Iron Will is a 1994 American adventure film. It is based on the true story of a 1917 dog-sled race from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Saint Paul, Minnesota, a 522-mile-long stretch and part of the "Red River-St. Paul Sports Carnival Derby." It is directed by Charles Haid, and stars Mackenzie Astin, Kevin Spacey, David Ogden Stiers, George Gerdes, Brian Cox, John Terry, Penelope Windust and August Schellenberg.
In the film, a teenager is thrust into adulthood when desperate family circumstances compel him to enter a lucrative yet dangerous cross-country dog race. Despite numerous odds against him, including harsh weather, hostile competitors and uncooperative dogs, he strives to continue forward; getting help from unlikely sources along the way, he is shocked to learn that not only he, but the whole country, is inspired and hopeful to see his own "iron will" come to fruition at the finish line.
Plot
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 also runs the family farm. After delivering the town mail one day, Will opens a college letter addressed to him 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 attend college and to chase his dreams, and to not let fear stand his way, with the insistence that the money will be there when the time comes. While returning with Will one day from a lumber run with their sled dogs, Jack drowns in a mushing accident when his sled overturns into a river; he sacrifices his own life to prevent Will, whose team was just ahead and tied to his own sled, from being dragged into the water, too. As the only son, now responsible for his mother Maggie (Penelope Windust) and his family's bill-indebted farm, Will despairs of 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 that his father knew could save the farm, Will insists on making the attempt.
After a month of rigorous physical, mental and spiritual training from Native Indian farm hand Ned Dodd (August Schellenberg), Will travels to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to enter the race. The race's principal sponsor, railroad magnate J.W. Harper (David Ogden Stiers), initially 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 extra money he lacks to pay the late fee, which Harper reluctantly accepts rather than be criticized in American newspapers. The rich race sponsors and the highly experienced international mushing champions scoff at the brash boy's apparently silly hopes of being real competition for them.
During the race, Will's energy and determination wins the grudging respect of the international mushers and immensely pleases Harper, who never expected Will to last for more than a day in the race. Kingsley writes admiring articles gushing about Will's courage and competitive zeal (nicknaming him "Iron Will" to bolster his public image as an American hero), but his stories, written by a cynical reporter, languish on back pages while the world focuses on the European War. As Will follows Ned's training advice to "run longer, sleep less," start earlier and race persistently for the long hours and many days of the over 500 mile race through subzero blizzards and lonely snow-covered forests, he endures brutal cold, steep mountains, treacherous river passages and various other obstacles. Will becomes increasingly tired and sick, especially after he sacrifices his lead one day to save the life of an Icelandic fellow competitor who was felled in a remote area by the influenza beginning to sweep the world.