Hunters Are for Killing

Great made for tv movie, Burt Reynolds is at his best.Larry Storch is a real rat, I didn't realize he's quite a good actor too. Burt comes back to a small town after leaving Prison to try to clear his name and claim his property. I won't give away the ending but I liked it.

HUNTERS ARE FOR KILLING is a little-known TV movie made as a vehicle for then burgeoning star Burt Reynolds, a couple of years from making DELIVERANCE. It's a small town drama in which Reynolds plays an ex-con who arrives home to find himself an outcast in his own birthplace. There's some back story involving the reason he was in prison in the first place, a couple of minor twists, and a manhunt climax which is relatively well staged. Reynolds gives a taciturn performance in this one, reminding me somewhat of Charles Bronson, but the storyline is involving enough to make this fairly watchable. Martin Balsam plays the sheriff.

I actually saw this being filmed as a kid in Napa, California, fall of 1969 if I recall. I lived on a vineyard (we were migrant workers). I haven't seen the movie in years, but clearly recall Melvin Douglas and Burt Reynolds walking together in front of our garage area in a scene that was being filmed. I watched from a nearby tree and made a scratchy noise as I moved. The director had to "cut" and re-shoot the scene, and I was briefly scolded by him! Later my mother and I were given a nice tour of a costume trailer and treated to lunch via whatever catering company they had. We met Burt Reynolds, Larry Storch, and Melvin Douglas. That was 40 years ago as I write this!

Continuing my plan to watch every Burt Reynolds movie in his filmography in order, I come to "Hunters Are For Killing"

This is a TV movie from 1970, and is not available on DVD or Video, the only available version is on YouTube which is where I watched it!! The first problem with it was the audio kept going out of sync and that was frustrating at important times!!

Plot In A Paragraph: L.G Floran (Burt Reynolds) returns home after serving time in prison, to clear his name, and claim his share of his dead mother's estate. However his stepfather Keller Floran (Melvyn Douglas) intends to fight him for everything as he still holds him responsible for the death of his own son.

Ignoring the quality of the version I was watching. Some awful direction (including the worst car chase you may ever see) poor dialogue and dire acting make this a tough watch!!

Burt tries hard and is clearly the best thing in this movie.

Since "Hunters Are for Killing" is a made for TV film, it's unlikely you'll see it on DVD any time soon. But someone did post it to YouTube and it turns out to be a pretty good movie.

L. G. (Burt Reynolds) has been in prison for several years for Vehicular Homicide....and his brother was killed. You aren't really sure why L. G. returns to the town he grew up in, as his own step-father (Melvyn Douglas) wants nothing to do with him and the local sheriff is a jerk with a serious desire to destroy L. G.. You soon find out that he's actually been out of prison for a while and he's home because he's angry about his conviction and his father's harsh judgment of him. What's next? Watch the film.

While I would never say Burt Reynolds was a great actor, he's good her and he's helped by an excellent supporting cast. Additionally, the story is quite nice and offers a few nice twists and some action. Worth seeing.