Never Cry Wolf (1983) on Netflix
Tyler, a Canadian biologist, is sent to the Arctic to study whether wolves are killing off the caribou. The pilot Rosie Little leaves him on a frozen lake, where Ootek shelters him.
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Trailer
Plot summary
The government sends Tyler, a young Canadian biologist, into the isolated Canadian Arctic to find out why the caribou population there is shrinking. He is told to kill a wolf and check its stomach for caribou tissue. The bush pilot Rosie Little flies him in and leaves him on a frozen lake. An Inuk named Ootek shelters him. Tyler spends his days on research and on staying alive, and the two wolves he calls George and Angeline, who are raising pups, seem as curious about him as he is about them. He and the wolves mark territory, and trust grows between them. He sees that they eat mice and not caribou, and he takes up eating mice himself.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Charles Martin Smith devoted almost three years to Never Cry Wolf, calling it "the loneliest film I've ever worked on": during much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, he was the only actor present.
- Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Never Cry Wolf was the first Disney film to be released by the studio under its new name.
- According to Northern Exposure co-creator Joshua Brand, Never Cry Wolf was one of two films that inspired that TV show's creation.
SPOILER
In Mowat's book the wolves are not killed and no bush pilot brings in investors to build a resort; the film adds both, and it also isolates its characters, where the book has Mowat meeting several people from different areas of the Arctic.- The screenplay was originally written by Sam Hamm, but it was altered over time and Hamm ended up sharing credit with Curtis Hanson and Richard Kletter.
