The Scalphunters

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The Scalphunters

1968,

1h 42m,

Western/

Comedy

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Watchlist

Watchlist

63%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

57%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

63%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Illiterate fur trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is coerced by some Kiowa Indians into trading his haul for a well-educated, escaped slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Bass seeks to track the Indians and recover his treasure, while Joseph wants to travel to Mexico, where slavery is illegal. Their plans are complicated by the arrival of a band of scalp hunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who want to kill the Indians, claim the furs and resell the black man.

Variety Staff

Variety

Mar 20, 2008

Lancaster and Davis work particularly well together, ditto Savalas and Winters. There are talky periods of slow pace, but they are terminated before undue damage has been done.

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Renata Adler

New York Times

May 21, 2005

While the individual incidents are familiar, they are played with gusto by Lancaster and Davis.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Oct 23, 2004

3.5/4

Some movies are masterpieces, and most movies are not, and sometimes you get a movie that can best be described as 'interesting.' By that I mean it falls short of excellence but nevertheless has something that makes it worth seeing.

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Brian Orndorf

Blu-ray.com

Sep 27, 2014

B-

Navigating the movie's period attitude is relatively easy, but finding its sense of humor takes some work.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Sep 30, 2013

1/4

...a seriously misguided and hopelessly dated endeavor that's best left forgotten.

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Aug 7, 2006

C+

... never funny enough or Western enough or politically incisive enough to impress.

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Han G

Apr 9, 2019

i really liked this 60s american western, how i wish i was a cowboy

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Sydney Pollack

Director

Burt Lancaster

Joe Bass

Shelley Winters

Kate

Ossie Davis

Joseph Lee

Telly Savalas

Jim Howie

Dabney Coleman

Jed

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Synopsis

Illiterate fur trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is coerced by some Kiowa Indians into trading his haul for a well-educated, escaped slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Bass seeks to track the Indians and recover his treasure, while Joseph wants to travel to Mexico, where slavery is illegal. Their plans are complicated by the arrival of a band of scalp hunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who want to kill the Indians, claim the furs and resell the black man.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Producer: Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules Levy
Screenwriter: William W. Norton
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Bristol Films, Norlan Productions
Genre: Western, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 2, 1968, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 42m

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