Death Hunt



Death Hunt is unlike any of the other Bronson movies I've seen thus far. It is centered around Lee Marvin, a Canadian mountie, who ignores the law chasing a criminal through Canada. Charles Bronson is that criminal, but starts out a loner who had a town grow up close to his home. They initially begin feuding because Bronson broke up a dog fight several local men were having. The owner of the dog pleaded with the mountie to take action, but he drunkenly refused. So the dog owner and his cronies went up to Bronson's cabin and shot at him. Of course Bronson didn't get hit but killed one of the posse's members. Marvin will put up with a lot but he has his limits--"so long as they aren't killing each other I'll leave them alone" as he explains it to his protege. This event clearly violates his law of the land so he gets all the original cronies plus some of his own together to go bring in Bronson. Marvin seems to believe Bronson is right, but he wants to hear both sides before judging.

When they get there, Bronson doesn't fire on them so Marvin realizes he's a rational man. He approaches the door to talk and recommends to Bronson that he come into town to clear things up. Bronson doesn't like the idea but considers it. While they talk at the door, one of the distant men shoots a rifle directly at Bronson but misses him. Bronson swings up a pistol and hits him in the head. The negotiations are now over so they try to shoot Bronson out. It's a futile effort as bullets can't penetrate a log cabin, so they camp out and wait for dynamite to come from town. When it gets there, they unfreeze it over a campfire like the geniuses they are, but it luckily doesn't explode on them. They light it and throw it atop the house, making for a huge explosion. They all think Bronson must be killed, but as they search the wreckage, he pops up and starts shooting, then runs off.

Now the chase begins as Marvin immediately sets out after him. He knows basically where Bronson will go as he's a master at this stuff, so they can be after him even if they're not in sight. Most of the time they are though, and they continually push him. Marvin explains later to a his protege, who's with him every step of the way that they're doing this so he won't be able to rest and build a fire to warm up. Still, the chase continues and local folks are getting in on it as rewards are offered. Soon an ace pilot from the Royal Canadian Air Force decides he'll catch Bronson from the air. This makes the whole chase into a media event and inspires everyone in the towns they're near to be on the lookout for them. The Air Force hot shot keeps Marvin motivated by telling him mounties are out of date. The future is here and the future is in the air. Obviously this man will be killed as he's so ignorant of the power of Bronson. So when he spots Bronson and fire's at him, Bronson coolly pulls out a gun and fires into him. He loses control and runs into a mountain, so Marvin must catch him. By now residents of each town are out in force to stop him, and Marvin starts getting mad at all them as they're just getting in his way. Around this time, out in the wilderness of the chase, an old man kills two of the men who surrounded Bronson's house for their gold fillings. Meanwhile, Marvin discusses with his young training mountie why he's continuing the chase wasting everyone's time when all he did was maybe kill one man who might not have deserved to be killed. Marvin insists that if he thought the killing would stop here he'd let Bronson go. He seems sincere in this statement and it becomes important later.

Now the old man who was after gold fillings ran into Bronson and was taken hostage. Bronson sent him out of the woods when they were cornered where he was shot in the face by someone. The newsmedia and all the bountyhunters were quick to take pictures with the dead man in typical media circus fashion. Marvin's protege went up to him and couldn't confirm it being Bronson but a person found dozens of fillings in his pocket suggesting this man had monetary motivation, so Marvin knew it wasn't Bronson. He put the binoculars to his eyes and saw Bronson fleeing over a hilltop. The young mountie told Marvin he wasn't sure about the identity and wondered what he was looking at. He replied, "Nothing, just my old eyes playing tricks on me." The young mountie looked up just before Bronson went out of site. He smiled they both started talking to reporters since their chase was over.


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