I had fond memories of watching Death Hunt as a teenager and I thought it would be worth revisiting.
Charles Bronson plays, Albert Johnson, a solitary trapper who becomes the target of revenge after rescuing a dog from a cruel fight. He also slaps some manners into the owner in the process.
Feeling emasculated and weakened the man gets a gang together and turns up at Albert's cabin to teach him a lesson. A gunfight ensues, and in one of the men gets a belly full of lead. Sgt. Edgar Millen, played by Lee Marvin, of the Mounty police has the grim task of cleaning up the mess and bringing order. He takes one look at the situation and can see that it was the fault of trigger-happy hotheads, but with one man dead he has no choice but to Albert in. It's the law.
He refuses, of course, and it kickstarts a chain of events that leads them on a chase across the snow-covered mountains of Yukon in Northern Canada. Things get out of hand when a bet in a local tavern has every gun-toting buffoon in the county joining the posse.
Watching Death Hunt it's hard not to think of First Blood or The Fugitive. You'll find elements of both here. Made in 1981 this is without doubt one of last great Charles Bronson movies. It's also, given the fact that he only has three lines dialogue, one of his best performances. Lee Marvin is a commanding presence, as ever, but looks tired. Those years of boozing and smoking have obviously caught up with him. Then there's Angie Dickensian, playing the part of the only woman in the movie and I think that's the only reason she was there.
While this is based on a true story, all signs indicate that this was a very, very loose interpretation of the events of the real Albert Johnson.
