THE SCALPHUNTERS
US, 1968, 102 minutes, Colour.
Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, Ossie Davis, Dabney Coleman, Paul Picerni, Nick Cravat.
Directed by Sidney Pollack.
The Scalphunters is one of the lighter films by Sidney Pollack, better known as a much more serious director. After this he made They Shoot Horses, Don’t They. Pollack was to win an Oscar for his 1985 Out of Africa.
The film was written by William W. Norton, a prolific writer of screenplays – his screenplay immediately after The Scalphunters was the Burt Reynolds-Angie? Dickinson, Sam Whiskey.
The title gives an indication of the plot. Burt Lancaster appears as a fur trapper who is attacked by Indians who take all his furs but leave him with his slave, played by Ossie Davis. The trapper is something of an oaf. The slave is an educated man – thus leading to a whole lot of comic contrasts. However, the trapper is set upon by another gang of trappers with criminal intent – and their leader is played by Telly Savalas.
The film is an entertaining blend of action and comedy – with some reflection on race themes as well.
1. Audience response to the conventions of a western? To comedies? Which were used here, and how well were they blended?
2. The atmosphere of an enjoyable western? Colour, Panavision, scenery, action?
3. The importance of the structure of the film: the loner, the fur chase, the chase for furs, the climax, starting again?
4. The character of Jim Bass? Burt Lancaster's style, Bass as a person, Bass as the western man, the trapper, his attitude towards the law, trespassing, the Indians, buying back Joseph Lee, the confrontation with the Indians, with the bounty hunters? His ingenuity in stalking the bounty hunters? The individual, tough, violence, success? What insight into the American man of the west?
5. Audience response to the typical western character?
6. The environment and its importance in the west? Mountains, rocks, desert, water? Ways of survival, the western man at home in this environment, hiding, stalking, using it?
7. The introduction of Joseph Lee? The negro and the race question, slavery? The Indian attitude towards the black comparing eith the white? The civilized slave? Education versus brute force? The slave seeking a master? Seeking freedom? What kind of relationship with Bass, Howle,
Kate? His companionship with Bass, subservience to Howie# using Kate? The quality of his personality, as smart# his capacity to fight? His ultimately killing and becoming a man of the west?
8. The portrayal of the Indianst comedy aspects, drunken, robbers, cruel, their being massacred, being dispossessed of their land and heritage?
9. The portrayal of the scalphunters? Howie as the brutal leader, his rich style, disregard of the law, self-importance, relationship with Kate? His overseeing the massacre? His attitude towards Meph Lee? The fight with Bass? The significance of his death? The other scalphunters and their role? Scalphunters as massacring Indians?
10. The success of the action pieces in the films fights, the landslides, the horses, the poisoned horses?
11. The quality of the comedy, especially as regards the horses, Kate?
12. The film as a portrayal of aspects of the American heritage? The light touch and the heavy touch in presenting this heritage?
