Movie Death Hunt poster. CCTV translation straight board translated as "Death Hunt", Hong Kong translation as "Snow Ridge Crossing the River Dragon"
This is an old American movie released in 1981, Death Hunt, which was screened on CCTV. The CCTV translation is called "Death Hunt", which is more faithful to the original meaning, and the Hong Kong translation is "Snow Ridge Crossing the River Dragon", which is more imposing. I have always disliked the Hong Kong translation, but the name is very fond of it, which is more in line with the charm of the protagonist.
Hollywood in 1981 was a time when Westerns were on the wane and new tough guy movies were in the ascendant. Governor Schwarzenegger's "Conan the Barbarian" will not be officially released until the following year, and in the same year, the national father-in-law Stallone's "First Blood 1" will be released. At that time, in addition to the "dart" Klint Eastwood, who supported the image of the "tough guy" in Hollywood, it was charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, the two old tough guys in the film who were nearly sixty years old. Both are actors I love and even admire, and their experiences are similar: they came from poor families and served in the U.S. military during World War II (Lee Marvin was born in the Marine Corps, charles Bronson was a machine gunner on a B-29 bomber, and both fought against Japan). Charles Bronson, who had 25 missions in the Pacific Theater, entered the entertainment industry after the war, and was not very popular in his early years, and became popular in Hollywood at the age of nearly fifty. The old man who experienced the baptism of war and the tough guy played a tough guy, which was more vicissitudes and realism than the governor and Stallone, who later wore a muscle eight-pack abs.
The first time I watched Death Hunt was in high school. It's a film based on a true event in history, and it's a film that has had a great impact on me. But I don't want to talk about the movie itself. We're going to talk about the archetype of the protagonist in the movie: the legendary "Mad Hunter" who shook North America, Albert Johnson.
Death hunt movie poster with a hat in the picture is the protagonist of the movie: Albert Johnson, played by the famous tough guy actor Charles Bronson
On December 31, 1931, two RCMPS, Alfred King and Joe Bernard, set off from the small town of Aklavik, where they were stationed, on a dog sledding ride to a log cabin deep in the forests of canada's Yukon Mountains near a river called the Rat River. The purpose of their trip was to interrogate a hunter. Until they got to the cabin, the two mounted policemen did not take the task too seriously.
About half a year ago, on July 9, 1931, a man about 5 feet 10 feet tall, blue-eyed, and brown-haired came down the Peel River to Fort McPherson in the Snowy Mountains region of Canada's Yukon Province. There, he was cross-examined by a RCMP named Edgar Millen. The man, who claimed to be Albert Johnson, had come here for hunting. Without further inquiry, Millen let him go.
We have no right to blame Millen for this negligence. In the 1930s, in the Yukon region of Canada, the fur industry was in its time. Arctic fox skins and beaver skins have brought a rolling source of wealth to this ancient and desolate snowy mountain, and to this day, this area is still rich in high-quality beaver skins, exported to the world, and favored by fashionable women in various countries. The well-developed fur industry feeds a large number of hunters who make a living by hunting arctic foxes and beavers. This hunter is not Hunter, but Draper. Hunting is finely divided in English: Hunt can be shot with a gun, traper can only be used with traps or traps. For the hunting of furs, it is not possible to hit them with guns, and furs with gun holes are not valuable. Later, the media gave Johnson the nickname of Mad Traper, Chinese there is no corresponding concept, can only be translated as "Crazy Hunter".
At that time, affected by the Great Depression, a large number of North American outlaws came here to pan for gold, most of them from South Dakota and Nebraska in the United States, including many fugitives who fled after committing crimes in big cities, as well as gangsters who were brave and fierce, intolerable in the countryside, and had to try their luck in the Yukon region. The area has thus become a mixed place, after all, the number of local mounted police is limited, it is quite difficult to control these outlaws from fighting each other, and it is obviously not necessary to interrogate a hunter who has just arrived too much. What's more, such outlaws are usually only agile and excellent marksmanship, but they have no understanding of the cold climate and dangerous terrain of the Yukon Snow Mountain. Most of them freeze to death after a few months in a snowstorm or in the snow-capped jungle, and the cross-examination of such people is usually a formality. So it makes sense that Millen didn't pay much attention to the man who called himself Johnson.
Still, Millen made a name for Johnson. He later recalled that the man, who identified himself as Albert Johnson, had a slightLy Scandinavian accent and seemed to be wealthier than the other hunters (because he appeared well supplied and carried a lot of ammunition). His beard was shaved cleanly, which set him apart from other scruffy and dirty hunters. Other than that, people don't know anything about him.
After being questioned by Millen, Johnson took his carry-on gear and crossed the waterway to the Mackenzie River Delta on a local-built raft, where he built a log cabin on the banks of a river called the Rat River about 80 miles from Aklavik and went on a hunting career.
Soon, other hunters began complaining to the local RCMP that Johnson was unruly and did not have a hunting permit. Johnson researchers today believe that such accusations are not credible. At that time, due to the large number of hunters, there were fewer and fewer prey to hunt, and many hunters tried to drive away other competitors under various pretexts. However, Johnson did not apply for a permit. At the time, and indeed today, Canada was the same, whether it was Hunting or Trapping, it was necessary to apply for a special license. It was later speculated that Johnson did not apply for permission to avoid showing valid documents. The name Albert Johnson is also apparently a fake name. However, he did do the Trapping business and had a few fur trades with a local Chinese. At that time, there were many Chinese people doing fur business in the Yukon region.
The rifle Johnson and the Mounted Police used in their confrontation and escape, the Savage 99.30 caliber lever rifle. Note that this is not the one that Johnson used
Even the hunters who attacked Johnson admitted that Johnson didn't do anything out of the ordinary, he was very silent, rarely spoke, and never argued with people. In such a mixed area, mounted police officers generally have a good impression of such people who do not cause trouble. Johnson has been isolated, with mounted police stationed in Akrawik, nearly 80 miles from Johnson's cabin, and a dog-drawn sleigh run that takes 20 hours at a time. In this icy and snowy landscape, none of the mounted policemen were interested in traveling long distances to deal with the trivialities of such hunter disputes.
In December of that year, another hunter ran to Akravik to complain to the mounted police, saying that Johnson had tampered with his trap without permission, causing his losses. Probably because there were too many similar complaints before, the mounted police had to express something, so there was the visit we mentioned earlier. It was really just a visit, and all they wanted to do was check Johnson's hunting license, ask him if he had moved someone else's trap, and then go home. At that time, such disputes between hunters were usually difficult to distinguish between true and false, and the attitude of the police was not to participate too much.
The two mounted police officers saw from a distance that Johnson's cabin was smoking from the cooking, indicating that there was someone in the house. However, when two mounted police officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, Johnson refused to open the door. This alerted the two mounted policemen, and King and Bernard returned to Akrawik, applied for a search warrant, and brought three more assistants. Five days after their last visit, the group returned to Johnson's cabin again and identified himself, but this time Johnson refused to open the door. King, a mounted policeman, loudly announced that he had brought a search warrant and then tried to force his way into the cabin. At this point, Johnson fired a shot from inside the house, injuring King. Things have never been out of hand.
King wasn't dead, he was just injured. But the temperature that day was below minus thirty degrees, and in this severe cold, the injured would soon die of hypothermia. Given the situation, Bernard and his aides returned to the station with the injured King. King was treated and saved his life. This detail can also be seen that the Yukon mounted police at that time were extremely physical. In this sweltering cold, I suffered a gunshot wound and lacked medicine, but I still survived for 80 miles and 40 hours. In the Yukon region at that time, those who could become mounted police officers were also first-class tough guys.
Johnson's shooting worsened the situation, and the mounted police could no longer stand idly by. After some deliberation, the mounted police decided to arrest Johnson. So they organized a capture team, led by Edgar Millen, who had interrogated Johnson, eight mounted policemen, including Bernard, and a number of hunters volunteered to join. Considering that Johnson might have escaped, they took the dogs they used for tracking, forty-two dogs in all.
Johnson didn't run away, he was still stuck in the house. The Mounted Police also anticipated this, and they prepared to storm. Before setting off, the mounted police officers brought more than 9 pounds of explosives. After surrounding the cabin, the mounted police used explosives. The explosives of the time were easily frozen in cold conditions and needed to be roasted over a fire before being used — a detail that is also reflected in the film — after which the Mounted Police set the heated explosives on fire and threw them on Johnson's roof.
Mounted police officers involved in the hunt for Johnson. The photograph was taken in 1932
According to the movie — and indeed many Johnson researchers — the explosives blew up the wooden house despite their limited power at the time. But local police records show that the explosives had a very limited effect, only blowing up the doors and part of the wooden walls, and the demolition of the hut was after Johnson escaped. But in any case, the explosives played a role, and the mounted police prepared to rush up to hunt down Johnson (or his body). At this time, another unexpected thing happened:
It turned out that Johnson had dug a deep trench in the house as a bunker long before the Mounted Police arrived, and stored ammunition and supplies inside. After the cabin was blown up, Johnson was surrounded by police when He suddenly opened fire from the bunker. However, unlike in the film, Johnson's round of shooting did not hurt the Mounted Police. The mounted police quickly retreated. After that, the two sides faced each other for a full 15 hours in the freezing cold of minus 40 degrees.
Johnson had bunkers to keep warm and ammunition plentiful, while mounted policemen camped in the sweltering cold with limited ammunition. Eventually, the Mounted Police decided to retreat back to Akrawik and organize the capture of Johnson. Due to the impact of the blizzard weather, they have been in the local area for several days. By this time, news about Johnson had spread by radio across Canada. Police offered a price of $1,000 to arrest Johnson. At that time, a thousand Canadian dollars was a great fortune, enough to buy a house in a big city in the United States. After the news broke, hunters from all over the Yukon arrived, and among the participating pursuit teams, they were ready to capture Johnson and make a fortune.
Due to the delay of the blizzard, it was not until January 14, 1932, that the pursuit team led by Millen returned to the hut with enough manpower and equipment. By this time Johnson had escaped. Judging by the signs, Johnson had no sleds and no other helpers. Johnson, who was unfamiliar with the Yukon region, would soon freeze to death in the minus forty degrees Celsius with the limited supplies he was carrying.
Johnson's cabin on the banks of the Mouse River
However, they were wrong again, and this deadly hunt became a legend in North American history.
Whether Johnson is alive or dead, the pursuit team will always continue to chase. Led by Officer Millen, they rode a dog-pulled sleigh and tracked them all the way, and soon they found johnson's survival trail. This Johnson was so powerful that he fled with the sleigh tied upside down to his feet, trying to mislead the pursuit team, and often hiding in the reindeer herd to follow the deer to cover up the footprints. On several occasions, he also hid behind the pursuit team. And, to reduce exposure targets, Johnson never made a fire to cook along the way. You know, this is in the Yukon Snow Mountain area, and it was winter, the minimum outdoor temperature was more than minus fifty degrees, and it was accompanied by blizzards from time to time. Not to mention ordinary people, even experienced hunters in Yukon, it is difficult to spend the night without making a fire without freezing to death. In fact, until he was finally killed, Johnson did not catch fire along the way.
What's even more amazing is that this person's physical ability is extremely outstanding, a person carrying an 80-pound load (about 40 kilograms), and actually moving faster than a dog sled! Not only can you walk in the snow, but you can also climb the cliffs with your bare hands. In order not to expose his tracks, he rarely shot and hunted during the escape, and made a living by catching rabbits with his bare hands to catch fish and eat raw. Even the mounted police who were tracking Johnson grew in admiration for the guy. Fortunately, the hunters and mounted policemen of the pursuit team were also masters of snow survival, and after about two weeks of hunting, on January 30, 1931, the brigade finally blocked Johnson into a canyon under a cliff.
Johnson was hiding in the bushes on the edge of a cliff. The pursuit team climbed into the canyon from above him. An alert Johnson quickly opened fire, and mounted policemen and hunters returned fire. After a flurry of gunfire, Johnson fell behind a tree as if he had been shot. The pursuit team gradually ceased fire, and some people called johnson to turn himself in, but there was no response.
The pursuit team did not rush into action, but waited for two hours in the snow. At this point, the experienced captain Millen judged that in this biting cold wind, if Johnson was shot, he must have frozen to death. So he personally led two police officers down the canyon to prepare to examine the corpse.
Unexpectedly, without waiting for the three people to approach, Johnson, who had been lying in the snow for two hours, suddenly got up and shot, and the first shot was shot into the snow next to the mounted policeman. Millen's two officers were stunned by the snow and had to shoot back indiscriminately. Johnson then fired two more shots, both so fast that others sounded as if the two shots were fired at the same time. Afterwards, the mounted police saw Millen turn around and fall face down in the snow. The mounted policemen panicked and rushed down the canyon to rescue them, while the hunters shot at the side for cover.
Unfortunately, it was too late when the mounted police dragged Millen to safety to examine his wounds. Despite poor visibility at the time, Johnson hit Millen directly in the heart, and he almost died on the spot. Afterwards there were mounted police officers who swore they heard Johnson's laughter.
What about Johnson? He was not injured. Instead, while the pursuit team was in disarray, he carried an 80-pound package, climbed the cliff with his bare hands, and escaped again.
(To be continued)