THE HUNTER
US, 1980, 98 minutes, Colour.
Steve Mc Queen, Kathryn Harrold, Eli Wallach, Ben Johnson.
Directed by Buzz Kulik.
The Hunter is familiar Steve Mc Queen material (Bullitt etc.) and is again the reminder that contemporary American justice, violence (and even a bounty hunter) derive from the frontier and the west. Here Mc Queen is genially and credibly ageing, good at his job (though for fun this time he is an awkward driver). Pregnant Kathryn Harrold is a strong leading lady and characters are well drawn. The pace is crackling, almost breathless - an action climax every ten minutes or so to Michel Legrand's thumping score: harvesters, car chases, Chicago subways and car parks, exploding classrooms. Mc Queen's hunter is a return to the tough, humane American hero (with touches of humour and fallibility).
1. The police film of the '70s and '80s? The tradition of the American western? The film's comment on its plot and characters being in the tradition of the west? The bounty hunters? The action, heroes, villains? Violence? The continuation of the frontier tradition?
2. The film as a Steve Mc Queen vehicle? His last film? His personality, style, ease of manner, laconic way of speaking? An American screen hero?
3. The cross-section of American locations? Californian background, the mid-west, Chicago? Colour photography? The importance of the special effects especially for action sequences: the harvester, the chases, the classroom explosion, the trains and buildings in Chicago? The importance of the editing and pace? The melodramatic music and its tone?
4. The film based on a true story? How authentic did it seem? The explanation of the law about bounty hunters? The significance of the prologue? The importance of bounty hunters and bail bonds for American justice? Sheriffs, bail bondsmen? The carrying on of traditions from the frontier?
5. The importance of Ben Johnson's guest appearance as the sheriff and his comments about Papa Thorson and the west? Thorson's reaction to this? His assessment of his role as bounty hunter?
6. The particular styles of the tough American hero: strength, wariness, tricks, guns, eluding pursuit? The particular technical details, the use of technology? Thorson's distrust of modern methods? His yearning for the old? The blending in of the humane touch, vulnerability?
7. The film and its relationship to television methods: the episodes of the plot, frequent climaxes and excitement? The music to signal the climaxes?
8. The portrait of Ralph Thorson: an authentic character of police work, the introduction to his work and his technique of trapping Tommy Price? His relationship with Dotty, his unwillingness for her to be pregnant? Their comfortable life together? So many years? His friendship with Ritchie Blumenthal? Discussions about jobs? The amount of travel? The encounter with the sheriff and the capturing of Face? The episode getting the brothers in Nebraska and the pursuit with the harvester? The threats in California, especially from ROCCO? The humorous deal with Winston Blue and Thorson getting rid of the police and taking him in? The impact of the Chicago chase sequences? The siege in the schoolroom and the explosion? The contrast with Dotty's anxiety, wanting to leave. the exercises for natural childbirth and Thorson's wariness of them? Driving her to the hospital - and the humour of his fainting? The range of his friends, ex-criminals and their being at home playing cards in his house, Tommy Price and his working for him - and his being bashed? A rounded character -likable, American strength?
9. The picture of Thorson's household? The ease of the people there, of Tommy Price feeling at home? Protection of Dotty? His being bashed and Dotty kidnapped?
10. The love for Dotty, her schoolwork, a heroine for this kind of film, the threats of Rocco? The siege? The pregnancy classes and the birth?
11. Blumenthal and his work, the discussions with Ritchie, persuasion?
12. Winston Blue - his background, deal with Thorson, the police siege, arrest?
13. Rocco and his continued menace, the bashings, the warnings, the kidnapping of Dotty, the long sequence in the school and Thorson's device of exploding the classroom?
14. The background of Thorson's friendship with Spota? His apprehensions about him? His being on the take, the stealing of the drugs? Their long discussion together and getting drunk? The other side of police pressure and being in the public eye? The pathos of his suicide?
15. How satisfying an addition to the police genre of the '70s? The importance of its link with the background of the western?
