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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Hunter (1980)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Papa's Got a Brand New Sag

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Hunter on DVD

Steve McQueen looks lethargic in his final movie, made just before he died of lung cancer at age 50. He plays real-life bounty hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorson whose job is to travel around the country snatching up parole jumpers. Papa gets commissioned to bring back a dangerous young man for a whopping $8000 just as his girlfriend is about to give birth and a psycho killer (Tracey Walter) has fixated on him. For some reason, director Buzz Kulik attempts to slow the pace of the film down to match McQueen's dazed shuffling. As a result, everything looks ridiculous, especially a ludicrous chase scene in a corn field with two whooping, dynamite-hurling rednecks in a Trans Am and McQueen driving a slow-moving thrasher. It's all pretty stupid. But McQueen fans should take heart. Many of his good films are also available on DVD.

Starring: Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold, LeVar Burton, Ben Johnson, Richard Venture, Tracey Walter, Tom Rosales, Theodore Wilson, Ray Bickel, Bobby Bass, Karl Schueneman
Written by: Ted Leighton, Peter Hyams, based on books by Christopher Keane, Ralph Thorson
Directed by: Buzz Kulik
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 94 minutes
Date: September 21, 2001