THE CALL OF THE WILD, AUTHENTIC JACK LONDON NOVEL
The 2020 Disney Live Action Film Adaptation
The Call of the Wild by Jack London is a world-class western adventure classic that combines suspense, drama, and action into a single story. This book has been delighting dog lovers of all ages for decades and is sure to continue throughout decades to come. In this post, we will be looking at the 2020 Disney remake of this hallmark classic. We will examine both the movie and print versions to discover which aspects of the book were kept intact and which ones were sacrificed.
This timeless family film is a whopping 1 hour and 42 minutes long and stars none other than Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee, Dan Stevens, Bradley Whitford, and Jean Louisa Kelly. It was directed by Chris Sanders.
Jack London
Jack London, originally named John Griffith London, was born in San Francisco on January 12, 1876. His mother, Flora Wellman Chaney, married John London Senior later that year and the family traveled all over California while John looked for work.
Young Jack was caring for himself by age fourteen and held many jobs including newspaper delivery boy, cannery worker, and seaman aboard a seal hunting ship. It is worth noting that Jack was self-educated, learning from many of the literary masters of his time and before. In fact, when he joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, he carried a copy of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and John Milton’s Paradise Lost in addition to necessary supplies such as bacon and flour. Although he later claimed to not know anyone who had published anything, he did indeed have many notable friends within the writing community of his day.
That being said, within a mere two decades, he published a whopping forty-seven books, and by 1913 was the highest paid author in the world.
Buck is a dog who has lived the good life on his master’s California estate, until he is stollen away and sold to become a sled dog. It’s the 1890s and he is sent to the Klondike Gold Rush where both man and beast must fight to survive.
This is Buck’s story of how he went from spoiled pet to primal predator. It’s the story of how he learned the ways of his ancestors and traveled thousands of miles across the Northern Alaskan Territory as he changed hands from one man to the next.
It is the fictional story of how he not only survived but thrived, how he beat the odds and came out on top. It’s how he learned to listen to the call of the wild.
Meet the Characters
The Dogs…
- Buck – Saint Bernard mix – Owned by Judge Miller, et-al.
- Toots – Japanese Pug – Owned by Judge Miller – left out of movie
- Ysabel – Mexican Hairless – Owned by Judge Miller – left out of movie
- Spitz – Husky – Lead dog – Owned by Perrault and François
- Curly – Newfoundland owned by Perrault and François – left out of movie
- Dave – Owned by Perrault and François
- Billee – True Husky owned by Perrault and François
- Joe – Billee’s brother – True Husky owned by Perrault and François
- Sol-leks – Old Husky – Missing an eye – Owned by Perrault and François
- Pike – Husky – Owned by Perrault and François
- Dub – Husky – Owned by Perrault and François
- Dolly – Husky – Owned by Perrault and François
- Skeet – Irish Setter – Owned by John Thornton – left out of movie
- Nig – Black dog, half Bloodhound half Deerhound – Owned by John Thornton – left out of movie
The Humans…
- Judge Miller – Buck’s original owner
- Mollie and Alice – Judge Miller’s daughters
- Manuel – A gardener’s helper on Judge Miller’s estate
- The man with the red sweater – no name but important character
- Perrault – Mail carrier for the Canadian government
- François – Dog handler and Perrault’s traveling partner
- Hal – Cruel city slicker wanting to find hidden valley of gold.
- Mercedes – Hal’s frou-frou sister
- Charles – Mercedes husband
- John Thornton – Buck’s final owner – experienced in wilderness living
- Pete – One of John’s partners – left out of movie
- Hans – One of John’s partners – left out of movie
The Call of the Wild – The Movie
The beginning…
This film adaptation of the renowned novel, The Call of the Wild, is a powerful remake of the original book. It starts out with the main character, Buck, running free through his hometown of Santa Clara Valley. He is boisterous and full of energy as he bounds from one place to the other wreaking havoc wherever he goes, then he catches sight of the mailman on his bicycle.
Boy oh boy! Buck is off like a shot and chases the poor man all the way to the front gate of Judge Miller’s place – Buck’s home.
But wait, there’s more!
As soon as we see the back of the flustered mailman and he is gone, Buck precedes to tear wildly through the house, stopping first at the bustling kitchen, on his quest to wake up the two young misses, Mollie and Alice. You see, it is the judge’s birthday and preparations are being make for a splendid party. A party which Buck makes a hash of. This is not at all how the book begins but it is an entertaining and lively opening scene.
Manuel and the man in the red sweater…
While Buck was in town, he is noticed by a man who wants to make a bit of easy money. He is nameless in the movie, but his name is Manuel in the book. He is the gardener’s helper at Judge Miller’s place and is quite the rascal.
Okay, back to the movie, then we’ll compare the scenes.
So, Manuel (we’ll call him that since it’s his name in the book) takes advantage of a rainy night and lures Buck into a crate with some sort of treat. The dog falls prey to his machinations and finds himself trapped and on his way to un unknown future.
After a long journey, he is delivered to “the man in the red sweater” who beats him severely as soon as he is freed from his confinement.
Alright, here it is, the book version.
First of all, Manuel didn’t see Buck in town, and it wasn’t raining. No, Manuel tied a rope around Buck’s neck and walked him to the place they were to meet the truck that would take the animal away. Buck does endure a long trip; via truck, then train, then another truck before reaching the man in the red sweater. By the time he gets there, he’s had enough. He’s been betrayed, contained, and deprived food and water for days. He’s furious. Sadly, the movie downplayed this part of the narrative. Anyway, Buck is beaten severely when he leaves the crate, that part is true, but the book shows a much more violent Buck than the film. These scenes were downplayed.
John Thornton…
When Buck first reaches Alaska, he discovers something very odd – snow. This is correct in both film and movie. What isn’t correct is that the movie has Buck first meeting John Thornton in this early scene when he returns John’s harmonica to him. They don’t in fact meet until much later on in the story.
It caught me as strange that John should appear not only upon Buck’s arrival but also in other scenes where he didn’t belong. Though it’s not accurate, it did tie some things together and to some degree prepared us for the part of the story where John actually belongs. I was disappointed to see that the writers at Disney wrote out John’s two partners, Hans and Pete, and his other two dogs, Skeet and Nig. All four of the missing characters played vital roles in the book. By removing them from the story, the ending had to be changed as well. Though riveting, the ending was all wrong.
Perrault and François…
I can’t even act like this is okay. What were they trying to do by rewriting these characters this way?
First of all, the big black man was François in the book, not Perrault, and his job was to handle the dogs. He did not buy Buck in town and take him to the camp to meet with “François”. Though the correct Perrault did go buy the dogs, Buck and Curly (though poor Curly was left out).
Next, Perrault in the book was a small, swarthy man who spoke broken English. The film made him a woman. What! Agh! They also gave the two a romantic relationship with one another. No way! Such a gross disparity should not be borne.
Both of these characters were meant to be men, partners at work, not what the movie made them into.
Spitz, Buck, and the pack…
Spitz, the leader of the sled dog team; mean spirited, cunning, and selfish. He is no friend to the pack, and he is jealous of Buck.
Though maybe he had a right to be. After all, Buck did have designs on taking his place as lead dog. In this, both the book and movie agree. Buck and Spitz did have a bitter rivalry. Where they went wrong was not showing the true extent of the dogs’ conflict. There is one scene specifically that was horribly inaccurate, but I won’t say what since I don’t want to ruin it for anyone.
Spitz and Buck appear to be the only canine cast members that are true to the book’s list of characters. What happened to the others?
Well, none of the other dogs are huskies as the book says. They are a mix of all other types including what looks to be sort of like a mastiff though not nearly so large. In other words, they are all wrong.
In the end, Buck does take the lead in both the original and this film. He had to fight his way to the front of the line, but he made it. With him leading the way, the mail delivery team runs steadily for thousands of miles and gains a reputation.
But it’s not an equal reputation between the dogs. Buck gains all the credit as the lead dog.
There are several amazing exploits that are to his credit; some in the book that is not in the movie and visa-versa. At one point, he actually confronts a grizzly bear and makes the bear back down, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Where was I? Oh, yeah.
Hal, Charles, and Mercedes…
Who are these lunatic people? Simply put, they are a silly family of hoity-toity city slickers that have no business traveling the Alaskan frontier. They are in search of gold but are completely clueless but don’t know it.
They believe that they know what they’re doing – especially the guy in the red jacket, Hal.
Hal is loud, arrogant, and cruel. No one can tell him anything about what the three are up against because he thinks he knows best. He just won’t listen. He is unbearably stupid about animals and abuses the dogs intolerably. He is also entirely obsessed with the hunt for gold, believing that John Thornton is out to keep him from it – which is not at all true. Although John does go with Buck on a grand adventure into uncharted territory that is not on any map.
Conclusion
Have I addressed everything? No. No, I have not. Not by a long shot. There is still a lot that I didn’t unpack about this story. But I think that’s a good thing. Why? Because it will give you something to look forward to when you either read the novel, watch the movie, or both.
You will be pleasantly surprised by all the action and adventures that Buck and his friends go on. But be forewarned, this tale is not for the faint of heart. No, it is filled with drama, near misses, and raw emotion. It is a story about relationships and difficult choices. So, I dare you to give it a go. I dare you to answer The Call of the Wild.