Le Chasseur

"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.

This, of course, was McQueen's last role. It is nothing grand, and for the most part there really is no plot, but it is still a rather good movie. This movie revolves around McQueen's character who is a bounty hunter. This movie shows him go after various people and also shows his home life...which is a bit unique too. He goes after super big rednecks, small time crooks, crazy guys who blow things up, and one rather dangerous individual. Someone who he captured in the past also stalks him. All in all it isn't the greatest movie, but it mixes action and humor well. Even though McQueen was feeling the effects of his illness during the shooting of this one, he still does a great job.

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)

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.