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Bronson + Marvin's Scene Together (SPOILER WARNING!!)

posted 17 years ago by Squonkamatic
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Was just watching my AB DVD of DEATH HUNT and something that I have always suspected is almost confirmed by the scene at Bronson's cabin:

If you look closely, Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson NEVER APPEAR TOGETHER in the frame in any of the shots where Marvin goes up to Bronson's cabin and has his dialog with him -- the only time the two of them appear onscreen in the same location. There are two possible explanations and I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts:

1) The scene has been very cleverly edited using a double of Bronson to hide the fact that he and Lee Marvin were never on the set together at the same time: All the shots of Marvin talking to Bronson are filmed over his shoulder, which could have been a double. You never see their faces framed together onscreen at any time -- though I have a set of DEATH HUNT promotional lobby cards that clearly show the two together in publicity stills. Also, when Marvin is speaking to Bronson, if you look over his shoulders it's clearly snowing: When they show Marvin from behind, it's a clear sunny day.

That means that either they were never actually on set together aside from the publicity photo session, or

2) THE DVD IS NOT ACTUALLY A WIDESCREEN TRANSFER, BUT A CROP FROM 1:33:1 TO 1:85:1 TO SIMULATE ONE and fit 16x9 screens.

I am 100% positive about Marvin and Bronson both being in the lobby card promotional stills, but how come we don't see them onscreen during the film? Either the DVD is incorrectly framed or they never were on set together during filming.

Thoughts??

[–] SeanJoyce 13 years ago

I know this post is over 4 years old, so replying to it is meaningless. But because there is such maddeningly little conversation around here about this minor classic, I'm going to.

For a long time now, I've roundly quashed any rumor that Bronson and Marvin were never on set together; such talk usually stems from this idea that the two didn't get along, and preferred to shoot there scenes separately.

The two had worked together in the past, and by all accounts, got along swimmingly. There's several promotional shots of the two together, and there's a audio clip floating around out there of the two stars yucking it up together. To summarize, there was no friction between the two of them that would have prevented them from working together.

You're right about the weather. I always either chalked that up to weather irregularities, or that it took more than a day to shoot everything.

I believe that Hunt just wanted to film that scene the way he did. The over-the-shoulder shots of one while the other is talking emphasizes the duality of both me. Michael Mann did the exact same thing 14 years later with Heat. Again, this prompted the same kind of talk and rumors that the two didn't get along, which persist even today even though mountains of evidence exist that put all doubts to rest.

I like the way the scene was shot, though I'll confess to wanting another scene between the two of them. A behind-the-scenes documentary of the two hardened badasses discussing the film together would have been a wet dream.

We should be grateful that this film got made. Marvin didn't have many years left on earth, while Bronson would soon commence a battle with Alzheimer's and commit himself exclusively to bottom-of-the-barrel dreck. Death Hunt is a last hurrah for two of the toughest and most legendary movie stars of all time.

Here's a shot of the two them apparently taking a break from the day's shoot, which confirms that they were on set at the same time:

http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/news/new%20dailies/DeathHunt/deathhun t1-1024.jpg

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino