The Mountie in Hollywood

The Mountie is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable Canadian symbols. This was especially true in the movie industry during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, when Hollywood produced several movies featuring fictional Mounties.

Hollywood directors during this time took a great amount of creative license with the Mountie figure, portraying the character many different ways. For example, in the 1942 film “King of the Mounties”, RCMP Sergeant King saved Canada by working with an American scientist to commandeer an enemy spy plane and destroy their spy headquarters, located in the heart of a volcano. While this example may seem harmless, other films have been more damaging to the Mountie as a Canadian symbol. The 1919 film ”Tyrant Fear”, for example, showed an RCMP officer drinking in a brothel while still in uniform. Both the RCMP and the Province of Ontario made complaints about the film, which was eventually cancelled in Canadian theatres.

To combat such misrepresentations, the RCMP has often provided production crews with technical advisors for their films. These advisors were hired to ensure that a film’s costumes, characters and storyline were accurate representations of the Canadian Mountie. Some directors, however, disregarded the advice of the experts and chose to be creative with the Mountie character.

The saying that the Mounties “always get their man” is usually considered to be the creation of Hollywood. But, surprisingly, the phrase can be traced to 1877, many years before the film industry. In April of 1877, the Fort Benton (Montana) Record reported the following story from Fort Macleod:

Thanks to the vigilance of Major Irvine and the energy of Captain Winder, of the N.W. Mounted Police, another attempt to smuggle whiskey has been frustrated by the arrest of three men, who were tried, found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars each or be imprisoned for the minor period of six months. They preferred the former. Horses were sacrificed for the arrest, but the M.P.’s are worse than bloodhounds when they scent the track of a smuggler, and they fetch their men every time.

This is the earliest record of the phrase that was later made famous by Hollywood. Interestingly, people often confuse this saying with the official motto of the Force, “Maintiens Le Droit”.

The following is suggested for further reading:

Pierre Berton., Hollywood’s Canada, The Americanization of our National Image, (Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, c1975, p. 303)