Spoiler alert! The following story discusses the ending of “The Call of the Wild.” Don’t read it until you’ve seen the movie, or at least read the Jack London novel.
Like any dog movie worth a scratch, “The Call of the Wild” has a tear-inducing sad ending. But in a twist from the norm, the tears are not for the main canine Buck (the pooch played via visual effects by Terry Notary).
Like the 1903 Jack London novel on which it’s based, the sorrow is over the the main human, John Thornton (played by Harrison Ford).
In the movie, the long-troubled Thornton dies with Buck propping him up for a final look at a beautiful meadow.
“The film would not have the same emotional power without the death of Thornton, attended by Buck, as part of the conclusion,” says Ford, acknowledging that a good dog movie cry is never a bad thing. “I’m all for it.”
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Director Chris Sanders says that fans might expect that Buck, who was stolen from his comfortable home to become a Yukon Gold Rush sled dog before finding companionship with Thornton, might eventually make his way home. Or find an emotionally satisfying life with Thornton.
But Thornton’s death from a gunshot wound after a surprise attack from villainous Hal (Dan Stevens) disrupts everything. After spending the final moments with Thornton, the devastated dog moves into the wild to live full-time among his adopted wolf family.
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They don’t call it “Call of the Wild” for nothing.
“People who don’t know the original story may root for Buck to find his way home, tied up neat and clean,” says Sanders. “But that’s not how life works. The dog finds a new home. Just like we all have to leave our homes and find a new one somewhere else. That’s why this story endures, it’s more real than most. Yet, Thornton finds comfort with this dog in his last moments.”
The movie ending veers off from the book, which has Buck finding Thornton brutally killed following a surprise attack from a Yeehat Indian tribe. In the novel, the dog hunts down the tribe and transforms into a “live hurricane of fury.” He lunges for the chief’s jugular vein, “ripping the throat wide open” and a “fountain of blood” spurts out.
That’s just the start of the revenge killing. It wasn’t going to work for this Fox-Disney production.
“Buck goes full John Wick in the book,” says Sanders. “The book takes a very dark turn at that point. We wanted to keep it all family-friendly.”
Both movie and book end with Buck living on to create an immortal legacy with the lupine pack and their offspring. Wolves in the area are seen with “splashes of brown on the head and muzzle, with a rift of white… down the chest,” as London writes.
Onscreen, thriving Buck’s final moments are shown with his striking, white wolf female companion. He’s seen bounding with young wolves looking much like his St. Bernard-shepherd mix self.
The final scene between Buck and Thornton “may be sad,” says Ford. “But the film picks picks itself up after that and ends on a positive note.”
