Steve McQueen’s final film feels like a
script that Burt Reynolds rejected. Much of the film could have been appealing
but ends up as a pile of clichés and disconnected plotlines. It’s a very 1970s work
comprising a series of vignettes about the protagonist’s bounty hunting
exploits. It feels very much like a Hal Needham film, which is why it resembles
a Reynolds’ movie or a Roger Moore Bond adventure with its disjointed
storytelling.
The Hunter in a biopic based
on the experiences of real-life bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson. The film
opens with the very white Thorson showing up in a black neighborhood to catch a
black bail jumper played by LaVar Burton. McQueen’s Thorson is a terrible
driver who bangs into several vehicles while trying to park in that the neighborhood
notably upsetting many of the residents. Hilarious. He is a caveman dropped
into a modern world, a relic equipped to take on the dregs of society and bring
them to justice. However, the biggest problem for the film is its lack of
focus.
Within the plot is a completely unnecessary
subplot about the hunter being hunted by a figure from his past, an ex-convict,
Rocco Mason (Tracey Walter), whom Thorson was responsible for apprehending. Back
home, Thorson has a pregnant girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold) who longs for him to
put a ring on her finger. Harrold is given virtually nothing to do in her role
as the character except complain and get kidnapped by the vengeful ex-convict.
Had the director Buzz Kulik focused on the exploits
of Papa Thorson’s experience in tracking down bail jumpers, the movie would
have been tolerable. I imagine that whoever produced the film believed that the
whole hunter being hunted subplot was needed to stitch the vignettes together
into an appealing plot.
Kulik's background includes a handful of
B-movies, but he had mainly directed episodes of television along with several
TV movies, the best known of which would be Brian’s Song, that
delightfully sappy male bonding film about football, manhood, and friendship
with Billy Dee Williams and James Caan. It’s hard to beat Lando Calrissian and
Sonny Corleone.
Steve McQueen was an actor with strong
screen presence whose earliest recognition came from the television series Wanted:
Dead or Alive, which focuses, yes, on the weekly adventures of a bounty
hunter. The setting of that show is the old west. The Hunter takes place
in a contemporary, late 70s/early 80s, setting. There is certainly symmetry
with his early and final roles. However, the knowledge that his performance in The
Hunter was his last and not a particularly well-developed part leaves me
feeling disheartened because such an important actor deserved a better exit.
Still, McQueen is charming as Thorson even if the character doesn’t give him
much to do. His understated method and lowkey humor cannot carry this film. As
stated, this feels like a rejected Burt Reynolds movie, and that actor’s
easygoing not so subtle mugging would have better served this material. That’s
not an insult: those qualities made Reynolds lovable. What we loved about
McQueen was his effortless coolness that was closer to Clint Eastwood’s style
but dialed down a notch.
Unfortunately, The Hunter is not a
very good film. What could have been an insightful and humorous depiction of
life in a dangerous profession ends up being a misguided action comedy. The
Hunter is neither a lost masterpiece nor bad enough to charm your socks
off.
