The Scalphunters (1968)

Plot: Set in 1860 New Mexico,  A trapper fights a  band of "Scalphunters" to recover his furs, while an escaped slave schemes his way to freedom.
Stars:  Ossie Davis, Burt Lancaster, Shelly Winters, Tele Savalas
Best Quote: Throw you in a pig-pen, and you'd come out the Vice-President of Hogs.


The Scalphunters starts out well - but ends badly.  The first hour is a comic delight, as Davis schemes and schmoozes, Lancaster bickers with Davis, and Savalas plays the over-the-top villain. But then the story goes into repeat mode. It takes a repetitive 25 minutes before the final shootout. After which, Davis should've gone off alone to Mexico  - the end. But no, the movie drags on for 15 minutes, and we get one of the longest/dullest fist-fights ever filmed. Even John Ford would've been bored.  Too bad.

Performances? Its the best thing about the Scalphunters.  Everyone  is doing what they do best - and Davis and Lancaster have good chemistry as "the Bickersons".

Direction?  Pollock shows that he's no  Anthony Mann. The action scenes are barely competent. Like most 60s/70s  movies, the so-called "Grisly" "Bloody" violence looks incredibly fake. Some actions scenes are well done for instance: Lancaster attempt to steal the pack horses at night and Lancaster's escape from the Savalas henchmen.

 Realism? Forget it. The Scalphunters is a comedy and anti-racist propaganda.  But evidently some people take it seriously. So, to point out the obvious:

• There were no USA "Scalp-hunters" - the American governments (local, state, territorial) *never* paid for Indian scalps. That was Mexico.
• There's no way Savalas could feed his 25 horses, 8-10 henchmen and 4 women in the middle of the  Guadalupe Mountains. And who built all those roads in the middle of nowhere?
• Despite traveling in mountainous, rough Indian country with 3 heavily laden wagons, the scalphunters never take any precautions. They get drunk, dance and sing at night, and can't prevent one trapper from almost killing them all.  But they are the ones who surprise 10 Indians, in broad daylight!