From what I understand, although this film has it's story's basis in an actual crime spree and chase in 1930 Canada the details (including the deaths of the two star's historical characters) were changed. 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. His actions annoy a bunch of yahoos in the Canadian frontier town who liked dog fights (or other violent or vile types of entertainment) and who are annoyed when Bronson keeps physically trouncing them. What they don't know is that he was in Canadian Special Forces in World War I, and that he has highest level defense and survival skills. 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. He is not seen dressed in traditional Mountie uniform - that's for Nelson Eddy in ROSE MARIE (which is set further south in Canada). A hard and rugged realist, Millen sets his police goals to bringing in his quarry for trial or for explanation of the facts. Bronson has killed a man in the confrontation over the dogfight, and the man's brutal friends (several of whom were beaten by Bronson) are sticking to a story that Bronson was the instigator of the incident. Due to small details Millen realizes that Bronson probably was the innocent party attacked by the yahoos, but he has to bring him in to explain what happened. Unfortunately Bronson does not trust the law - his father was a criminal, and recently died in a prison infirmary.
Millen is accompanied by fellow Mountie Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens) and "Sundog" Brown (Carl Weathers). Adams has just been assigned to the post, and has strange ideas about proper procedure and behavior for a Mountie (he'd fit in nicely next to Nelson Eddy) that Millen's realism in this environment just does not fit. Brown is a sensible type, and also represents a feature of frontier living that was not as readily available in "civilized" areas to the south: he's an African-Canadian, but Marvin accepts him as a sensible associate on his mission to catch Bronson. Although there are traces of racism in the film's characters, these are relatively understated in the frontier - every man proves his worth there by survival skills, not by the color of his skin.
As the film progresses Bronson manages to outmaneuver all of Millen's attempts to catch him, although in some cases just barely. He also makes mincemeat out of the yahoos out to catch him for revenge or for a $1,000.00 reward posted by two individuals who wouldn't even try to go into the wilderness to catch him on their own. The irony of the title, of course, is that while the yahoos look at the hunt as the "death" hunt to cause Bronson's demise, in the end (as the death toll keeps rising) it is their deaths that make it a death hunt.
Angie Dickinson appears in a couple of scenes as Millen's girlfriend, who wishes she could keep him home safe. I suspect her role was cut in the final film editing to concentrate on the chase sequences. Her scenes with Marvin give him a chance to show a sad adherence to duty that he could not just drop even if he wanted to. What remains helped fill out Millen's character, but I suspect more would have been filled out in other scenes with her.
The actors supporting the lead roles are good, mostly playing knaves or fools of one sort or another. Henry Beckman as an ambiguous fur trapper who may or may not be helping Bronson is quite good, as is Scott Hylands as an arrogant Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who discovers (to his cost) that while he represents a mechanical future - that Millen wisely says he wants no part of - the wilderness is quite unforgiving to mechanical failure.
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. His actions annoy a bunch of yahoos in the Canadian frontier town who liked dog fights (or other violent or vile types of entertainment) and who are annoyed when Bronson keeps physically trouncing them. What they don't know is that he was in Canadian Special Forces in World War I, and that he has highest level defense and survival skills. 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. He is not seen dressed in traditional Mountie uniform - that's for Nelson Eddy in ROSE MARIE (which is set further south in Canada). A hard and rugged realist, Millen sets his police goals to bringing in his quarry for trial or for explanation of the facts. Bronson has killed a man in the confrontation over the dogfight, and the man's brutal friends (several of whom were beaten by Bronson) are sticking to a story that Bronson was the instigator of the incident. Due to small details Millen realizes that Bronson probably was the innocent party attacked by the yahoos, but he has to bring him in to explain what happened. Unfortunately Bronson does not trust the law - his father was a criminal, and recently died in a prison infirmary.
Millen is accompanied by fellow Mountie Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens) and "Sundog" Brown (Carl Weathers). Adams has just been assigned to the post, and has strange ideas about proper procedure and behavior for a Mountie (he'd fit in nicely next to Nelson Eddy) that Millen's realism in this environment just does not fit. Brown is a sensible type, and also represents a feature of frontier living that was not as readily available in "civilized" areas to the south: he's an African-Canadian, but Marvin accepts him as a sensible associate on his mission to catch Bronson. Although there are traces of racism in the film's characters, these are relatively understated in the frontier - every man proves his worth there by survival skills, not by the color of his skin.
As the film progresses Bronson manages to outmaneuver all of Millen's attempts to catch him, although in some cases just barely. He also makes mincemeat out of the yahoos out to catch him for revenge or for a $1,000.00 reward posted by two individuals who wouldn't even try to go into the wilderness to catch him on their own. The irony of the title, of course, is that while the yahoos look at the hunt as the "death" hunt to cause Bronson's demise, in the end (as the death toll keeps rising) it is their deaths that make it a death hunt.
Angie Dickinson appears in a couple of scenes as Millen's girlfriend, who wishes she could keep him home safe. I suspect her role was cut in the final film editing to concentrate on the chase sequences. Her scenes with Marvin give him a chance to show a sad adherence to duty that he could not just drop even if he wanted to. What remains helped fill out Millen's character, but I suspect more would have been filled out in other scenes with her.
The actors supporting the lead roles are good, mostly playing knaves or fools of one sort or another. Henry Beckman as an ambiguous fur trapper who may or may not be helping Bronson is quite good, as is Scott Hylands as an arrogant Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who discovers (to his cost) that while he represents a mechanical future - that Millen wisely says he wants no part of - the wilderness is quite unforgiving to mechanical failure.