Sydney Pollack directed the violent Western, The Scalphunters, starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas.
| The Scalphunters | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in Sombrerete, Mexico.
Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster), American fur trapper, on his way to sell his goods over the winter, encounters a group of Kiowa Indians led by Two Crows (Armando Silvestre), who take his furs.
In exchange, they give Bass a slave, Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis), whom they had taken from the Comanches. Lee is a well-educated and refined house slave, unfamiliar with the ways of the wilderness. He makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape, then follows along.
As Lee and Bass catch up to the Kiowa, they watch them being ambushed by a group of scalphunters, after the bounty offered by the government for each Native American scalp they bring in.
The scalphunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), kill the Kiowas and take Bass’s furs.
As they travel southwards, Jim Howie’s girlfriend, Kate (Shelley Winters), reveals their destination–Mexico. He begins to win her favor, hoping she will persuade Howie to take him with them to Mexico (where slavery is illegal), rather than sell him.
Bass forces them to let loose the packhorse carrying the furs. He is ambushed, however, and the scalphunters recover the furs.
Bass tries to persuade Lee to help him, but the slave is now set on going to Mexico and refuses him assistance.
Bass contaminates the water of a nearby creek with locoweed, a toxic plant that causes the scalphunters’ horses to run and buck wildly.
A wary Bass is ambushed by Howie, and in the ensuing struggle, Howie is shot dead by Lee. The bickering Bass and Lee then fight, but neither can beat the other.
In the end, Bass and Lee, now friends, follow the Kiowas to take back the furs.
Cast
Burt Lancaster – Joe Bass
Shelley Winters – Kate
Telly Savalas – Jim Howie
Ossie Davis – Joseph Lee
Dabney Coleman – Jed
Paul Picerni – Frank
Dan Vadis – Yuma
Armando Silvestre – Two Crows
Nick Cravat – Yancy
Credits:
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Written by William W. Norton
Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy Roland Kibbee, Burt Lancaster
Cinematography Richard Moore, Duke Callaghan
Edited by John Woodcock
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: April 2, 1968
Running time: 102 minutes
Box office $2,800,000
