Cast:
Charles Bronson (Albert Johnson), Lee Marvin (Sergeant Edgar Millen), Andrew Stevens (Constable Alvin Adams), Carl Weathers (George Washington Lincoln "Sundog" Brown), Ed Lauter (Hazel), Scott Hylands (Captain Hank Tucker), Angie Dickinson (Vanessa McBride), Henry Beckman (Bill Luce), William Sanderson (Ned Warren), Jon Cedar (Constable Hawkins), and James O'Connell (Hurley) Directed by Peter R. Hunt (#279 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
Review:
In 1931, there was quite a ruckus with a man of unknown origin that had arrived in the northern parts of Canda. He wasn't a licensed trapper, but people thought he was a fishy type. A visit from constables eventually resulted in one being shot and a posse being formed that came with dynamite for his cabin. In January of 1932, the posse surrounded him, and Johnson killed a constable (actually named Edgar Millen). The posse grew and grew as Johnson, not being able to just leave for the Yukon without being blocked, simply climbed a 7,000 ft peak. The Mounties responded by hiring Wilfrid "Wop" May to scout the area with a monoplane that tracked him pretty well and on February 17, 1932 at the Eagle River, the constables confronted and shot Johnson dead. It may interest you to know that several photos of Johnson's corpse were taken because of the curiosity in trying to figure out who Johnson really was, but nobody truly knows when he was even born. There had been movies based on the tale of Johnson, such as The Map Trapper (1972, TV) and Challenge to Be Free (1975), but here we have a movie made with the efforts of Hong Kong-based company Golden Harvest that was sold to 20th Century Fox (it was once to be called "Arctic Rampage"). This was the fifth feature film by Hunt as director (as Robert Aldrich was ditched by the filmmakers) who you might remember as the guy who directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service, probably the best Bond movie of, well, the period of 1969-1987*; he previously directed Marvin in Shout at the Devil (1976). This was written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor, who had one hell of a rebound with their next writing assignment: they co-wrote 1982's Poltergeist. Even was the film was being released, the producers and Marvin were already going with the "it's not a documentary" thing. Even with a budget reported to being around $10 million, the movie was not a major success at the time of release.
Eh, it's a decent little adventure when your expectations of its 97-minute runtime is a good ol' time with familiar people and a relatively casual approach to respect for one's counterpart. Sure, it isn't anybody's idea of a history lesson (there are other stories that have been treated worse). Sure, it is incredibly familiar if you think about any character that has their actions get misconstrued (so yes, it would make an interesting double feature with First Blood [1982]). And yet it is the kind of movie you either are all the way in for a nice time with familiar enjoyment in seeing Marvin and Bronson face off in a neat battle of steel-willed people in a changing time. The landscapes may be nice to view but things can change in the blink of an eye for even the most determined lone wolf, I suppose. There is beauty to be found in the wilderness but there also can be plenty of desolate isolation. In that regard, Bronson makes the obvious choice to play the lead focus for a movie that decides to find curiosity in a lone wolf that you can only gleam the surface of someone forced to action rather than just a straight killer. Marvin merely is a burnt-out guy thrust into an unenviable situation: wise-ass constables and wise-ass tag-alongs on, well, a "death hunt". All he knows in his landscape is that keeping headquarters happy is the goal more than combating every single crime possible and Marvin plays it with the usual wiry charm that I can appreciate. Weathers is his usual charming self even in a cursory supporting role while Stevens makes a fine match in seeing that young Mountie idealism meet the real world and Lauter makes a solid adversarial presence. Others come and go, whether that is Beckman and his odd nature or a not-exactly important Dickinson, but the movie balances its action with a worthwhile look at two people who would rather be anywhere else in the wilderness than being forced to take the other down. Rugged, violent and altogether a movie fit for a bored night looking for familiar faces, my kind of average movie. As a whole, it probably won't rank highly among the people that starred in it or its director, but it is an enjoyable feature for those who like familiar adventures that are committed to having a good Western time.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
*Seriously, go watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I have watched it annually on December 18 for the past few years.
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