Death Hunt
Encyclopedia
Death Hunt is a 1981 film starring Charles Bronson
, Lee Marvin
, Angie Dickinson
, Carl Weathers
, Maury Chaykin
, Ed Lauter
and Andrew Stevens
. The film was directed by Peter Hunt
, and was a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson
.
, is badly injured and Johnson forcibly takes it, paying $200 to its owner, a vicious trapper named Hazel.
Aggrieved by his treatment and claiming the dog was stolen from him, Hazel (Ed Lauter), leads several of his friends to Johnson's isolated cabin
. The men then attack the cabin, shooting while others create a diversion. Johnson kills one of them, Jimmy Tom (Denis Lacroix), after he shoots Sitka, the dog, which Johnson has nursed back to health.
Once they discover that Johnson has bought 700 rounds of ammunition
from the local trading post and paid in $100 bills, the trappers become convinced that he is the "mad trapper", a possibly mythical, psychopathic, serial-killing figure who supposedly murders other trappers in the wilderness and takes their gold teeth.
An old trapper, Bill Lusk (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 tracker named Sundog Brown (Carl Weathers), and a new constable named Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens), plus a new lover in Vanessa McBride (Angie Dickinson).
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 of the trappers end up killed, including one who is shot for screaming by one of his 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, so many trappers also set off after the RCMP
, attracted by a $1,000 bounty that has been placed on Johnson's life. Captain Hank Tucker (Scott Hylands), a Royal Canadian Air Force
pilot, is also 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 hunter
s, 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.
Lusk comes across two of the trappers camping in the wilderness and shoots them both dead before pulling out their gold teeth. He, it seems, is the real mad trapper.
The pursuers catch up to Johnson. Tucker begins to carelessly machine-gun the area, killing Sundog. The enraged Millen and Adams shoot down the plane with their rifles; Tucker crashes into a canyon
wall and is killed.
Johnson escapes after killing Hazel.
Lusk 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 unrecognisable. As they examine the body, both Millen and Adams spot the real Johnson, dressed in Lusk's clothes, on a ridge above them. The man they shot was Lusk 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."
. In reality, the actual Constable Millen was shot and killed by Johnson during the manhunt. Johnson was eventually killed after a remarkable and highly-publicized pursuit over several weeks. Of special note was the fact that Johnson eluded his RCMP pursuers in the dead of winter in the lower Arctic, crossing the Richardson Mountains
in the process, a feat previously considered impossible. Johnson was finally surrounded by mounties on the frozen Eagle River and shot and killed on February 17, 1932.
World War I veteran Wop May
was a bush pilot who was involved in the hunt for Johnson. Contrary to the movie, May - represented as "Captain Tucker" - did not wildly shoot at everyone including the posse on the ground. He also did not crash and die on a mountaintop after being shot down by the posse. May survived the manhunt and lived until 1952.
During the siege of Johnson's cabin, in the film at least five men were killed by Johnson, in reality, Millen was the only Mountie killed by Johnson during the manhunt. Two other officers that Johnson shot survived.
In the movie, it was claimed that Johnson was a veteran of the First World War, with Captain Tucker providing Johnson's military service record to Millen and the other RCMP
officers. In reality, virtually nothing is known of Albert Johnson before his arrival at Fort McPherson on July 9, 1931. To this day, the Mad Trapper's true identity has never been found.
A DVD of the film was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
in January 2005. However, Anchor Bay has since lost distribution rights to the film and the DVD was forced out of print.
Shout! Factory
has recently acquired the rights to the film and released it on DVD as a double billing with Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
on February 1, 2011.
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
, Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
, Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
, Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers is an American actor, as well as former professional football player in the United States and Canada. He is best known for playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films...
, Maury Chaykin
Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
, Ed Lauter
Ed Lauter
Edward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
and Andrew Stevens
Andrew Stevens
Andrew Stevens is an American executive, film producer, director and former actor.-Early life:Andrew Stevens was born Herman Andrew Stephens in Memphis, Tennessee...
. The film was directed by Peter Hunt
Peter R. Hunt
Peter R. Hunt was an English film editor, television producer and director. Hunt was known for his work on the James Bond films with his innovative editing style.-Career:...
, and was a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson
Albert Johnson (criminal)
Albert Johnson, known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was a fugitive whose actions eventually sparked off a huge manhunt in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Northern Canada...
.
Plot summary
In the Yukon Territory of Canada in 1931, solitary American trapper Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson), comes across an organised dog fight. One of the dogs, a white German ShepherdGerman Shepherd Dog
The German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...
, is badly injured and Johnson forcibly takes it, paying $200 to its owner, a vicious trapper named Hazel.
Aggrieved by his treatment and claiming the dog was stolen from him, Hazel (Ed Lauter), leads several of his friends to Johnson's isolated cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
. The men then attack the cabin, shooting while others create a diversion. Johnson kills one of them, Jimmy Tom (Denis Lacroix), after he shoots Sitka, the dog, which Johnson has nursed back to health.
Once they discover that Johnson has bought 700 rounds of ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
from the local trading post and paid in $100 bills, the trappers become convinced that he is the "mad trapper", a possibly mythical, psychopathic, serial-killing figure who supposedly murders other trappers in the wilderness and takes their gold teeth.
An old trapper, Bill Lusk (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
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
post, seems a tough but humane man. He has a tracker named Sundog Brown (Carl Weathers), and a new constable named Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens), plus a new lover in Vanessa McBride (Angie Dickinson).
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 of the trappers end up killed, including one who is shot for screaming by one of his friends. The posse uses dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
to blow up the cabin, but Johnson escapes, shooting dead a mountie
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
, 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, so many trappers also set off after the RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
, attracted by a $1,000 bounty that has been placed on Johnson's life. Captain Hank Tucker (Scott Hylands), a Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
pilot, is also 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
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
special intelligence unit during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Johnson utilizes a number of tracking
Tracking (hunting)
Tracking in hunting and ecology is the science and art of observing animal tracks and other signs, with the goal of gaining understanding of the landscape and the animal being tracked...
techniques to avoid Millen's posse and the bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
s, 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.
Lusk comes across two of the trappers camping in the wilderness and shoots them both dead before pulling out their gold teeth. He, it seems, is the real mad trapper.
The pursuers catch up to Johnson. Tucker begins to carelessly machine-gun the area, killing Sundog. The enraged Millen and Adams shoot down the plane with their rifles; Tucker crashes into a canyon
Canyon
A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
wall and is killed.
Johnson escapes after killing Hazel.
Lusk 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 unrecognisable. As they examine the body, both Millen and Adams spot the real Johnson, dressed in Lusk's clothes, on a ridge above them. The man they shot was Lusk dressed in Johnson's clothes.
The mounties allow Johnson to flee into Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, 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."
Cast
- Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
as Albert Johnson - Lee MarvinLee MarvinLee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
as Sgt. Edgar Millen - Angie DickinsonAngie DickinsonAngie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
as Vanessa - Andrew StevensAndrew StevensAndrew Stevens is an American executive, film producer, director and former actor.-Early life:Andrew Stevens was born Herman Andrew Stephens in Memphis, Tennessee...
as Constable Alvin Adams - Carl WeathersCarl WeathersCarl Weathers is an American actor, as well as former professional football player in the United States and Canada. He is best known for playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films...
as George Washington Lincoln Sundog Brown - Ed LauterEd LauterEdward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
as Hazel - Scott HylandsScott HylandsScott Hylands is a Canadian actor who has appeared in movies, television, and on the stage. He is probably best known for his role of Detective Kevin "O.B." O'Brien on the television series Night Heat, played from 1985 to 1989...
as Hank Tucker - Maury ChaykinMaury ChaykinMaury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
as Clarence - Jon CedarJon CedarJon Cedar was an American character actor, screenwriter and producer. Cedar's best known roles included Corporal Karl Langenscheidt on the CBS television series, Hogan's Heroes, which aired from 1965 to 1971...
as Constable Hawkins - Denis Lacroix as Jimmy Tom
- Henry BeckmanHenry BeckmanHenry Beckman was a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in well over 100 productions in the United States and Canada, including recurring roles as Commander Paul Richards in the 1954 Flash Gordon space opera television series, Bob Mulligan in the ABC sitcom I'm Dickens, He's...
as Bill Lusk - Tantoo CardinalTantoo CardinalRose Marie "Tantoo" Cardinal, CM is a Canadian film and television actress.-Career:Cardinal was born in Anzac, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Her mother, Julia Cardinal, was a Métis of Cree descent...
as Indian woman
Deviations from history
The movie bears little semblance to the real story of Albert JohnsonAlbert Johnson (criminal)
Albert Johnson, known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was a fugitive whose actions eventually sparked off a huge manhunt in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Northern Canada...
. In reality, the actual Constable Millen was shot and killed by Johnson during the manhunt. Johnson was eventually killed after a remarkable and highly-publicized pursuit over several weeks. Of special note was the fact that Johnson eluded his RCMP pursuers in the dead of winter in the lower Arctic, crossing the Richardson Mountains
Richardson Mountains
The Richardson Mountains are a mountain range located west of the mouth of the Mackenzie River in northern Yukon, Canada. They parallel the northernmost part of the boundary of the Yukon and Northwest Territories....
in the process, a feat previously considered impossible. Johnson was finally surrounded by mounties on the frozen Eagle River and shot and killed on February 17, 1932.
World War I veteran Wop May
Wop May
Captain Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, OBE, DFC , was a First World War flying ace and a pioneering aviator who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian west....
was a bush pilot who was involved in the hunt for Johnson. Contrary to the movie, May - represented as "Captain Tucker" - did not wildly shoot at everyone including the posse on the ground. He also did not crash and die on a mountaintop after being shot down by the posse. May survived the manhunt and lived until 1952.
During the siege of Johnson's cabin, in the film at least five men were killed by Johnson, in reality, Millen was the only Mountie killed by Johnson during the manhunt. Two other officers that Johnson shot survived.
In the movie, it was claimed that Johnson was a veteran of the First World War, with Captain Tucker providing Johnson's military service record to Millen and the other RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
officers. In reality, virtually nothing is known of Albert Johnson before his arrival at Fort McPherson on July 9, 1931. To this day, the Mad Trapper's true identity has never been found.
Home media
Death Hunt was first released on VHS by CBS/Fox video in the early '80s.A DVD of the film was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
in January 2005. However, Anchor Bay has since lost distribution rights to the film and the DVD was forced out of print.
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
has recently acquired the rights to the film and released it on DVD as a double billing with Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days is a 1979 Western film and prequel to the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It starred Tom Berenger as Butch Cassidy and William Katt as the Sundance Kid....
on February 1, 2011.