Iron Will

In 1917, 17-year-old Will Stoneman (Mackenzie Astin) is a mail-runner for his small South Dakota town and an apprentice carpenter for his father Jack (John Terry), who creates furniture and runs the family farm. After delivering the town mail one day, Will opens a college letter and sees that he was accepted to his desired school. Despite his happiness at being accepted, he hesitates to leave his family responsibilities behind and worries about how the family will pay for it; Jack, however, encourages Will to chase his dreams. While returning with Will from a lumber run with their sled dogs, Jack drowns in a mushing accident when his sled overturns into a river. As the only son, now responsible for his mother Maggie (Penelope Windust) and his family's bill-indebted farm, Will despairs college but protests when his mother plans to sell their valuable sled dogs. Knowing that his father was thinking of competing in an international dog-sled race with a cash prize, Will insists on attempting.

After a month of rigorous training from Native Indian farm hand Ned Dodd (August Schellenberg), Will travels to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to enter the race. The principal sponsor, railroad magnate J.W. Harper (David Ogden Stiers), refuses his entry as too late. American news reporter Harry Kingsley (Kevin Spacey) sees the youngster as his opportunity to win headlines and gives Will the money to pay the late fee.

During the race, Will's energy and determination win the grudging respect of the international mushers and please Harper. Kingsley writes admiring articles gushing about Will's courage and competitive zeal (nicknaming him "Iron Will"), but his stories languish on back pages while the world focuses on the European War. Will becomes increasingly tired and sick, especially after he sacrifices his lead to save an Icelandic competitor who was felled by influenza.

One of the race's co-sponsors, Angus McTeague (Brian Cox), offers a bribe to brutal Swedish competitor Borg Guillarson (George Gerdes) to do whatever it takes to force the kid out of the race. Will stands up against this attempted sabotage and realizes that Kingsley is using him as a pawn to justify embellished articles which the veteran reporter hopes will win him front-page status and a promotion from the cold North to his paper's headquarters. However, when McTeague, who has funded the attempted sabotage of Will so he can win an immense side bet, repeatedly tries to bribe Will to drop out of the race, Kingsley defends Will's honor and throws McTeague out.

On the last day of the race, Kingsley becomes concerned when he sees how serious Will's physical condition is. Kingsley urges him to drop out of the race and see a doctor, but Will insists on finishing the race. He finds himself following Borg on a dangerous shortcut to the finish line. This hazardous frosty course alongside runs a turbulent river, just like the trail that took the life of Will's father. Will remembers Ned's advice and finds the courage to trust his dog team and risk the water hazards. Borg takes the lead by continually whipping his dogs, but they quit from exhaustion and attack him when he attempts to brutalize them into continuing. Will sees Borg being savaged by his team and scares them off as he races by on the dangerous shortcut.

Will's sled overturns near the finish line and he collapses, exhausted. Then Ned awakens the spirit of his father's dog Gus with a familiar whistle with the crowd following suit. While the other racers close in, Will struggles to stand up and cross the finish line just ahead of the others. Falling to the ground, unable to stand, he is helped up by his fellow competitors and falls into his mother's arms. Spectators surround Will, applauding his heroic victory.

 

• Mackenzie Astin as Will Stoneman
• Kevin Spacey as Harry Kingsley
• David Ogden Stiers as J.W. Harper
• August Schellenberg as Ned Dodd
• Brian Cox as Angus McTeague
• George Gerdes as Borg Guillarson
• John Terry as Jack Stoneman
• Penelope Windust as Maggie Stoneman
• Jeffrey Alan Chandler as DeFontaine
• Michael Laskin as Simon Lambert
• Rex Linn as Joe McPherson
• Richard Riehle as Burton
• Beau as Gus

 

Much of the film was shot on location in Minnesota, mostly along the Lake Superior shoreline as well as the towns of Cloquet, Floodwood, and Meadowlands. Although the race takes place between Winnipeg and Saint Paul, neither city appears in the film. The Winnipeg starting point for the race was filmed in Duluth, Minnesota near the Historic Old Central High School. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum, also located in Duluth, provided their active steam locomotive of that time Duluth and Northern Minnesota 14. The “Como Park” in St. Paul finish line scenes were filmed at the train depot in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The fictional town of Birch Ridge, South Dakota was filmed at the Munger Boat Landing in Duluth’s Smithville neighborhood. The dramatic bridge scene was actually filmed on two different bridges, the Oliver Bridge in Duluth and another railroad bridge along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Due to the general lack of mountains in Minnesota (excepting the Sawtooth Mountains), scenes in which Will goes through mountainous terrain were filmed in Montana. Additional footage was shot in Superior, Wisconsin as well as Brookston, Minnesota.

In its opening weekend, Iron Will took in $5,313,406. The film made a total domestic gross of $21,006,361.^[1]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67%, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10.^[4] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade.^[6]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 and wrote: "Iron Will is an Identikit plot, put together out of standard pieces. Even the scenery looks generic; there's none of the majesty of Disney's genuinely inspired dog movie, White Fang."^[7]

 

The winner of the 1917 Red River-St. Paul Sports Carnival Derby was, in fact, not the American Fred Hartman, but Albert Campbell, a Métis man, who sledded with his brother. In the film, two Native American brothers are portrayed as coming in second and third places. Despite losing the race, Fred Hartman did become a national hero promoted by the newspapers. As in the movie, Hartman was one of two Americans racing, but was considered an outsider, dubbed "the Yankee," and underwent similar difficulties portrayed in the film, such as discord among his dog team and the loss of his lead dog. Hartman was hailed for his courage and tenacity, and although he lagged in pace, he repeatedly passed his competitors by sledding at night, sneaking out of towns ahead of his competition, and running instead of riding the sled. He was given an American flag by a "pretty school teacher" at Grafton, North Dakota, as reported in a contemporary news article.^[8] Similar to the film, Fred Hartman narrowly escaped collision with a passenger train with the assistance of two local men who helped him and his dogs off the track. He was more fatigued toward the end of the race than the other participants, at one point needing to be assisted by local citizens to walk into a hotel to rest, and he was encouraged by his competitors to drop out. Unlike in the film, where Will Stoneman narrowly wins, Fred Hartman came in last place among the five finishers. He collapsed over the finish line snow blind, in "semi-conscious condition," having lost 32 pounds body weight since the start of the race but was still hailed a hero for his determination.^[3]

• Survival film
• White Fang,1991 film

• Official website
• Iron Will at IMDb
• Historical Account of the 1917 Winnipeg to Saint Paul Race