Revanche Selvagem

The acting is brilliant, the picture is fast, thrilling and very comical. But this western, one of the best in the sixties, is not only fun stuff. "The Scalphunters" is a very morally movie, taking a stand against racism and white men's arrogance. Also we have a well constructed and sophisticated story about the fact that circumstances of dominance can change very quickly. So I guess Sydney Pollack and writer William Norton have read the plays of Bertolt Brecht very accurately and have understood the political message of it. See it and you will like it.

I gave ******** out of 10 stars.

Wildly entertaining western romp with the still athletic Lancaster (as a frontier trapper) and Davis (as runaway slave) reluctantly teamed against a band of bandits led by Savalas. I noticed this pic as good time fun during a TV showing as a kid, way way before the nice DVD version, and still have fond memories of an easygoing adventure. Lancaster is exuberant in this, despite being well into his middle-aged years; he still comes across as someone who can outfight any man and rassle a grizzly bear on the side. He also presents an iconoclastic character here, supremely content onto himself, with not much use for civilization OR anarchy (represented by the barbaric bandits). Just leave him to do his own thing; if you don't, you're in for a fight - don't matter who you are, as Savalas and his band find out.

Savalas is great as the bandit leader, dangerous blow-hard that he is; though not too intelligent, he's still a lot smarter than the other idiots under his rule (including a bearded Dabney Coleman in an early role). His main squeeze is the cigar-chomping floozy Shelley Winters, hamming it up as much as the otherwise all-male cast. Davis, in an odd contrast, comes across as the most sophisticated of the whole bunch, despite supposedly being a slave his entire life; he also proves to be the most duplicitous; he's not simply honorable and disappoints Lancaster more than once. Maybe director Pollack was sneaking in some commentary on the outmoded superior standing of the white race by this point, though I think it was wishful thinking that Davis could get away with as much as he does here in the 19th century. In all, the actors prove to be good hams to the very end.

This is a watchable and never boring western for sure. It starts out quite strongly with Davis and Lancaster feuding and exchanging their barbed comments as they make their journey. But the movie soon stops focusing on that, and starts to go off in multiple directions, bringing up new characters and themes that never quite seem properly dealt with. Indeed, the climax seems kind of deux ex machina, and then not long afterwards when the credits role you get the feeling that there are still some things that haven't been properly dealt with.

But as I indicated, it passes the time pleasantly enough. Those who have seen screenwriter William Norton's "The Hunting Party" will get some extra interest, seeing how Norton took several elements from his screenplay of "The Scalphunters" and reused them in that other movie several years later.

I first saw Scalphunters during its original release run in the spring of 1969. The audience' reaction to the scene at the waterhole, Bass and Lee indistinguishable in the mud, and the Indians laughing at them was one of the most raucous reactions I've ever heard at a movie; cheers, applause and much laughter. That is indicative of what makes the film so much better than its title leads one to think. It fairly consistently, and regularly, reverses the stereotypes we have come to expect of films with titles like "The Scalphunters." Bass, the white man, is completely at home in the wilderness, "an ill-mannered, unlettered oaf" to be sure, but highly skilled and fearless. Lee, a runaway slave, is articulate, literate, and completely out of place - not what we would expect of a plantation slave. The exchanges between Bass and Lee as they pursue the Kiowas and Bass's furs, particularly as they eat their first meal together, reveal's the film's real purpose. Bass says Lee ought to retail out for a number of bales of cotton in Saint Louis. Lee asks if Bass thinks it's right to sell a man like that. Bass responds, "Read your Bible." Lee's retort is that, "God didn't invent slavery. The Egyptians did." and "Julius Caesar made slaves out of all you Englishmen." This pointed banter carries on throughout the film, until Bass confronts Lee, who has asked for a drink of whiskey, with "Whiskey's a man's drink, and you ain't no man. You're a mealy-mouth, shuffle-butt slave, so don't be askin' to take no drink with a man." This all culminates finally in their last tit-for-tat struggle, that neither wins - or loses, either, completely unaware of their surroundings and imminent jeopardy, until that last great reversal of stereotype when it's the Indians who ride to the rescue, not the cavalry. The closing image with Bass and Lee riding not only the same, but also the only (and very smart) horse they have, makes a powerful statement about what our common circumstances are, and how pointless racial strife truly is. The film came and went quietly in 1969, I think because the country was not ready to find anything funny about race relations. Chris Rock, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby aside, are we ready yet?

A rugged trapper (Burt Lancaster) is forced by a band of Kiowas to trade his valuable furs for an educated runaway slave (Ossie Davis). To get the furs back, they follow the Indians and, then, a band of scalphunters, led by a boisterous bald guy (Telly Savalas). Shelley Winters is also on hand.

What's notable about "The Scalphunters" (1968), besides the cast, is that the entire story takes place in the Southwest wilderness. There are no towns, buildings or teepees in sight. But there's some gorgeous location photography.

While there are entertaining comedic bits, don't expect anything outrageous like "Blazing Saddles" (1974). This is more in the mode of contemporaneous Westerns like "Bandoleros" (1968), "The War Wagon" (1967) and "The Undefeated" (1969). It's not as great as the first or as good as the second, but it's about on par with the latter.

The film runs 1 hour and 42 minutes and was shot in Arizona (Quartzsite, Parker & Harquahala Mountains) and Mexico (Barranca del Cobre, Chihuahua, Durango & Sierra de Organos).

GRADE: B-