Actually this movie was released the year just prior to that of First Blood...and it contains all the same elements. 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. Millen would prefer to simply let Johnson go about his solitary existence, but is forced to try bringing him to justice as a result of his official title as a policeman.This movie not only entertains with all the action and drama of the unfolding chase, but it also gives the viewer a glimpse into the salty existence of the early settlers and rugged mining camps of the north.It is my type of movie and is very well produced. It also contains a great cast that includes the likes of Carl Weathers, Andrew Stevens, Ed Lauter, and Angie Dickenson. Definitely placing it in my Top 30 all time favorites.

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. A mountain law man named Millen (Lee Marvin) asks Albert to come back to town but he refuses. What follows is a hectic chase through the mountains where Albert tries to reach safety while the posse tries to kill him.DEATH HUNT is without question the best movie that Bronson did during a decade where he was doing forgettable films like THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, crazy exploitation like DEATH WISH 3 or downright graphic movies like KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS. Those films that action legend did with Cannon certainly have fans, including myself, but they can't tough that macho-nature of DEATH HUNT. You've got legends like Bronson and Marvin doing battle in the wilderness with non-stop action and extremely graphic violence. What's not the love?There's no doubt that it's Bronson and Marvin that makes this film so memorable. There's a terrific sequence where the characters make a stop to take a breath and they look at each other through a pair of binoculars. Just the smile on both actors face will make any fan smile as well. There aren't many tougher people in the history of cinema and both Bronson and Marvin know this and you can tell they liked playing their toughness off of one another. They each want to up the other and this cat-and-mouse challenge between them really shows up and pays off on the screen with their characters.It certainly doesn't hurt that you've got a terrific supporting cast with many familiar character actors. Andrew Stevens, who would co- star with Bronson in 10 TO MIDNIGHT, is very good as the "new" guy in the force. Carl Weathers always plays it tough and cool. Ed Lauter plays one of the better villains of the decade. A real low- life that you can't wait to see him get him due. Angie Dickinson has a small and rather useless role but it's still nice to see her.The film is also technically well-made with Peter Best doing a nice job directing it. The cinematography is wonderful and the score is quite rousing and keeps you pumped up at the action. As I said, some of the violence is downright brutal and bloody but it adds to the fun. DEATH HUNT really benefits from the setting and getting to see two legendary tough guys doing what they do best. I've seen this movie countless times over the years and it never gets old.

This is formula tough guy vs tough guy manhunt. It's based on an actual incident, and changed to meet Hollywood iconic stereotypes of godlike men.In truth, the real manhunt was for a vicious killer, resulting in a little bit of what we see on film. As far as "literary license" goes, this is not as bad as most movies. However, the real killer was a killer, and was caught.Here, Bronson plays a man wrongly accused, as suits Hollywood. Thanks to Hollywood, people now see fit to judge guilt based on how they feel about the person politically. That's changed a bit in the last ten years, but in the seventies and eighties, it was very racist.Bronson's character is likable, though. He does what he needs to survive. As a story on its own, if one wants to call it a fiction piece, it works very well. Lee Marvin is a good grunting sort of mountie who takes on the aristocratic sort of mountie rookie, the idealist so popular in this era, who would learn that grunting is better than being civilized.The real story comes with the supporting characters. Three in particular, who have a later rendezvous with destiny. An old trapper, and a pair of trappers who are low in the pecking order, one of them completely on the bottom, the other who bullies him around.It is a story mostly of the pecking order of bullies in the savage wilderness. That part is done fairly well. It could have been much worse.

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). Hazel wasn't happy at the price Johnson paid for the Dog & with a group of his men they have a shoot-out at Johnson's cabin. 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. The script by Michael Grais & Mark Victor shares a few similarities with the actual documented events such as the plane searching for Johnson by air & the media frenzy his manhunt sparked but overall I think the majority of Death Hunt is fictionalised. For what it is I don't think it's too bad, it passes the time & there's that basic intrigue to see whether Johnson will escape capture or be caught. However there are a few scenes which simply don't work. For start the scene when Johnson's cabin is blown up by dynamite. The main problem with this scene is that Johnson is inside at the time & as the ruins are checked he jumps out totally unharmed without so much as scratch on him! No explanation is given for how he survived the explosion. It's one of those scenes where you have to ignore everything you know, you have to ignore the fact that if you are caught in a huge explosion you will be killed or at the very least seriously injured & if the explosion didn't hurt or injure Johnson surely all the bricks, logs & rubble from the cabin collapsing on top of him would have? Then there's the ending in which Johnson survives, not so much because it's not what really happened but because why did the other trapper Bill Lusk who is mistaken for Johnson start shooting at Edgar at the end? Edgar calls Johnson's name out so why did Lusk react? It's a very awkward scene that doesn't really work, why didn't Lusk simply say he wasn't Johnson & give himself up?There are some decent shoot-outs & one or two good explosions although in reality the plane didn't crash so this part was put in here probably to up the action a bit. The Canadian scenery looks nice enough & it's a fairly handsome film with nice period production design. Animal lovers should beware that there's a Dog fight at the start, although almost certainly staged animal lovers do tend to get very upset at these sorts of scenes. While the action set-piece scenes are alright none are that exciting or spectacular.Filmed in Canada & New Mexico the film looks pretty nice, it's well made with good production values. 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. The family film Challenege to be Free (1975) is also another highly fictionalised portrayal of Johnson.