Customer Reviews

The Scalphunters

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After being coerced by a roving gang of Kiowas to trade his season's worth of hard-earned furs for a runaway slave, Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) vows to take back what's his. Before he can get them, though, the Kiowas are slaughtered by a gang of `scalphunters' led by Jim Howie (Telly Salavas), who nips Joe Bass's furs in the bargain. With Joseph Winfield Lee (Ossie Davis) in tow, Joe Bass trails the fur and scalp-laden Jim Howie and vows yet again to reclaim his property.

THE SCALPHUNTERS (1968) is a comedy-western that somehow manages to makes palatable some terrible things - specifically, slavery and the harvest and sale of human scalps. It doesn't condone them, of course, but it doesn't dwell on their horrors, either. Lancaster is energetic and perfectly cast as the savvy fur trapper who is determined to get what's his back again. Salavas and Shelley Winters as his trail moll, are pretty good, as well. The heart of the thing, though, is Ossie Davis as the erudite slave who seems the only person to see the big picture, as it were. As he'd prove a couple of years later with `Jeremiah Johnson,' director Sydney Pollock is deft at handling offbeat action movies. THE SCALPHUNTERS is a fun movie that merits a strong four stars.

In 1968, it was appropriate that a western dealt with race relations, and The Scalphunters does so with action and humor.

Burt Lancaster plays Joe Bass, a trapper who is headed towards civilization with months worth of pelts and furs. He runs smack into a tribe of Kiowas who don't appreciate Bass trespassing on their land. They take the pelts, but exchange them for a runaway slave, Joseph Lee, played by Ossie Davis, who the Kiowas had taken from the Comanches. Lancaster doesn't want Joseph, and Joseph wants to get somewhere where he can be free, but they team up to relieve the Kiowas of Bass' pelts.

Before they can spring their plan to steal back the pelts, the Kiowas are attacked and slaughtered by scalphunters, roughneck types who get paid for each Indian scalp they turn in. The scalphunters take the pelts, and that's when the real fun begins. The Scalphunters are led by Telly Savalas, who brings along his constantly complaining girlfriend, played by Shelley Winters.

The Scalphunters has humor, action, and wry commentary on the relationships and perceptions of whites, blacks, and Indians. It's good that this rarely seen film is now on DVD.

The Scalphunters is a very enjoyable western that is not as well known as some of star Burt Lancaster's other movies, but it is more than worthwhile. Trapper Joe Bass is heading back to St. Louis with a pack mule full of beaver pelts when a group of Kiowas intervene and take his pelts, leaving him a smooth-talking, educated slave by the name of Joseph Windfield Lee. Bass unwillingly takes Lee along, but before he can get his pelts back from the Kiowas, the warriors are attacked bya group of outlaws who scalp Indians for $25 a person. Bass embarks on a journey to get his beaver pelts back, no matter what it takes. The Scalphunters is not considered a classic western, but it has everything to make it highly enjoyable. A great cast, a lively musical score from Elmer Bernstein, beautiful scenery, and the right mix of action and humor all combine to make one of Lancaster's better movies.

The four main leads to the movie set The Scalphunters apart from many other westerns. Burt Lancaster is great as Joe Bass, the trapper who will attempts to get his pelts back at all costs. Bass is similar to Lancaster's Bill Dolworth in The Professionals in that he enjoys living and will stop at nothing to keep on enjoying living. Telly Savalas is also very good as the villain, Jim Howie, the leader of the gang of scalphunters who steals Bass' pelts. Shelley Winters seems somewhat out of place as Kate, Howie's woman who wants to get out of the west and into a big city as fast as she can. Ossie Davis steals the movie as Joseph Windfield Lee, the highly educated runaway slave who becomes Joe Bass' unwilling companion. The interplay between Lancaster and Davis provide some of the movie's most hilarious moments. The DVD offers a beautiful-looking widescreen presentation and a theatrical trailer. For a lesser known but still very good western with great perfomances from Lancaster, Savalas, and Davis, check out Sydney Pollack's The Scalphunters!

If you like clasic action films, you need to see this. Any action film with Burt Lancaster is worth your time. The fight scene between Lancaster and Savalas is outstanding old school western stuff. This is the type of film they don't make anymore and I'm glad to see it is now on dvd. My old vhs copy still serves me well, but I'm always looking for these type of classic 60's/70's films to make it to dvd format. This is action in the vein of Outlaw Josey Wales, Mackennas Gold, The Professionals ......excellent film.

How has a good movie like The Scalphunters become largely unknown over the years while everyone knows what The Matrix is? With a fine cast lead by the legendary Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis, Telly Savalis and Shelly Winters and with a lot of memorable dialogue and scenes, this is a great comedy western.

Joe Bass (Lancaster) is a fur trapper who has spent the whole winter collecting furs. When a pack of Indians lead by Two Crows take Joe's furs and leave him with Joseph Lee (Davis), an educated slave, Bass pursues the Indians to get his furs back. The two have a series of misadventures that also involves a party of Scalphunters lead by Jim Howie (Savalis), who take the furs from the Indians and also take Joseph Lee. Bass now has to get both his furs and his slave back.

The film works on many levels beside comedy. Some also might consider it a commentary on racial politics. The end of the movie, when Lancaster and Davis become covered in mud and are indistinguishable has some symbolism; the white and black man, while of a different color, are the same people.

Why do I give a movie 5 stars? Its when the film succeeds in doing exactly what it wants. If its also entertaining throughout, then I'm entirely satisfied. I don't know what real critics want beyond Swedish directors and Marlon Brando, so I often find their critiques to be misfires. So it is with THE SCALPHUNTERS. As a boy, all I knew about it to make me want to see it was that it was a Burt Lancaster movie. So me and my dad went to see it and I loved every minute of it from the funny title credits to the mud-bath ending. Its wry social commentary in the dialog between Ossie Davis(who almost steals the movie) and Lancaster was a superb wink at Hollywood's stereotypical treatment of minorities in the past and the racial tension and violence of the Sixties. The casting is terrific, with actors like Telly Savalas who can hold a comedic edge to their sadistic behavior. Given that Shelly Winters was a major old-flame of Lancaster's, it makes you wonder about the off-screen story of this movie. This is a beautifully paced, witty, gritty, well-acted, original movie.

"The Scalphunters" is a comic and entertaining western. Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is a nomadic trapper on his way to the big city with a season's worth of furs when he is waylayed by a band of Kiowa Indians who force him to trade his furs for a well-educated black slave, Joseph Winfield Lee (Ossie Davis). The battle of wits and wills between the frontier-wise Joe Bass and the erudite Joseph Lee evolves over the course of the movie as the trapper relentlessly pursues the return of his furs. His quest is complicated when a band of renegade scalphunters led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas) and his mistress Kate (Shelly Winters) end up with both the furs and Joseph Lee. The action and humor are non-stop in this well-paced, well-cast film. There is even an interesting touch of social satire when Joe Bass and Joseph Lee become indistinguishable during a fight in mud bog.

The direction by Sydney Pollack; the cinematography, featuring both mountain and desert locales; and the musical score composed by Elmer Bernstein are outstanding. Mr. Bernstein is renowned for his legendary score in the "The Magnificent Seven." Here, he once again captures the vibrant drive and energy of the sprawling American west. With due respect to Leonard Maltin, I think you will find this to be an enjoyable, if under-rated motion picture.

This is a classic wetern. often overlooked. Great stuff from Telly Savalos and Shelly Winters. Lancaster is tough and cool as usual.

I thought this was one of the better movies I have seen in months.What a acting job by Burt Landcaster,you could never tell what he was going to do next.And Osie Davis was incredible.
I buy alot of old cowboy movies and sometimes you strike gold and this is pure gold.bOb

This was a true sleeper. Having never heard of the movie, I rented it and was completely taken by surprise. Burt Lancaster and his horse kept the laughs going, along with Shelly Winters and Telly Savalas. It was a good, clean, fun movie.