Spoilers -- No Spoilers

The Spoilers is a novel by Rex Beach based in Alaska that was one of the best selling novels of 1906.



The book was quickly adapted into a play, and was later adapted to film five times, in 1914, 1923, 1930, 1942, and 1955. The novel is based on a true story of corrupt government officials, such as Alexander McKenzie, seizing gold mines from prospectors, which Beach witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska during the Nome Gold Rush.






I've only seen the last two movie versions; the best is the 1942 w/ John Wayne, Randolph Scott, and Marlene Dietrich (whom Wayne later referred to as "the best lay I ever had").



Watch the classic climactic fistfight online:

Warning -- SPOILERS!