Oliver Reed

Candice Bergen

Gene Hackman

Simon Oakland

Mitchell Ryan

L.Q. Jones

William Watson

G. D. Spradlin

Rayford Barnes

Ronald Howard

Bernard Kay

Richard Adams

Dean Selmier

Sarah Atkinson

Francesca Tu

Marian Collier

Ralph Brown

Charly Bravo

Rafael Albaicín

Eugenio García

Christine Larroude

Stephanie Pieritz

Emilio Rodríguez

Max Slaten

Lilibeth Solison

Bud Strait

María Luisa Tovar

Don Medford

Lou Morheim

Gil Carretero

José María Ochoa

Tony Pueo

Les Hammond

Gilbert Ralston

Riz Ortolani

Tom Rolf

Enrique Alarcón

Rafael Salazar

Arnold Laven

Jules V. Levy

Arthur Gardner

William W. Norton

Cecilio Paniagua

José Antonio Sánchez

Evelyn Rutledge

Manuel Baquero

Juan Maján

Alec Mills

Geoffrey Haine

Julio Vallejo

Ron Drinkwater

Carmen Sánchez

Fiorella Mannoia

María Luisa Pino

Western

The Hunting Party

Levy-Gardner-Laven

Brighton Pictures

United Kingdom

United States of America

***Grim early 70’s Western with Oliver Reed, Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen*** 

In the Southwest, an outlaw gang led by Frank Calder (Oliver Reed) kidnaps a school teacher (Candice Bergen) so he can learn how to read. Unfortunately for them, she’s the wife of a sadistic wealthy rancher (Gene Hackman) and he’s coming with his personal posse to hunt ’em down with high-powered rifles. Mitchell Ryan, Simon Oakland and L.Q. Jones are also on hand.

“The Hunting Party” (1971) treads similar terrain of two earlier Westerns: "Bandolero!" (1968) and "Macho Callahan" (1970). There are also elements of the later “The Train Robbers” (1973). But “The Hunting Party” is the least of these, although it’s not far off. It’s worth catching just to see Reed star in a Western (he’s essentially the British version of Brando), not to mention the potent sequence between Frank (Reed), Doc (Ryan) and Melissa (Bergen) in the last act. The grim climax is memorable as well.

There’s a lot of Peckinpah-styled violence. One effective scene involves someone getting shot in the face with a shotgun. There are also a couple of rough adult-oriented sequences. The problem is, the characters are too shallow to care much when their lives are eventually threatened. There’s loads of quality emoting by the actors, but not enough character-defining moments, which was expertly done in “Bandolero!” 

Speaking of which, the issue of Stockholm syndrome rears its head. This condition occurs when a strong emotional link develops between captor and captive wherein the former intermittently abuses the other in one way or another, whether beatings, threats, intimidation or harassment. Melissa gets to know Frank & Doc and slowly discovers that they're not outright evil. They're basically goodhearted people trapped in a tough lifestyle.

The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot in Spain (Almeria and Granada, with interior stuff done in Madrid).

GRADE: B-

English

The Hunting Party (1971) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]