Decent if unexceptional chase / survival thriller benefits from a solid cast, interesting characters, breathtaking scenery, and a compelling enough story, based on (or maybe the operative words should be "inspired by") history. 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. nature element of the story.
Still, "Death Hunt" does manage to entertain well enough even if it's not terribly memorable in the end. Its period recreation is effective (the story takes place at the tail end of 1931 in Canada's Yukon Territory) and there are some great scenes and images. It's just too cool to see Bronson - in one of his better performances - emerge from the rubble of his destroyed cabin with both guns a-blazing. 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. Lots of great character faces here, too: Henry Beckman, William Sanderson, Jon Cedar, Len Lesser, Richard Davalos, Maury Chaykin, August Schellenberg, Sean McCann, and Tantoo Cardinal. Chaykin and Schellenberg add silly comedy relief as two constantly bickering thugs.
Overall, this is good stuff if not as great as it could and should have been. At least it's a good example of a thriller with a refreshingly old fashioned, straightforward appeal and which doesn't over saturate itself with special effects. It even works in a comment on the nature of tradition vs. progress, which in this story is represented by radios and aviation. All in all, it may give in to predictability rather than nuance, and not be too faithful to the true story, but it provides acceptable entertainment.
Seven out of 10.
