Death Hunt

Plot synopsis:
In the Yukon Territory in 1931, Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson), a solitary American trapper, comes across an organized dog fight. A white German Shepherd is badly injured and Johnson forcibly takes it, paying $200 to its owner, a vicious trapper named Hazel (Ed Lauter).
Aggrieved by his treatment and claiming the dog was stolen from him, Hazel leads several of his friends to Johnson's isolated cabin. Some begin shooting while others create a diversion. After the shooting of Sitka, the dog that Johnson has nursed back to health, the trapper kills one pursuer, Jimmy Tom (Denis Lacroix),
Once they discover that Johnson has bought 700 rounds of ammunition from the local trading post and paid in $100 bills, many conclude that he is the "mad trapper", a possibly mythical, psychopathic, serial killer who supposedly murders other trappers in the wilderness and takes their gold teeth. An old trapper, Bill Luce (Henry Beckman), warns Johnson that the law is coming for him. Johnson fortifies his cabin.
Sergeant Edgar Millen (Lee Marvin), commander of the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police post, seems a tough but humane man. He has a veteran tracker named "Sundog" Brown (Carl Weathers) and a young constable, Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens), plus a new lover in Vanessa McBride (Angie Dickinson). He reluctantly agrees to investigate Hazel's accusations that Johnson stole his dog and murdered Jimmy Tom.
Millen leads a posse of mounties and trappers to the cabin. He parleys with Johnson, telling him that he has a pretty good idea of what happened and if Johnson comes with him they can get it sorted out. However, before Johnson can answer, one of the trappers opens fire. Several end up killed, including one who is shot by one of his own friends. The posse uses dynamite to blow up the cabin, but Johnson escapes, shooting dead a Mountie, Constable Hawkins (Jon Cedar).
Millen, Sundog and Adams, joined by Hazel with his tracker dogs, set off into the frozen wilderness after Johnson. The case has made front page news across the country, and many trappers join in the chase, attracted by the $1,000 bounty that has been placed on Johnson's life. Captain Hank Tucker (Scott Hylands), a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, is sent by the government to join the hunt, which is causing a national embarrassment. He reveals that Johnson was a member of a United States Army special intelligence unit during World War I.
Johnson utilizes a number of tracking techniques to avoid Millen's posse and the bounty hunters, living off the land in treacherous winter conditions. As the hunt continues, Millen begins to respect Johnson's uncommon abilities, while growing to resent the intrusion of so many outsiders.
Luce comes across two of the trappers camping in the wilderness and shoots them both dead before pulling out their gold teeth. Luce, it seems, is the real mad trapper.
The pursuers catch up to Johnson. Tucker begins to strafe the area indiscriminately with his aircraft machine gun, killing Sundog. The enraged Millen and Adams shoot down the aircraft with their rifles; Tucker crashes into a canyon wall and is killed. Johnson escapes after killing Hazel.
Luce comes across Johnson and tries to kill him, presumably attracted by the reward. Johnson tricks him and captures him at gunpoint. Millen spots Johnson and opens fire; the bullet hits him in the face, rendering him unrecognizable. As they examine the body, both Millen and Adams spot the real Johnson, dressed in Luce's clothes, on a ridge above them. The man they shot was Luce dressed in Johnson's clothes.
The Mounties allow Johnson to flee into Alaska, well aware that everything he did was in self-defense. As the other pursuers appear, Adams tells them that Millen has killed Johnson. A trapper finds that the body has a pocket full of gold teeth, so they celebrate the killing of the "mad trapper".

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, revenge, violence, suspenseful, sadist

Review:
Using the  leads posted by other readers, I have been able to glean the following facts from  various Internet and library resources concerning the strange tale of The Mad  Trapper of Rat River, played in Death Hunt by Charles Bronson;a] A man referring to himself as Albert Johnson [identified post mortem by associates as Albert Nelson, although that was also an assumed name] arrived in the Aklavik area and brought attention onto himself from a large purchase of  ammunition, a new shotgun, and an inexplicable refusal to get himself a trapper's license.
Johnson ran afoul of a Constable Edgar Millen [Lee Marvin's  character] during the New Years season of 1931-32 after his apparent meddlings with the traps of some of the local types, who suggested that he had  gone bonkers in the isolation of the mountains.
- William Beckamn's character of Old Bill is introduced to provide a way for Bronson's character to survive the film after Lee Marvin manages to blow Bill's  face off with a single slug.
Charles Bronson has less than fifty words of dialogue in this film, since he spends most of it running through the snow on his own pursued by the mounties, but it is still one of his better films from the late seventies and early eighties era.He plays the real life character Albert Johnson, a fur trapper who killed some people in a dispute over dogs and went on the run in territory which had never been crossed during the ferocious Arctic winter.
Marvin is great and Bronson is fabulous in this action movie set in North Canada in the early 30's.
With a lurid title like "Death Hunt" and lead actors like Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, it would be easy to dismiss this film as just another shoot-'em-up run through the mill to capitalize on the marquee names (particularly Bronson).
It stars Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Carl Weathers, Ed Lauter, Andrew Stevens, Scott Hyland, Maury Chaykin and Angie Dickinson.
Music is by Jerrold Immel and cinematography by James Devis.Film is loosely based on the real "Mad Trapper" man hunt that occurred in the Yukon Territory, Canada, 1931.
As Johnson takes to the snowy terrain, with Millen and co in pursuit, a respect begins to form between the two wise heads, with Millen very much aware that there will be only one winner in this hunt.So it goes, framed by lovely location photography, and with Bronson and Marvin doing what they do best, film plays out as a snowy chase and survive adventure.
Lee Marvin as a veteran Mountie, Carl Weathers, and fresh from training Mountie Andrew Stevens set out to track Bronson down as he tries to escape into Alaska.The acting in this film is sensational, the settings are true to life, and the story is riveting.
I am an advocate for Charles Bronson(R.I.P.),that ,this was one of his most PHYSICAL movies,the incredible outdoor trekking during the filming of this movie must have been tough on everybody involved with the filming of this great story in the wilderness,,and keep in mind, he was 64 years old when this movie was filmed,,The best part of this movie is that there was a fluent and exciting scene constantly throughout,and the writers mixed a little comedy along the way to break up the story a bit,,,I personally own some wonderful memorabilia from this movie,,I have the actual Bowie knife carried by Lee Marvin in the movie,,,and I also own the ACTUAL coyote coat that Bronson wears in the movie,,it is unbelievably beautiful,,,,,,When I wear it,,I can feel a true connection with this great under-rated flick,,,,A true classic of our time,,,,,,any fans of Bronson are welcome to connect by email,Charles Bronson will be dearly missed by all of us,,I hope these comments will help keep him in our hearts as one of the GREATEST!,,,thanks for reading,,,DOUG 12/3/05.
Add to this Charles Bronson doing his stoic loner and a great list of character actors (including William Sanderson) coupled with a tightly woven script, beautiful cinematography and some rousing action and you've got a neat little classic.
Still, Bronson was effective (you could totally believe he was a rugged mountain man) and Marvin had some good lines (I am sure Canadian government culture ministers would have axed his comment calling the trappers "savages" if it was made in country)..
A solitary , self-reliant trapper(Charles Bronson) is wrongly accused of killing , then he is pursued by Canadian Police Mounted ( some Mounties as Andrew Stevens, Carl Weathers) commanded by Sgt Edgar(Lee Marvin).
I thought the movie was entertaining and fun for Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson fans.
Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin in an action flick; sounds like it can't miss, right?
That's the beginning of a massive man hunt that's led by law enforcement official Lee Marvin.What makes this movie really work are few things in particular.
After killing one of 'em, the Mounties (headed by Lee Marvin), and indeed all the men in the area (for reward of course), go on a death hunt for the guy, starting at his cabin and leading all over the snowy, mountainous terrain.
Both Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson are excellent here -- I don't know how many more movies either one appeared in after this, but they both give performances worthy of the veterans they were.
Marvin is simply terrific as the aging, world-weary Mountie, and Bronson is able to convey a lot with just an expression (which is essential in this film, since his lines are very limited).My only complaint is that, as excellent as they were, they only had one scene together in the entire movie, and that lasted less than five minutes.
Bronson is in sight, then he escapes, and then again he seems cornered by the Mountie posse soon joined by the improvised bounty hunters coming out of the wild, simply catching up with the unrelenting chase (ok Bronson is supposed to zigzag and the plane helps to locate him very closely, but little is done to make this a consistent narrative feature).Eventually it's a poor rendition of a fantastic true story only because the guys involved took the pedestrian path to a Death Hunt in the Arctic wilderness.
Made just years before Marvin's death and before Bronson went all bad-movie belligerent on us, this rugged wilderness saga is a glorious last hurrah for its two revered stars.Loosely (and I mean LOOSELY) inspired by an event that occurred in the early 30s, Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson) is a reclusive and unsociable mountain man who incites a group of men after rescuing one of their dogs from a primitive dog fight.
Marvin mentions that they're tailing a man who knows how to live off the land, but we e don't really get much of that aside from one shot of Bronson trying unsuccessfully to ice fish with his hands.At the end of the day, DEATH HUNT isn't a masterpiece and it surely doesn't break any new ground.
In spite of the terrific ensemble cast and the most breathtaking filming locations there are to be found on this planet, "Death Hunt" sadly felt somewhat like a disappointing and routine action movie.
The true story is touted as one of the most intense manhunts ever, and I am sure it would make for fascinating reading.Two legendary cinema tough guys play pursuer and the pursued; Charles Bronson is Albert Johnson, a solitary man forced to kill in self-defense.
Lee Marvin is Edgar Millen, the Royal Canadian Mountie who is obliged to track him down, but who respects him far too much to want to see him bagged by a greed-motivated bounty hunter or an overly ambitious pilot.Ultimately, the movie doesn't deliver too much on the action front; the action scenes are certainly competent but there aren't too many of them, and we really don't get a sense of the characters having to endure any real hardships, despite the potentially riveting man vs.
The music by Jerrold Immel and cinematography by James Devis are noteworthy, as well as a prominent male milieu, headed by greats Bronson and Marvin; Andrew Stevens is baby faced, by-the-book young Mountie Alvin, Carl Weathers the easygoing "Sundog", veteran screen heavy Ed Lauter the troublemaker Hasel, and an under utilized Angie Dickinson in an obligatory (and brief) love interest role.
Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin - these two great actors had already starred together in Robert Aldrich's awesome hangdog war flick "The Dirty Dozen" and their casting alone is reason enough to watch a film.
Teriffically set in the snow-covered Yukon territory of the early 1930s "Death Hunt" of 1981 is an atmospheric and tough-minded film that is not only recommended to my fellow Bronson fans.
This film, which is (supposedly) based on a true story, is set in 1931, but in an area that still seems like late 19th century, a chillingly cold and sparsely populated mountain wasteland that is home to tough trappers, lone hermits and, mainly, people who don't put particular value on a human life.The loner Albert Johnson (Bronson) saves an almost dead dog by buying it from its owner after it has been severely wounded in a dogfight.
The hunt for Albert Johnson is lead by the elderly Mountie Sgt. Millen (Marvin), who, even though sympathetic towards Johnson's motives, has to do his duty, his black assistant Sundog (Carl Weathers) and rookie Mountie Alvin (Andrew Stevens)...The film bares several resemblances to Michael Winner's great revenge Western "Chato's Land" (1972).
Ever since I fist saw Sergio Corbucci's Italian Western masterpiece "Il Grande Silenzio", which is one of my all-time favorite movies, I have a thing for films set in snow-covered mountains, and the Yukon setting is awesome and makes you almost feel the cold of the Canadian borderland.
The film's two stars, Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin are as great as one may expect, and Angie Dickinson plays a small role as Marvin's girlfriend.
I just thought I'd add that this movie is roughly based on the true story of "Mad Trapper" Albert Johnson.
Two loggerheads; Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson find themselves at the opposite sides of the law (the Mountie and the trapper) in this bold, grizzled and expansive survival action trek through the rocky, snowy Canadian wilderness.
An innocent man being hunted down by a large posse for a crime he did not commit, rugged mountainous terrain, and death defying stunts by one man's struggle to survive.The viewers sympathy lies with the main character played by Charles Bronson, (Albert Johnson) a lone trapper living in the wilderness, but it also lies with his main pursuer (Sergeant Edgar Millen of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) played by Lee Marvin.
Carl Weathers and Andrew Stevens are the cavalry, and Ed Lauter is at his villainous best as the key protagonist who goads Bronson into his murderous siege.Glorious snow-covered landscapes, tense action and a great cast of familiar faces (Sanderson, Lesser, Barnes, Chaykin etc) create a westernised "Death Wish" meets "First Blood" with Bronson and Marvin the two old salts forging mutual respect out of a relentless and increasingly deadly cat and mouse in which the mouse is fatally underestimated.
This is one of Charles Bronson's more popular vehicles (though I've missed it more than I care to remember in the past!)  as much for his pairing with Lee Marvin as for the tough, snow-bound action of the plot.The film, in fact, is based on true events depicting a bloody manhunt which has gone down in history; ironically, its source seems to have been a trivial argument about possession of a wounded dog!
While the location photography is pretty spectacular, the narrative tightly-paced and the action sequences undeniably well-handled (Peter Hunt being a veteran of James Bond movies as both editor and director), it's unfortunate that characterization  the posse grows in number once a bounty is offered for the capture of trapper Bronson  is mostly relegated to unpleasant stock types.Even if both stars (who only get to share one scene) were clearly ageing by this time, they bring conviction to their respective roles: Bronson demonstrates his characteristic quiet fortitude as the hunted man, while Marvin is the experienced and tenacious lawman on his trail (but whose cynicism gives way towards the end to reveal an essential humanism underneath).
Bronson certainly has his work cut out, as facing him are a whole host of notables: Lee Marvin has one of those great roles as a sympathetic opponent who's actually got more in common with Bronson than his own side, while Andrew Stevens reminds us of why he got cast in big-budget films before his star waned.
Also on hand are the likes of Bronson regular Ed Lauter as a redneck, Carl Weathers as another tough guy (possibly a dry run for his turn in PREDATOR?), sleazebag William Sanderson and even Angie Dickinson in a cameo.This film has a ton of action to complement the short running time, and the thrills never stop coming.
It's oddly enjoyable seeing old veterans such as Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin - both in the twilight of their unique careers - chewing up the lush Canadian scenery while involved in a battle of wills during a early 20th century man hunt.
Death Hunt (1981) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Based on a true story (fictionalized heavily here) of mountain man Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson) who kills a man in self defense but the cowards who attacked him claim that he started it.
Charles Bronson is the Alleged Killer (based on a real-life Mad Trapper) that Proves to be Quite an Adversary as He Defends Himself from the Mob Out to Not Bring Him In, but Kill Him in the Process.This is an Overlooked Film in Bronson's Career and Will Prove to be an Excellent Find for Both Charlie and Marvin Fans.
Charles Bronson plays Canadian trapper Albert Johnson, who lives alone in his mountain cabin.
One day while in town he breaks up a dogfight, then forcibly buys the beaten dog from his loathsome guardian, only to later have to shoot and kill someone in self defense at his home, forcing seasoned lawman Sgt. Edgar Millen to form a posse to arrest Johnson for murder, leading to an extended chase of the resourceful and elusive Albert in the frozen mountains of the Yukon.Good to see Bronson and Marvin reunited(after they worked together in "The Dirty Dozen") and nicely filmed on location, with good action scenes, but unfortunately film is cluttered with two many characters(like the ones played by Andrew Stevens and Carl Weathers) with some poor writing of them, and extraneous scenes, when it is the dynamic of Bronson & Marvin that should be the focus.
If you can look past the legion of historical inaccuracies, you'll probably enjoy Death Hunt, a bringing together of Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, along with Angie Dickinson in a story of a wrongly-accused trapper harassed and chased by the RCMP and a posse made up of men, none of whom has an IQ above that of a pine tree.The 1931 story, filmed fifty years after the fiction (who would accuse the script of being factual?) showcases Marvin and Bronson at the near-end of their useful careers.
Instead, we are treated to a serious discussion on justice and survival in the Arctic circle.Charles Bronson is the "mad" trapper, Albert Johnson, who (in the film if not in actual history) stops a dog fight and precipitates (by this action) a rising tide of violence that aims at killing him.
In short, not only is he the man you least want to pick a fight with, but he is less likely to be easily catchable if you chase him.The local Mountie is Sgt. Edgar Millen (Lee Marvin) who appears to be unconventional.
Charles Bronson plays Albert Johnson, who becomes known as the 'crazy trapper'after killing a man in self defense.
Not being the social sort, Johnson is a self-reliant trapper and soon finds himself being chased across snow covered Canada by a solemn Mountie, Edger Millen(Lee Marvin).
The head of the Mounties in the district, the northern Yukon, Sgt.Edger Millen, Lee Marvin,is anything but interested in capturing Johnson feeling that he killed one of those trappers who were out to kill him.
Death Hunt is set during 1931 in the isolated desolate Canadian snow covered mountains where trapper Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson) lives on his own except for the white Dog he rescued from a local Dog fighter named Hazel (Ed Lauter).
Defending himself Johnson shoots & kills one man & fights the other's off, annoyed Hazel goes to Royal Canadian Mountie Sergeant Edgar Millen (Lee Marvin) & accuses Johnson of murder.
Unable to ignore Hazel's accusations despite his suspicions Millen, his men & a posse from town head out to Johnson's cabin to bring him in but Johnson considers himself innocent & won't go without a fight...Directed by Peter Hunt (is it a coincidence that a film centering around a hunt in the Canadian mountains for a fugitive be directed by someone whose name is Hunt?) this watchable action adventure film was based on the true story of Albert Johnson, also known as The Mad Trapper of Rat River who was the focus of a huge manhunt in Nothwest Canada which culminated in Johnson being shot nine times & killed after eluding Mounties for over a 150 mile foot chase.
Charles Bronson & Lee Marvin only share one scene together & never face off against each other, Marvin is pretty good while Bronson barely says anything as he is running on his own for the majority of the film.Death Hunt is an alright action adventure film although anyone looking for a historically accurate account of The Mad Trapper of Rat River are advised to look elsewhere.
I've always been a bronson and marvin fan and here they do a great job of playing their usual tough-guy roles.