Iron Will is the true story of young Will Stoneman (Mackenzie Astin) who enters a 500 mile long dog sled race from Winnipeg to Saint Paul to win $10,000.00 to pay for his widowed mother's farm house and his own college education.

The movie starts with the 17 year old Will delivering mail via Dogsled in 1917 South Dakota. After watching him tumble his sled in front of an oncoming car and ask a soldier who were at war with we get a good look at his young, naive nature. This same behavior causes him to show up late with his mail delivery and lose his job. Boo.

His dad, Jack (John Terry), consoles him and tells him not to worry about it. They'll still have money to send him off to college. Will suggests, "Hey. Know how to get a lot of money is if you enter this dog sled race thing.", which he happens to see a flier for. His old man and Ned (August Schellenberg), some Native American dude that apparently lives with them, say, "No way. That's just silly."

Later the father and son duo are out for a dog sleddin' good time, chattin' up how you need to reach for your goals and crap when papa falls through some thin ice. He's all tangled up in his sled, you see, so he's having a hard time getting loose and slowly pulling his dogs into the icy river with him. Will's not crazy about the way things seem to be unfolding and decides to grab onto the reigns in an attempt to pull his poor dad out. Jack, as good fathers would, would rather die then see his son put himself in danger and cuts the ropes allowing the frightened huskies to run off, dragging Will behind them, and letting himself slip into his own watery grave.

I knew this moment was coming the second I saw them go near the river. How? It's a Disney movie. What is it with the Walt Disney Company and killing parents? Bambi's mum, Simba's pop, Both of Lilo's parents, plus all the single parents we've seen in other movies. Where are Jamine, Belle, and Ariel's mothers? Why is killing off a parent such an important plot point in every freaking Disney movie?

Anyway...

Will's pretty upset. He blames himself and he blames his dad's lead dog, Gus (dog). Gus and Will, they don't like each other. When Jack was alive he said Gus didn't respect Will because he lacked gumption or something like that. Now with Jack dead Gus tries to bite Will and Will tries to him Gus with a shovel until Ned breaks up the fight saying The River called his father's name and that it was nobody's fault.

Obviously, with no income coming into the already fairly poor family, Will's ma, Maggie (Penelope Windust) suggests selling the house and dogs to pay off their debt. Outraged, Will refuses to let that happen and rises to fill his late father's role as bread winner by taking over the family business of whatever it was he did. Make furniture I think. I don't know. I was getting something drink during that part. Maggie tells him that he's not skilled enough to do so and that the price they'd get for Gus alone... "Gus is dad's dog!", interrupts the tearful Will. "And you're his son!", chimes in the equally tearful Maggie.

Excuse me... I have... something in my eye.

Later that day Will glances onto his desk and sees the flyer for the dog seld race. A large cartoon light bulb appeared over his head as he tells him mum he's going to enter the dog sled race with Ned as his trainer.

At this point I would like to tell you that "Gnna Fly Now" started playing while Will jogs around dragging a sled on his back with Ned calling him a bum but this was not to be. Damn close though. Ned tells him all kinds of cool Indian things like "Run longer, sleep less!", "Run at night and be friendly with the moon!" and "Let the creator guide you." then gives him a whistle and teaches him his dad's tune that makes the abstinent Gus follow commands.

Will finds himself in Canada where the race is to start but, UH-OH! He was late filing his paperwork and cannot pay the 10 dollar lateness fee. Fortunately, Mr. Kingsley (Kevin Spacey), seedy newspaper writer, is willing to pay the lateness fee because he thinks a young kid entering the race would make one helluva story.

The other races, however, don't take to kindly to some punk kid entering the race, particularly the Swedish champeen, Borg (George Gerdes), who insists he will not last one day. The wealthy man about the world type gamblers sponsoring the other racers have varying opinions on whether or not Will's going to survive and start betting and drinking cognac and twisting their mustaches.

Despite the odds against him and the jerk face racers and greedy gamblers trying to break his spirits Will keeps on truckin'. Kingsley, who only paid for Will's entry to write front page stories and sell papers begins to really pull for him, nick naming him Iron Will, kinda like the name of the movie, and writes inspiring stories of Will's exploits, dad's tune, and determination to pay for his mom's house. The country cheers for "America's Hope", Iron Will as he stays in the race.

The actual race is pretty cool but pretty long and I don't feel like writing about it in detail. Iron Will gets screwed over by the ramblin' gamblin' man who pays Borg to kill Gus. Will uses some Indian secrets to give himself the advantage and keep the wounded Gus alive. Kingsley becomes less concerned about his paper and more concerned about Well's will being. Did I just type Well's will being? I've got to remember to change that before I submit this review.

A couple racers drop out due to frost bite. Will continuously approaches rivers along the way and takes alternate routes to avoid them until he gains his gumption and lets the creator guide him across a what he fears most to put him a half mile in front of the competition during the final stretch.

Near the end of the race, Will collapses with the competition gaining on him. The fearful crowd, led by Ned and Maggie who have been flown to Sait Paul to see him cross the finish line, begin whistling Will's dad's tune inspiring him and Gus to get up and win the race! And the money! And my heart! I love you, Iron Will!

All in all, for an inspiring, family movie, which I usually don't dig that much, I enjoyed this movie. Aside from the whole dead dad and poor kid rising up against all odds it didn't seem too overly Disneyish. It was a pretty good coming of age flick and a just as good under dog story. With real dogs!

It seemed like Astin was going to be a really lousy actor for the first few minutes. He was just so, peppy. Like all the time. About everything. Once they killed off Terry's character, though, he grew up right away and became a believable character that you happy to root for throughout the whole film. Kevin Spacey's role as the newspaper writer was great but, c'mon, he's Kevin Spacey.
The film itsself stayed pretty true to it's 1917 setting. With old timely costumes and cameras, occasional WWI era slang, and, according to Wikipedia, only one screw up when we caught a glimpse of modern telephone poles in the back ground. But I can forgive that.

One thing I discovered after doing a little fact finding is that the so called true story was not quite true. They really should have said, inspired by a true story" rather than, "The Uplifting True-Life Story." Turns out the real Iron Will was actually a 26 year old miner from Boston, allready went to college, lost his lead dog, and lost to the younger Canadian racer, Albert Campbell. Also his name wasn't Will. It was Fred. I feel like I've been lied to.

I also enjoyed the way Will's hair always looked perfect. Whether he just woke up, dug his face out of the snow, or got a big sloppy wet malamute kiss, his hair looked down right gorgeous.

Whatever. I'm tired of typing so I'm going to wrap this up.

Final Score:










3 Skeletor Action figures and a can

Dumpster Worthy?:
Not at all. But not a movie you're going to watch more than once in a while.




Hmmm... Did I remember to fix that Will being thing? I probably did.