The film stars Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Carl Weathers, Maury Chaykin, Ed Lauter and Andrew Stevens.

Death Hunt was a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson.

[5][6] In the Yukon Territory in 1931, Albert Johnson (Charles Bronson), a solitary American trapper, comes across an organized dog fight.

A white German Shepherd is badly injured and Johnson forcibly takes it, paying $200 to its owner, a vicious trapper named Hazel (Ed Lauter).

Aggrieved by his treatment and claiming the dog was stolen from him, Hazel leads several of his friends to Johnson's isolated cabin.

Sergeant Edgar Millen (Lee Marvin), commander of the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police post, seems a tough but humane man.

He has with him a veteran tracker named "Sundog" Brown (Carl Weathers) and a young constable, Alvin Adams (Andrew Stevens), plus a new lover in Vanessa McBride (Angie Dickinson).

He reluctantly agrees to investigate Hazel's accusations that Johnson stole his dog and murdered Jimmy Tom.

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, and many trappers join in the chase, attracted by the $1,000 bounty that has been placed on Johnson's life.

Captain Hank Tucker (Scott Hylands), a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, is sent by the government to join the hunt, which is causing a national embarrassment.

As the hunt continues, Millen begins to respect Johnson's uncommon abilities, while growing to resent the intrusion of so many outsiders.

The enraged Millen and Adams shoot down the aircraft with their rifles; Tucker crashes into a canyon wall and is killed.

Shortly thereafter Millen spots Johnson and opens fire; the bullet hits him in the face, rendering him unrecognizable.

It was part of a six film slate worth $60 million he announced in July 1979, others including High Road to China, The Cannonball Run, and Battle Creek Brawl, plus two films that were not made, The Texans directed by Sam Peckinpah from a script by John Milius, and Horizons based on a novel by Hardy Kruger.

"[11] Death Hunt bears little semblance to the true story of the manhunt of Albert Johnson, the reputed "Mad Trapper of Rat River".

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.

"[13] World War I veteran Wop May was a bush pilot flying a Bellanca aircraft who was involved in the hunt for Johnson.

Contrary to the film, May, who was portrayed as "Captain Tucker", did not wildly shoot at everyone, including the posse on the ground, nor did he get shot down.

"[18] "I think they set out to make a piece of entertainment, not a documentary" said Canadian actor August Schellenberg who appears in the film.

Factory acquired the rights to the film and released it on DVD on February 1, 2011 as a double bill with Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979).

"Mr. Bronson and Mr. Marvin are such old hands at this sort of movie that each can create a character with ease, out of thin, cold air.