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Emperor of the North (and other films about odd historical themes)

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    Emperor of the North (and other films about odd historical themes)

    On our cruise ship the TV in the cabin had a pretty good selection of films to pick from. Catering as it was for passengers old and young (but predominantly old) there were quite a lot from the 60s and 70s. Flicking through I stumbled across 'Emperor of the North', which I'd never heard of. Intriguingly, it was described as a drama based on the battle between the train operators and the "hoboes" who would try and ride the rails without paying, in Great Depression America.

    Sounds like the young EIM, I thought to myself, so put it on. It was compelling stuff - Ernest Borgnine, the train guard, basically murders anyone he finds "riding his train", throwing people out of carriages, kicking them off freight car roofs, even smashing their heads in with hammers. The hoboes, however, needing to get from town to town for itinerant work in the timber mill towns of the west, are prepared to take ingenious risks to avoid detection as they hop on and off the moving train. Lee Marvin is the film's main protagonist, the legendary "A no.1" (the train hopping hoboes "tag" station buildings they have reached as a badge of triumph much like modern trackside graffiti) who takes on a challenge to ride Borgnine's train all the way to Portland. It's a superb battle of wits between the two, and you even have some sympathy for the murderous Borgnine when you realise that the company will fire guards who allow their trains to be boarded, due to fear of looting the freight, and being sacked in the great depression was not a good idea.

    The preamble to the film explains that the film was based on real life in Great Depression America. Are there other examples of outlandish portrayals of how real people used to live, that most of us are unaware of (the ways people lived, or the film, or possibly both)?
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