7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Canada 1931: The unsociable trapper Johnson lives for himself in the ice-cold mountains near the Yukon river. During a visit in the town he witnesses a dog-fight. He interrupts the game and buys one of the dogs - almost dead already - for $200 against the owner's will. When the owner Hasel complains to Mountie Sergeant Millen, he refuses to take action. But then the loathing breeder and his friends accuse Johnson of murder. So Millen, although sympathetic, has to try to take him under arrest - but Johnson defends his freedom in every way possible.
Starring: Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Andrew Stevens, Carl Weathers, Ed LauterThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Most people probably associate the so-called “wild west” mostly with the 19th century, that period after America’s east coast had become largely settled, and westward expansion had begun pushing its way ever nearer toward the Pacific, but before the Industrial Revolution changed us from a largely agrarian economy to a more urban and mechanized one. But as the really interesting 1981 film Death Hunt depicts, at least some elements of the wild west survived well into the 20th century. While this film boasts the ever popular “based on a true story” imprimatur, its relation to actual historical fact is tangential at best. That doesn’t necessarily mean the film is lesser for that fact, simply that one should always take these sorts of claims with a veritable pillar of salt. There evidently was a Yukon trapper named Albert Johnson, played in this film by Charles Bronson, and there indeed was even a Canadian Mountie named Edgar Millen, played in the film by Lee Marvin, but their actual interaction was rather brief, since evidently Johnson shot and killed Millen rather early in what turned out to be a headline making escape attempt that took Johnson across the ostensibly uncrossable Richardson Pass in the dead of winter in 1931. Death Hunt completely recasts the character of Johnson as a sort of noble loner who does what is inarguably a good deed, saving a badly wounded dog from forced fighting, only to find himself on the receiving end of a lynch mob mentality that ultimately becomes an international “coalition of the willing” working to bring Johnson in for a then sizable reward. The film is notable for its often stunning Canadian locations, as well as for yet another largely wordless but still powerful performance by Bronson. Death Hunt may in fact not have much relationship with the real Albert Johnson, but it’s exciting and scenic and offers an object lesson in that peculiar sort of morality that actually helped forge our modern idea of what the wild west must have been like.
Death Hunt is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Timeless Media Group (an imprint of Shout! Factory) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. This is a surprisingly strong transfer for what is not a very well remembered film. The opening credits sequence which is comprised of opticals is rather grainy and somewhat dirty looking, but as soon as the credits have ended, things improve markedly, with really nicely saturated and accurate looking color and some impressive fine detail in close-ups. While this high definition presentation does look nicely filmic, with a healthy grain structure, there does appear to have been some moderate sharpening done to the picture, as very light ringing is sometimes noticeable, especially around tree branches and the like.
Death Hunt features a nice sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that occasionally offers minimal separation, but which boasts excellent fidelity that supports dialogue, effects and the rather nice score by Jerrold Immel very well. The film has more than its fair share of sound effects, including everything from the vicious snarls of fighting dogs to the rumble of a vintage biplane, and they all sound nicely full bodied. There's no appreciable damage to this track, and along with its excellent fidelity comes nicely wide dynamic range.
In their commentary included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, the writers of Death Hunt complain just a tad about Peter Hunt's "vision" for the film, which evidently departed from theirs in several significant ways (they do cut Hunt some slack, detailing how he was brought on to the project at the last moment and really didn't have a lot of time to prepare). And truth be told, there does seem to be a bit of a disconnect between the gritty, often quite violent, ethos of the screenplay and the almost glamorous framings of impressive Canadian snowfields and mountain passes. But in a way that disconnect actually works toward the benefit of the film, making it evident how Man's sometimes innate cruelty and misguided quests for vengeance is as much a part of nature as the great outdoors. This film boasts a nicely impressive lead performance by Marvin and an equally impressive turn by Bronson, who is almost mute throughout the entire picture. Timeless Media Group has done a commendable job here, offering several nice supplements and providing a nice looking and sounding package. Recommended.
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