-altering adventure.
    Directed by Chris Sanders. Produced by Erwin Stoff and James Mangold. Screenplay by Michael Green. Based on The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

## John Thornton

* [about Spitz] A pack can only have one leader. Spitz has had enough.
* [narrating] There's a place in these mountains where a new breed of timber wolf roams, wiser than men or wolf, because of the dog that runs at the head of a pack. Now... they live without fear, raise their young and flourish.
* but now I say that you are a wonderful snow dog. you are now part of the pack
* This is a map of the Yukon. My son was always reading adventure stories, crazy about the news coming out of the Yukon. Wasn't the gold, he didn't care about that, it was the mountains. He spent all day looking at maps and pictures of the mountains, dreaming about was on the other side, places no one had been, wild places. We could go, you and me, see what's out there. What do you think?
* [last lines of the film; narrating] Some say that's the legend. Not so. You see, I knew him once, when he was just a dog at a men side. And even all this land is his, every summer, when he comes down to the valley, he remembers kind hands and old masters... before he went to his own... became his own master... before he heard the call.

## Buck

* My names buck. • Master! • Here, you could have my fish. • I finally found my pack.

## Hal

* I came all the way out here! You knew something, didn't you? You wanted it all for yourself! Where is it? Where's the gold?
* [last words before his death] Oh, you know this, do you? Good. You see it, boy? You see it? Good.

## Dialogue

    Hal: I promised you, didn't I? And here we are.
    Mercedes: You promised me gold. Where is it? In the dogs? [laughs]
    Hal: Let's get this sled loaded. Time to state our claim. Let's go. And... mush!
    [Buck and the team struggle to pull the sled]
    Hal: MUSH!
    Mercedes: Are they broken?
    Hal: No, they're just lazy.
    Hal: Charles, persuade him, please.
    Mercedes: Not the pup. Charles, put that down or I'll... I won't go a step! Charles!
    [Charles raises his club until Thornton comes by]
    John Thornton: Remember me? Yeah, I know. [walks over to Hal] Your rudders are frozen. If you help your dogs, it might allow you to take the gee pole and break them out.
    Hal: Gee pole?
    John Thornton: Where are you heading, mister?
    Hal: None of your concern.
    John Thornton: You didn't buy that map in Skagway, did you?
    Hal: No.
    John Thornton: An old fairy tale, lost cabin. [lifts up the sled] River of gold. It's not too far into the spring. Half that trail is on the river
    Hal: Well, that leaves half the trail fit for travel.
    John Thornton: No, that means the ice is gonna break up with your companions and the dogs on it. Why don't you lay over until the spring will thaw? Save your dogs and your companions are suffering.
    Hal: And let some old prospector lead us to the gold.
    John Thornton: I'm not a prospector.
    Hal: No, thank you. I paid a fortune for this team. They'll pull my sled.
    John Thornton: Your dogs will pull your sled, pull your sled until they die.
    Hal: Thank you. Let's go. Alright, let's go!
    Charles: And... mush!
    Charles: Lazy mutts!
    Mercedes: I'm not so sure about those dogs. Maybe we should have bought a different team.
    Charles: Maybe we should feed them.
    Mercedes: Maybe we should have stayed on the trail.
    Hal: MUSH!
    [Dolly suddenly slips and the sled goes downhill]
    Mercedes: Ah! No! Make it stop!
    [Hal manages to stop the sled and falls to the ground. Hal gets up and grunts in anger as he throws his hat to the ground]
    Hal: [yells in frustration] GAAAHHH!
    [Buck and the team struggle to pull the sled]
    Hal: Maybe a little encouragement. [whips the team and the dogs yelp] MUSH! [whips again] MUSH!
    Hal: Oh no. We're going across. Move! I say you go!
    Mercedes: Hal, he can't!
    Hal: Move.
    [Hal pushes Buck out of the way. The dogs bark at him and Hal pulls out his gun]
    Mercedes: Don't you dare!
    [Hal aims his gun at Buck]
    John Thornton: HEY!
    [Hal stops and everyone looks at him holding him at gunpoint]
    John Thornton: The river ice is gonna break up any minute, you fool! That dog is trying to help you keep your life!
    [Thornton pushes Hal down a hill onto the ice and he points his gun at Mercedes and Charles]
    Hal: Why are you so keen to stop us? Oh, you know where the gold is, don't you? [searches in the snow for his gun as Thornton cuts Buck from the harnesses and Hal fires a shot] YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF MY DOGS!
    Mercedes: Hal.
    [Sol-leks growls and the other dogs bark at him]
    Mercedes: Hal, he said we shouldn't cross.
    Charles: Hal, are you sure that maybe we couldn't just leave the dogs.
    Hal: NO! I CAN'T DO IT! MUSH!
    [The dogs get up and continue moving forward as they look at Buck in sadness]
    Hal: MUSH!
    John Thornton: Don't do this! Not to them.
    [Hal rides down onto the ice with Mercedes and Charles following him]
    Hal: MUSH!
    [Hal walks into the bar and punches Thornton, causing him to fall to the ground]
    Hal: THEY'RE ALL GONE! MY DOGS RAN OFF! MY FORTUNE LOST! YOU CALL IT A FAIRY TALE?! [kicks Thornton] One won't be finding the gold!
    [Buck bolts into the bar and attacks Hal as he screams. Two men hold him back as Buck continues to bark at Hal]
    John Thornton: Easy, Buck! Easy! Buck! Easy.
    Hal: Now, you all saw! This man and I had business and the dog went for my throat. Probably rabid.
    [Buck lashes out at Hal and he falls to the ground]
    John Thornton: Leave that dog alone!
    Hal: I say he gets put down here and now.
    John Thornton: You don't touch him!
    Edenshaw: No one puts any creature down... 'til we hear all the facts.
    John Thornton: The man sucker punched me!
    [Buck barks at Hal and he backs away in fear]
    John Thornton: Buck, easy.
    Edenshaw: What might you have on that belt, friend?
    [Edenshaw examines Hal's belt and pulls out his gun. Edenshaw shows it to the entire crowd and the bartender carries Hal outside]
    Bartender: No guns allowed, BRUNT!
    [The bartender throws Hal out onto the snow]

## Cast

* Harrison Ford as John Thornton.
* Omar Sy as Perrault.
* Dan Stevens as Hal.
* Karen Gillan as Mercedes.
* Bradley Whitford as Judge Miller.
* Colin Woodell as Charles.
* Cara Gee as Françoise.
* Scott MacDonald as Dawson.
Actor and stunt coordinator Terry Notary stood in for the CGI-created Buck, whose model was scanned after an adopted dog.