The shootout’s finale– when Bronson’s character survives the posse blowing his cabin up with dynamite and jumps out of the wreckage, guns blazing, to escape, killing another posse member in the process– actually happened that way. The real Mad Trapper did survive the prolonged shootout at his cabin.

These are the sorts of details a lot of screenwriters and producers might instinctively tone down, or omit altogether, on the assumption audiences would find them too far-fetched and ‘movie-like’, despite the fact they were true. Having just watched a short documentary on the 1931 manhunt the movie was based on, I was pretty amazed to find out just how “superhuman” the real guy (Bronson’s character) was.