Oliver
Reed, Candice Bergen and Gene Hackman are on opposing sides of “The Hunting
Party,â€a 1971 Western released on
Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Reed is Frank Calder who kidnaps school teacher Melissa
Ruger (Bergen). The plan is to hold her for a ransom, but Frank also wants
Melissa to teach him to read. Frank and his gang are pursued by Melissa’s
sadistic husband Brandt Ruger (Hackman), a wealthy and powerful rancher. The
film opens with Frank and his gang killing and butchering a cow from a heard of
cattle and cutting out chunks of meat which they eat raw. The scene is
disconcerting and is juxtaposed with a scene of Brandt forcing himself on
Melissa, who is not enjoying his actions which border on rape and clearly
involve the infliction of pain.
Frank’s
gang are warned by lawmen to stay away from their town. They ride past the town
bank which is heavily guarded and pass through town to the school. There they
grab Melissa after her husband departs on a hunting trip with friends on his
private train. Brandt and his friends also have several prostitutes and we
witness Brandt’s sadism as he employs lit wax candles on the prostitute in his
bed. When notified of his wife’s kidnapping the next morning, Brandt and his
friends begin their pursuit of Frank and his gang along with his new high caliber
hunting rifles with scopes. His friends think they are on a rescue mission, but
they learn Brandt is less interested in getting his wife back than getting
revenge.
Meanwhile,
Frank tries forcing Melissa into teaching him to read, but she refuses and
tries to escape several times. Frank rapes her and soon after she nearly shoots
him. Frank gives her the ultimatum of teaching him to read or starving to death.
Melissa succumbs during the only lighthearted scene in the movie in which she
is tempted by Frank with a jar of peaches. Melissa is drawn to Frank and a
romance develops between the two. Frank is an outlaw, but a man she is willing
to be with and betray her sadistic husband. Brandt and his men soon catch up
with Frank and his gang and starts picking them off like snipers, as they can
kill at a great distance. One by one, Brandt’s men lose interest when they
realize Brandt is less interested in rescuing his wife than killing Frank and
his gang like animals. In one scene he even stacks the dead men along side the
pond where they were killed, to the disgust of Brandt’s men who soon recognize
their friend has gone mad.
Apart
from the female lead, there are no “good guys†in this Western. They are all cutthroats,
thieves and rapists or psychopaths. The movie is a blend of the Spaghetti
Western and the new Hollywood action movie violence of the late 60s and 70s. Candice
Bergen gives a terrific performance in an otherwise bleak and nihilistic movie,
providing moments of hope that the story will turn in a different direction.
She’s raped or nearly raped several times in the movie and her performance is a
great follow up to her equally good performance in “Soldier Blue†from 1970.
Gene Hackman gives a nasty performance,which is a forerunner to roles in other
movies such as “Unforgiven†in 1992. Oliver Reed is understated for the most
part and has an effective American accent in his only Western. It’s hard to
figure out Frank Calder and his motives. Is he a bad guy? For sure, but he also
gains our sympathy if only because the businessman Brandt Ruger is far worse
than Frank and his gang members.
Familiar
faces round out the cast with the likes of Simon Oakland, Mitchell Ryan, L.Q.
Jones and William Watson to name just a few. Directed by Don Medford, the movie
was filmed on location in Spain, which was irresistible for Hollywood
productions trying to take advantage of the popularity of the Spaghetti Western
craze and the Spanish vistas still largely unfamiliar to most movie-goers in
America at the time. Known mostly for working in television where he had a
prolific career, Medford directed this and the second “In the Heat of the
Night†sequel, “The Organization,†which were both released in 1971 and remain
his only big screen credits. Well, almost. In addition to the dozens of
television credits as director from 1951 through 1989, he also directed the
first episode of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.†(“The Vulcan Affairâ€) which was
edited and released theatrically as “To Trap a Spy†in 1966. Thus, Medford
could lay claim to three theatrical features depending on how one categorizes
them. The screenplay is credited to William W. Norton, Gilbert Ralston and Lou
Morheim, who may have crossed paths with Medford in television. The movie has a
score by Italian composer Riz Ortolani ,who may be best known for his score to
“The 7th Dawn†and more recently for three Quentin Tarantino films: “Kill Bill,â€
“Inglorious Basterds†and “Django Unchained.â€
One
of the problems with the movie is that it is very bleak with only the
previously mentioned levity which seems out of place compared to the rest of
the rest of the movie. While the film is unsettling, it is very good with fine
performances by the three leads and the great supporting cast. This isn’t the
kind of Western the Duke appeared in during this time period and one can debate
which style was better: the extreme violence or the more traditional off-screen
blood and violence. I appreciate both and I think there’s room for this
variety, but there’s no doubt we were seeing one of the last gasps of the Hollywood
Western.
The
movie looks great on Blu-ray and I suspect it’s as good as it’s ever looked on
home video, having being released previously on DVD and VHS. The disc has an
audio commentary by Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson which I found very
informative. Other extras include a 12-minute interview with actor Mitchell
Ryan who shares his recollections while working on the film. The disc includes the
trailer for this and other Kino Lorber releases and reversible cover art. Forget
what you’ve heard or read about this movie, “The Hunting Party†may not be for
everyone, but is recommended for Western fans due to the terrific cast of
leading and supporting players.