The Hunter

Steve McQueen's last film features him as an aging modern day bounty hunter who drives a crumbling jalopy barely strung together. He is only just managing to make a living. The story is based on a real life bounty hunter, Ralph Thorson, who worked as technical adviser on the production, I believe.

This film has pretty much always been critically dismissed and, to be sure, it barely has a story line, just a series of incidents, some of them humorous, involved in Thorson's arrest of bail jumpers. There is a major chase sequence towards the end that is excitingly staged, involving a subway car passenger being taken captive, among other things. There's even a little bit of humour to be found here, as well, this prolonged chase sequence the highlight of the film.

I have to say that I found the film to be quite watchable as a time waster, despite its mediocre reputation. I liked the (presumably) on location shooting of some of the seedy areas in which the character had to work.

McQueen has a seasoned presence and is quite effective in his role, though he doesn't have much of a characterization to work with. There are also a few twists to be found here. One inside joke for McQueen fans is that in this film his character is a bad driver who can't seem to parallel park without mounting the curb several times and doing damage to the cars around him.

The supporting cast includes Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold as McQueen's pregnant girlfriend, and Ben Johnson as a good old boy town sheriff who pulls a gun on McQueen to emphasize the fact he wants him out of his town. McQueen gives him no argument. Frustrating that the film uses so little of Johnson. He has two reasonably effective small scenes and then he's gone for good. What the film has plenty of, though, is Tracey Walter as a vengeful psycho sworn to kill McQueen. Walter's character likes to indulge in cat-and-mouse games. There's nothing subtle in this actor's over-the-top performance.

I saw no sign of the cancer that would lead to McQueen's death in his appearance here. The actor found out about the asbestos-related mesothelioma shortly after filming on The Hunter was completed. (He died of a heart attack following a brutal operation to have tumors removed in Mexico).

When i decided to watch all of Steve McQueen's films, i went the opposite direction and watched this film first, rather than starting with his early films. There seems to be a curse with great actors doing terrible films right before they pass away. Robert Shaw, Bette Davis, Peter Sellers, Henry Fonda (Fonda seemed to have appeared in just about every disaster film before his death in 1981), to name a few. I beg to differ in Steve McQueen's case. Sure this film isn't an earth shattering, Oscar winning experience. Sure this film seems like it was made for TV. Sure this film isn't McQueen's best work. But the great acting alone from McQueen, good supporting work from LeVar Burton and Eli Wallach, and the great subway chase at the end of the film, certainly raises this film above made for TV fare. So, to you Leonard Maltin, this film is NOT McQueen's worst film. It's a fine end to a great career for the King Of Cool.

There are moments of greatness from McQueen in this, his final picture. That persona of cool that he will always be remembered for is put to the test one more time. The story isn't unique or earth shattering, but die hard fans of the legendary star will not be disappointed.

No nasty words about this film, i was in the cinema on it's release and at the end of the film the manager came out to inform everyone {it was a packed house} that Steve McQueen sadly passed away, i still remember that moment 24 years on....the film my not be his greatest but i loved it......... I have since seen it a number of times and will continue to sit through whenever it's shown on TV. Steve McQueen, it's good to be in the same room as him, even if it is via the wonders of science. So enjoy the moment when you do see this film, or enjoy them again, if you have seen it, i would loved to have been on set with the great guy himself.

"The Hunter" is no masterpiece, certainly, and not on a par with Steve McQueen's classics from the 1960's. But it did showcase a looser, more easy going McQueen and showed a direction he might have gone further in during the 1980's had he lived. Certainly its no worse than a lot of the films Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds were churning out in this time period. I enjoyed the movie, its certainly watchable, but it is hampered by what seems like a made-for-TV look and budget at times (Steve McQueen couldn't get a bigger budget??). The musical score sucks in the way many 70's and 80's films did, and there's one howlingly ludicrous classroom scene featuring Kathryn Harrold as McQueen's girlfriend. But its all about McQueen in his final performance really. Fortunately he looks pretty good in this film, at least better than he did in "Tom Horn" and "An Enemy of the People" and he also looks like he was having a pretty good time. It was also nice to see him in his final film go full-circle playing a modern equivalent to his break-through role as a bounty hunter in "Wanted:Dead or Alive", which was where I first became a fan of McQueen's. He was a true movie star and a man's man and I still miss him.