In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Burt Lancaster offers a robust, fun performance as trapper Joe Bass. One day he's accosted by Indians including the character Two Crows (Armando Silvestre), who force him to turn over his prized furs in exchange for a slave named Joseph (Ossie Davis). Joseph is an articulate and well educated man, but is something of a thorn in Joes' side. Joe is hellbent on reclaiming his furs, going so far as to relentlessly tail the savage outlaws who slaughter the Indians. Jim Howie (an amusing Telly Savalas) is the outlaw leader, Kate (Shelley Winters) his high strung wife.Filmed in glorious widescreen by Duke Callaghan and Richard Moore, the Western comedy "The Scalphunters" was written by William W. Norton and directed by Sydney Pollack. While it purports to treat the character of Joseph with some respect, there may still be viewers who will wince at various indignities that he's forced to experience. Nortons' script is generally engaging, with some witty dialogue here and there. It is a delight to see the distinguished gentleman Davis embrace the more comedic aspects to his character, and there's a lot of entertaining sparring between the two Joes (with Lancaster showing himself to not really be all THAT enlightened). Overall, this film is reasonably exciting at times, even if it's not destined to be a classic.It's the dedicated efforts of a superior cast that make "The Scalphunters" work as well as it does for a somewhat overextended 104 minutes. Lancaster and Davis work well together, and Savalas is also fun to watch as Jim becomes more and more exasperated with this pest that's making life miserable for him and his crew. Winters has some appeal, and there's a few familiar faces among the supporting actors like Dabney Coleman (as Jed), and Lancasters' longtime friend and co-worker Nick Cravat (as Yancy).Dedicated Western watchers and fans of the actors will likely have a decent time with this one.Seven out of 10.

The Scalphunters is directed by Sydney Pollack and adapted to screenplay by William W. Norton from the novel of the same name written by Ed Friend. It stars Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis, Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters. A Panavision/De Luxe Colour production, music is by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography by Richard Moore and Duke Callaghan.Joe Bass (Lancaster) is a fur trapper making his way home with his latest haul when he is stopped by Kiowa Indians. Taking his furs they give him as payment a well educated slave, Joseph Lee (Davis), who they had previously commandeered from a group of Comanches. With Joseph tagging along, Joe sets about pursuing the Kiowa to reclaim his furs, but the Indians fall victim to a band of ruthless Scalphunters led by Jim Howie (Savalas), who gain his furs whilst also by accident capturing Joseph. It's Joe Bass against the rest, and only Joseph knows what the Scalphunters are up against."Those furs and that man out there are the Scorpio satanic configuration of death for Jim Howie"Impressively mounted by Pollack, gorgeously shot at Durango, Mexico, The Scalphunters is an interesting blend of a Western action comedy with drama and Civil Rights morality. Film is structured simply by thrusting Lancaster's ignorant and illiterate man of the wilderness together with Davis' literate but ostracised slave. Both men poles apart, but both able to benefit the other if racial barriers can be broke down. Once Joseph falls into the hands of the Scalphunters, film sees Joseph once more held captive, but by using his nous he may be able to finally gain his freedom should the group make it to Mexico.All the time Joe Bass is tracking the group, picking them off any chance he gets, this means the banter and lively group dynamic of the Scalphunters is pleasantly interrupted by an action scene of some standing. Be it Joe Bass leaping about the rocks and causing a rock avalanche, or the Scalphunters horses going loco, film never lacks for genuine thrills. Some great stunt work in here as well. It's a fine screenplay of much intelligence, not least because it doesn't crowbar in its messages, while it also doesn't patronise the Joseph Lee character. Even as the laughs flit in and out of proceedings, the script pings with smarts as brains are afforded the black man and the ignorance to whitey.With the cast on fine form and Bernstein scoring it with trademark robustness, it rounds out as a hugely enjoyable Western. So pick a favourite scene and a favourite character, whilst all the time acknowledging that behind the froth and machismo beats a potent thematic heart. 8/10

This is a pretty good movie that is worth watching. The acting is excellent, with nice performances by Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis, Shelly Winters and Telly Savalas.Burt Lancaster seemed to particularly enjoy his role. Ossie Davis really holds the movie together. Shelly Winters is hilarious and Salavas does a very creditable job.I only had a couple of issues with the movie:The title "The Scalphunters" is beyond ridiculous. This is a comedy, and a pretty good and subtle one.At the beginning of the movie, a gang of twenty white men on horses ambush a group of ten or so drunken Indians, whom they brutally gun down and graphically scalp. This was such an intense and horrifying scene that I didn't realize until half way through the movie is actually a comedy.Other user reviewers on this site pointed out the anachronism of the repeating rifles. Because Ossie Davis' character is a slave, the movie must be set in the pre-Civil War period, when there were no repeating rifles. Lancaster's trapper character is well cast for the pre-Civil War west, but I'm not sure about Salavas' criminal gang. They claim the "territory" has set a bounty of $25 per Indian scalp. I'm not sure if any U.S. territory ever did that. I know the Mexican government did. They are on their way to Mexico. Maybe this is why. They claim to in the business of bank robbing, but I don't think there were ever many banks in the areas that fur trappers operated. Overall, I was confused by the historical context.

The Scalphunters was the first of two films Sydney Pollack directed with Burt Lancaster. In fact according to a recent biography of Lancaster, Burt was literally trying Pollack out on this western before giving him an opportunity to direct the very expensive Castle Keep for him the following year. Personally I think The Scalphunters is a far better film.It's a rollicking good mixture of comedy with some very serious themes involved. It's also the last time Lancaster did any really athletic roles as he was 55 when making The Scalphunters. We all bow to old age at some point.Sydney Pollack actually started his association with Burt Lancaster on the set of The Young Savages where he was an acting coach to some of the street kids who were playing gang members. It was his first introduction into motion pictures, he had previously directed and acted in a number of television productions.Burt is fur trapper Joe Bass who gets an offer from the Kiowa Indians he can't refuse. They'll relieve him of his year's trappings in beaver pelts and he'll get an educated house slave in Ossie Davis. Davis seems born to be a slave, he escapes it from the south, then he's captured by the Comanches who then trade him to the Kiowas and then he's forced on Lancaster. Lancaster is planning to get his pelts back, but a murderous gang of Scalphunters beat him to it and massacre almost the whole band and take Lancaster's furs along with horses and scalps that bring a good bounty. Burt's Joe Bass is not exactly a boy scout, but this crowd truly nauseates him.The Scalphunters are headed by Telly Savalas and his cigar smoking refugee from a bordello of a woman, Shelley Winters. Winters has the best performance in the film, this is her third film with Lancaster with whom she had a self documented fling back in the day. Later on Davis gets captured by The Scalphunters and he has to use his wits to survive among them. But they're going to Mexico where slavery has been abolished.The laughs are mixed in with some serious racial issues all around. Lancaster can't quite accept Davis as an equal, Davis is perfectly willing to go along with The Scalphunters and their genocidal war on the Indians if he'll obtain his freedom through them. And Savalas and his crowd are as mean a bunch as you'll ever see in a film, yet some of the funniest bits in the film involve Winters and Savalas.The Scalphunters is a really funny western that if you think about it teaches some good lessons we could all use.