Le Chasseur

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.

Let me start out by saying I loved this movie! At first I was biased towards this movie, but that quickly changed. I think the director's intention was to make this movie for everbody. For those of you who like action movies it has a grueling scene involving a subway, a parking garage and a child being held at gun point. For those of you who like romance it has a sub-plot involving a woman who is facing pregnancy issues with her husband. For those who like horror movies there is a wonderful end scene that scares the daylights out of anybody breathing! For those who likes comedy there are a few punchlines mixed in plus a scene involving a cornfield a car and a tractor.

Steve McQueen gives off a great performance as a "Dirty Harry" type Bounty Hunter. I have never in fact seen a S. McQueen movie however, upon seeing it, I thought this guy was great. I was a little disappointed to find out that was Steve McQueen's final movie, he could have done a lot more.

The rest of the cast gave out great performances as well, The actress playing Dotty was very beautiful and had so much presense, she did wonderful.

10/10 (And I am not always this nice)

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).

"Tom Horn," Steve McQueen's second to last feature, would have been a more appropriate swan song for the legendary star than this rather ramshackle production, but this action picture is much better than it is usually given credit for. There is an almost TV look about it (the director, Buzz Kulik, has amassed more credits for the small screen than he has in theatrical films), but McQueen, looking for all the world like the picture of health (a year after the film was shot, he'd be dead), is terrific and he makes it all worthwhile. The supporting cast isn't too shabby either, especially Kathryn Harrold as McQueen's woman, and, of course, the always welcome Eli Wallach.