The Scalphunters (1968) User Reviews (54)

"Oh Well, They're Only Men"

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 August 2008]

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.

Brain vs. brawn, and guess who wins.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 9 October 2017]

Covered in mudpacks dried from the sun, the white Burt Lancaster and the black Ossie Davis look exactly alike, ridiculing racists in an era where both the Native American and the black man found themselves fighting for freedom in different ways from the white man. It's the era of slavery, and the era of the American expansion of the west, so for the natives and slaves, it's a fight for survival. Burt Lancaster is amusing as the very determined Joe Bass, a fur trader whose catch is swiped with runaway slave Ossie Davis given to him in exchange. Intending to sell Davis himself as well as get back his furs, he is horrified when he witnesses the scalping of the Indian tribe he's been hunting, and now must switch his tracking of his furs to the ruthless gang led by Telly Savalas. When Davis ends up accidentally captured by Savalas, Lancaster must use his cunning, unaware that Davis is even more cunning than him, using brain, not brawn, to control the situation, even getting in the good favor of the blowzy Shelley Winters (as Savalas's mistress) who longs to settle down "as a lady", something even with her big heart is practically impossible.

Even with the violence and blood, there's a huge element of humor in this, and the fun comes in watching the one-upmanship between Davis and Lancaster. Davis, having been a book reading house slave, is the most intelligent character in the film, having preferred bread and water along with freedom over cake and slavery. While involved in an evil and pointless profession, Savalas shows his signs of civility, treating Winters with respect and love, although an edited sequence indicates that at one point, he gives her a black eye. In fact, the only issue I could find with this film is the continuity, obviously because of issues in the editing room, giving details for an upcoming scene that never happens. But, when you've got a western film like this with all the action going on, there's little to quibble about in the way of keeping your interest. Lancaster is like a doberman with a bone when it comes to getting back his furs, and showing his disgust to the scalping of native Americans also indicates that he's got a moral base underneath his seemingly shallow exterior.

First seen coming out of a covered wagon clad in a ripped negligee and feather boa, Winters is a sight to behold, and the joy that covers her face when Davis turns cactus leaves into shampoo makes you just want to hug her. It seems that she's making up for her cruelty to Sidney Poitier in "A Patch of Blue" with her humanity to Davis here, and she is the most likable and honest (brutally at times) of all the characters. This is indeed a roller coaster ride of a western, and it grabs you right from the very beginning. There are some cartoon like effects when Lancaster and the fairly passive Davis get into a fight, with the cartoon like bird sound appearing out of nowhere as Lancaster gets slugged. Davis is playing a variation of "Purlie" here (his most famous stage and screen role), and delivers an outstanding, beautiful performance that makes you wish he had been more of a movie star than he was. Even in its violence, it will have you laughing, although the violence towards the Indians is itself no laughing matter.

Pollack directed the film with a sense of humor unexpected in the genre

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 21 May 2007]

"The Scalphunters" opens with an illiterate frontier fur trapper named Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) refusing to trade his furs, with the Kiowa Indians, for a runaway field slave… But at the end, he is forced at gunpoint to do that and Bass finds himself, in one moment, the owner of Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis), an escapee from Louisiana, formerly of the Comanche tribe, until stolen by the Kiowas…

Lee, an African—slave by employment, black by color—results one of the highest educated families in Louisiana, who can read and write… Lee's intention was to circle south, as far as Mexico, because the Mexicans have a law against the slavery trade…

Bass' immediate plan was to catch up with the Kiowas and get back his pack horse and furs… But his plan soon failed when a band of scalphunters led by a dangerous double-crosser, Jim Howie (Telly Savalas) attack the poor Indians killing almost all of them and taking, by the way, Bass' property… Bass— a man who moves mountains to get what he wants— stampedes their wagons and makes the scalphunters' horses dangerous to ride…

The sweetest, and in some ways the funniest moments come out when Bass talks to his horse… In one scene, he gets so excited, and turns back to his stallion saying: "By god, you have got an idea!"

Telly Savalas makes Kojak a charmer, but in Pollack's film he is a psychopathic bounty hunter who slaughters a dozen Indians…

Kate (Shelley Winters)—a cigar-puffing doxy qualified to do things to any man—is sick about her lover's wagon… She complains that she lives like a squaw… Kate's dream was to live like a lady in a fancy house with servants… Winters delivers the best line of the whole movie when she exclaimed at the end of the film: "What the hell? They're all men."

Ossie Davis comes out with a real sense of humor… In one scene he explains to Kate the benefits of the common cactus, known to the Comanches as Maguey… He makes her believe that this plant was used in the ancient times by the Queen of Sheba to restore the natural oils to her beautiful blond hair…

It was nice to see Nick Cravat in a modest role as one of Savalas' men… As you remember, Cravat was ideally cast as Lancaster's sidekick, Piccolo, in the flamboyant "The Flame and the Arrow" in 1950, a spoof of the Robin Hood genre, set against the castle battlements and banquets halls of medieval Lombardy

Sydney Pollick and Burt Lancaster together. Overlooked gold!

[H.J. · 3 August 1999]

In the late 1960's and the early 1970's the United States was deeply embroiled in Viet Nam with all it's ramifications. It was so far from "the best of times" that it was difficult to laugh at much. Also this was the period where the Western film fell out of style. It was unfortunate timing for several excellent movies, "The Scalphunters" among them. If this movie were released tomorrow it would become an unqualified hit.

Burt Lancaster is at his cynical best, poking fun at everything the Hollywood Western and Burt Lancaster ever imagined themselves to be. Ossie Davis performs the nearly impossible task of playing a highly intelligent black slave on the lam without loosing perspective on the comic genius of the script. Tully Savallas plays the odious (And we suspect odorous) oaf with style and dignity (if that's possible) and Shelley Winters does the same for his female counterpart. And the Indians, the long-suffering, patient, bemused Indians dutifully dying and then returning to fight again just as often as the miraculous movie 6-shooters can get off 20 rounds or so.

In command of all this chaos is the unmistakably sure and steady hand of Sidny Pollick with his comic genius to rely on and a smart, literate script to form the framework. Perhaps this movie should be titled "'The Crimson Pirate' meets 'Toostie'".

If you've got a sense of humor and are able to suspend you disbelief for a couple of hours or so, "The Scalphunters" will give you a good evenings entertainment. If you enjoy it, try "There was a Crooked Man" with Henry Fonda and Kurt Douglas.

Fun Western in which a trapper is forcibly traded an educated ex-slave for his pelts by an Indian group

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 February 2014]

Light Western comedy about the particular relationship between a fur trapper and a highly polish slave , including a colour-coded cultural confrontation . It's an entertaining story with a touch of peculiarity , some great characters , a colorful cinematography , an amazing music and is funny enough . Solid western with interesting events , violent fights , emotions , humor , thrills and spectacular outdoors . Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave (Ossie Davis) , a rugged trapper (Burt Lancaster) vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them . As the pair forms an uneasy alliance , as when the pelts are in turn and result to be appropriated , they set off in pursuit a band of cutthroats led by a cynic bandit (Telly Savalas) . The trapper will stop at nothing to take back what's his .

An amusing enough liberal comedy western that has its fun moments , entertainment , action and some violence . Enjoyable as well as amiable screenplay by William Norton , it is exciting enough and glosses both the interdependence among protagonists and their racial antagonism . This plot about a peculiar conflict between a rough , illiterate trapper and a cultured slave is well worked through a chronic circular premise . Very good acting by the great Burt Lancaster as a fur trapper who sets out in pursuit the robbers . Sympathetic Ossie Davis as Joseph Lee , a slave who helps Lancaster to fight enemies and retrieve the pelts . Perfect Telly Savalas as leader of a gang of Scalphunters who has appropriated the furs . Secondary cast is frankly nice such as Shelley Winters as Kate , Dabney Coleman as Jed , Dan Vadis as Yuma , Armando Silvestre as Two Crows and the Lancaster's best friend , Nick Cravat , as Yancy . Splendid cinematography in Panavision and glimmer Technicolor by Duke Callagham and Richard Moore as is reflected on spectacular outdoors filmed in sighting , gorgeous natural landscapes. As it was shot on location in wonderful natural parks from Durango , Mexico . Lively and rousing musical score by the maestro Elmer Bernstein composing one of his best soundtrack .

Professionally produced by a great production company formed by Arnold Laven , Jules Levy and Arthur Gardner . The first Levy-Gardner-Laven movie was 1952's "Without Warning"'; in the decades since, they have produced and directed dozens of additional features and especially Westerns . They are experts on Western genre as cinema as television as they produced and directed several TV series including "The Rifleman," "Law of the Plainsman," , "The Big Valley" . The motion picture was well directed by the recently deceased Sidney Pollack with a thankfully light hand . Sydney was an excellent director , producer and secondary actor with several hits on all kind of genres as ¨The Interpreter¨ , ¨The firm¨ , ¨Out of Africa¨ , ¨Tootsie¨, ¨Yakuza¨ and directed two magnificent Westerns , ¨Jeremiah Johnson¨ and this ¨Scalphunters¨ . Rating : Good , better than average and worthwhile watching . The flick will appeal to Burt Lancaster fans and Western buffs .

Ultra Violent Comedy????

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 11 April 2021]

"The Scalphunters" was directed by one of my favorite directors...Sydney Pollack, however I think he missed the boat on this one. On one hand we have the light hearted relationships between star Burt Lancaster as Joe Bass a fur trapper and an escaped slave Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis), the evil scalphunter Jim Howie (Telly Savalas) and his prostitute girlfriend Kate (Shelley Winters) and the very graphic and violent raid carried out by the scalphunters and the Kiowas on the other hand.

The story has Bass coming down from the hills with his cache of beaver pelts that he has amassed over the winter. He is surrounded by Two Crows (Armando Sylvestre) and his Kiowa warriors. They "trade" a captured but well educated black escaped salve for his valuable furs. Of course Bass wants no part of this but is forced to accept the ex-slave. Bass and Joseph set out to follow the Indians and come upon them all liquored up and celebrating. Just as Bass is about to retrieve his furs, a gang of vicious scalphunters led by Jim Howie attack and brutally butcher the Kiowas taking their scalps in the process.

Bass and Joseph follow the gang but Joseph accidentally falls (literally) into their hands. Joseph, ever the schemer befriends Kate and learns that the gang is planning to go to Mexico where there is no slavery. He decides to throw in with them in spite of their mistreatment of him. Bass meanwhile carries out guerilla type raids on the camp to the point of starting an avalanche of rocks upon them. Just as Joseph negotiates the return of the furs, Two Crows, who had survived the previous attack, arrives with his braves and kills all of the scalphunters except for Kate and the other women. Howie has been killed by Bass previously in a sneak attack.

As all of this is going on , Bass and Joseph are engaged in a muddy fight when Two Crows discovers them and.....................................................................

As I mentioned earlier, the graphic and brutal violence just doesn't male sense in light of the director's attempts to inject comedy in to the proceedings. However, it was good to see Ossie Davis in major role as the educated ex-slave. Included in Howie's gang are Paul Picerni, Chuck Roberson (John Wayne's stunt double) and Lancaster's buddy from his acrobat days, Nick Cravat whom Lancaster always found a role for. In his films.

They're after Burt and Ossie's Scalps!

[Bogmeister · 7/10 · 17 November 2005]

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.

Amusing late 60s Western with Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Savalas

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 17 February 2020]

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-

So-So

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 3 March 2017]

Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them.

Ossie Davis was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. And, really, his appearance is the highlight of the film. As far as westerns go, it is rather disappointing. And the artwork makes it seem almost like an exploitation film, which it most certainly is not. The cast is good, but does not make the film as a whole all that great. Frankly, I am not sure why Shelley Winters was ever a star.

Thanks to Kino Lorber, this film is available on DVD. I can't say it's the best thing they've released, but it probably isn't the worst.

A magnificent achievement. One of the best westerns ever made.

[inframan · 10/10 · 27 November 2002]

This was the movie that made me throw away my Maltin Reviews.

I've always been a huge admirer of Burt Lancaster & his work & in my book this is one of his very best; it may just be his best, but how can you beat Crimson Pirate or Vera Cruz or Sweet Smell of Success or even his first - The Killers? The man was endowed with very high doses of intelligence, humor, humanity, physical presence & and a sort of 19th century stage hamminess. There used to be a saying that you could tell the type of film Lancaster was doing by his hairdo. When the hair was short, the movie was serious. When it was wavy, his tongue was filling up his cheek. It's quite wavy in Scalphunters. He's the epitome of the mountain man / trapper in this one: whiskey-drinking, bible-quoting highly-opionated & super-stubborn Joe Bass. Mark Twain would have loved this character, he's right out of Twain's imagination. It's hard to believe that Lancaster was in his mid-50's when he made this. He looks much younger & moves with the quickness & grace that made this ex-trapeze performer a legend.

Ossie Davis is a perfect match for Lancaster as the extraordinarily wise & well-educated but highly wary escaped slave Joseph Lee, who must continually rein in his instinct to trump the cruder but highly canny in his own way Joe Bass. The film is an almost Shakespearean interplay of their personalities - duel & duet . The viewer is able to observe the change they continually effect upon each other.

The Scalphunters themselves are a group of lowlifes led by Telly Savalas as Jim Howie (in the best role I ever saw him play in a movie), a nasty but not unwise lout who spends most of the day & night in his baggy long johns. They make their living robbing & killing & selling Indian scalps to the government. I found the portrayal (& dialog) of these bushwhackers as real & accurate in every detail as anything I've ever seen on the screen, right down to Howie's astrology ("star-gazin") ex-whore lady-friend Kate played by Shelly Winters in her least whiny role ever. There's plenty of tension & action in this film. It's cat vs. mice from start to finish: Lancaster vs. Indians, Lancaster vs. Scalphunters, Lancaster vs. Indians again.

The performances, Sidney Pollack's direction & William Norton's writing all serve to put this film in a class with The Searchers. I believe it is to Lancaster's career what The Searchers is to John Wayne's.

Definitely a magnificent achievement. A must for wide-screen DVD restoration.

pretty good

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 20 May 2020]

Trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is intercepted by Two Crows and his braves. He is forced to trade all of his furs for an educated slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Lee had escaped from Louisiana and captured by one tribe after another. Bass has no use for him as he pursues Two Crows. They track down the Indians and find them attacked by a group of white scalp hunters led by the ruthless Jim Howie (Telly Savalas). The governments are paying $25 for every Indian scalp; men, women, or children. Miss Kate (Shelley Winters) is tired of living on the road with Howie and can't wait to be a Lady in Mexico.

It's a comedic action western. It has its fun. It has its drama. As a buddy western, I would have liked Lancaster and Davis to stay together. I had expected them to run into Two Crows soon after the introduction of the Scalphunters. That's a fun relationship that deserves more time. Sometimes, the comedy is too light. All in all, this is what it is and it's a pretty good western from Sydney Pollack.

" If God ever created anything so beautiful as a pretty girl and a bottle of whiskey "

[thinker1691 · 9/10 · 26 November 2008]

Learning is a process of life wherein one takes from experience and applies it to a given problem. This is the foundation for the story of Joe Bass, (Burt Lancaster) mountain man and fur trapper. Although a simple man, uneducated and unread, he nevertheless has the wherewithal to overcome the trials of nature and succeed where few men can. Into his unencumbered life enters a Kiowa Indian by the name of Two Crows (Armando Silvestre) and his band, who trades him a black slave for his winter's trapping of furs. Reluctantly, Bass is stuck with a house slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis) who possesses what few men have in 1860, an education. He is talented, cultured and able to learn quickly. In addition to trading his furs to the Indians, they in turn lose them to a marauding gang of murderous Scalphunters, led by their leader Jim Howie (Telly Savalas). Vowing to recover his goods, Bass and Lee start after the scalp-hunters and along the way discover that racial superiority is not only a fallacy, but a hindrance to a much needed partnership. The film is truly enjoyable and a good example of what men can accomplish when they work together. Look closely and you'll see Shelley Winters as Kate, Dabney Coleman as Jed and Nick Cravat as Yancy. Great fun. ****

"They don't want to kill you any more. They want you to stop killing them."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 4 February 2017]

It seems like the theme of the movie expressed in my summary line, a quote from Joseph Winfield Lee (Ossie Davis) to Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster), was used again in 1982 with Stallone's "First Blood". The analogy is apt, Joe Bass uses his tracking and hunting skills to avenge the theft of his winter stock of furs, first stolen by the Kiowas, and then again by Jim Howie's (Telly Savalas) 'Scalphunters'. Throughout the ordeal I thought to myself, it doesn't seem like there's that many furs to be all that bothered about, an assessment also shared by Lee, so there were at least two of us on the same page.

So Lee mentioned at one point that his Kiowa name was Black Feather, stolen by that tribe when they raided the Comanches. It made me wonder if that was really part of Lee's background or was he just making it up as a way to deal with Bass. I guess it works either way, though nothing else in the story ever pointed to his having spent time with Indians.

I had to laugh when Savalas's character called himself a curly haired, blue eyed angel, but you'd probably have to catch a film that came out a few years later to see him with hair. That would have been as the title character in 1972's "Pancho Villa", which in it's own way explains how he wound up bald. You'll just have to see it.

The weirdest thing that caught my attention in the story was when Lee and Bass went at it near the end of the picture, and Bass took advantage of what looked like a trampoline jump out of a ditch to continue fisticuffs with his rival. There's no way he could have managed it from a standing position, so borrowing that page from the Euro-West spaghetti tradition was cool to see. Not to mention how mud caked the two men got to cement their relationship as partners riding off into the sunset.

But by and large, my own pick for the unsung hero in this Western had to be the pack horse carrying the furs and getting rustled every which way depending on who the more belligerent force was at the time. A close second of course would have been Bass's own horse who could stop on a dime when the situation called for it. That was pretty slick of Lee to try it out for himself.

How The West Was Lost

[seveb-25179 · 4/10 · 23 September 2018]

This is a dose of 'old school' Burt Lancaster, playing a larger than life character. It's also a civil rights western, with the central relationship being that between backwoods Burt and the over educated ex slave Ossie Davis. Unfortunately it gets the balance wrong between it's humorous elements and it's serious elements, which IMO is a common failing among late 60s Hollywood westerns and part of the reason for the genre's decline. For example by playing up the jokie bickering between Shelley Winters and Tele Savalas, the movie undercuts Savalas image as a villain and he is never as threatening a figure as he should be.

The art of good entertainment.

[david_grothier · 22 February 2006]

I guess we have to look at these films from a generation view point in what the great Shirley Mclain has recently stated in that they should start to make films for the over 50s age groups.

The film of today certainly seem to be targeted for a ' a different generation" as often I have to switch the box over to see if there is something wrong with the stereo settings as all I can hear is music and a very muffled speech.

I find the older films, as in this case, to be irreplaceable and standing in support of the old saying "they don't make 'em like that anymore" With taking anything away from the modern ladies of the screen, were can you find another Shelly, warm, funny, voluptuous with a distinctive class she retained to the end. Ossie Davis, irreplaceable and a gutsy person to play his part with the obvious dedication with which he did.(no wonder he won over hearts and minds) I doubt if the is a black actor with such dedication to that role today as Ossie was then.

Burt and Telly. as usual, delivered first rate parts in what proved to be good all round entertainment value. Amazingly enough my 13 year old son sat through it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Which cant be a bad achievement from our generation of old timers.

Uneven, predictable, and generally unsuccessful blend of western and comedy

[jamesrupert2014 · 6/10 · 21 February 2021]

Angered by the theft of his winter's harvest of furs, trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster), with erudite escaped slave Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis) in tow, tracks and harasses Jim Howie (Telly Savalas) and his a crew of brutal scalp-hunters through the desert. The film is an awkward mix of broad physical comedy complete with cartoonish 'tweetie' sounds when a person gets hit on the head, and harsh action, especially the early scenes of Howie's men gunning down and bloodily scalping a group of drunken Indians, which, other than establishing them as particularly vile villains, contributes little to the film beyond its lurid (and somewhat misleading) title. I'm not a fan of the western-comedy genre (especially those made in the 1960s) and didn't find 'Scalphunters' to be overly funny or entertaining. Davis manages to makes Joseph Lee more than just a paradoxical gimmick but Lancaster plays his Joe Bass as a 'character' rather than a person. The racial subtext, contrasting the genteel, articulate black slave to the coarse, uneducated white mountain-man was likely a genre disrupter in the sixties but isn't handled with much wit or subtlety. On the plus side, the desert cinematography is nice, there is some excellent horse-wrangling (notably the loco-weed scene) and Elmer Bernstein's score is pretty good (when not being used to punctuate sight gags).

OK Western - The Scalphunters

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 27 December 2020]

I really like Burt Lancaster, but not in this role. Shelley WInters, however, is perfectly cast as a very fat, over the hill $2 hooker. The rest of the cast is adequate and at least there won't be a part two.

A skinner tries to get his goods back from those who stole it...

[masonfisk · 6/10 · 16 October 2012]

A year before Sydney Pollack hit it big w/"They Shoot Horses Don't They" he made this comic western riffing on the phrase "now you have it, now you don't."

Burt Lancaster & Ossie Davis are paired up as the strangest of bedfellows trying to get Lancaster's wares back from a marauding band of scalp hunters led by Telly Savalas & Shelley Winters.

Alternately funny & sharply acted, this late 60's entry further pushed the envelope on what Western's were soon becoming.

Like the other great American art form jazz, this Western upends many of the stalwart modes we had become used to & plays like an extended riff on a kid's game w/gunfights & a last minute calvary save (in the guise of a pack of Indians) thrown in for good measure.

I would only recommend this if you are a fan of the actors and of westerns in general

[hazysistersunshine33 · 6/10 · 28 July 2014]

OK, this wasn't a great movie, but I am a bit Telly Savalas fan, so I am going to go a little easy on it. I am also not a big fan of westerns, but I am a fan of Burt Lancaster. I think he may be one of the best actors of all time. Both he and Savalas are not very good people in this movie. It's hard to survive in the old west, so I guess you have to be kind of a jerk. Even though Lancaster is supposed to be the protagonist and Savalas the antagonist, neither of them is very nice. They are both pretty much scalpers. Savalas and his gang steal Lancaster's booty and Lancaster tries to get it back from him. Shelly Winters, who plays Savalas' girl, is also in it as her flamboyant typical self. I would only recommend this if you are a fan of the actors and of westerns in general. I don't think it was a very big budget movie and probably kind of a quickie throw-away movie. You can probably find it free on demand or online so if you hate it, at least all you wasted was time.

Parts of the film were excellent--too bad it just didn't all come together

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 5 April 2008]

This is a film I really wanted to like. After all, some of the actors were very skilled and the characters they played had some wonderful qualities. Additionally, this movie would have been a great comedy or drama--too bad the writers and director had no sense about which they were going to make! I think the recent success of comedy-Westerns such as CAT BALLOU and THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL impacted this film--but these other films were consistent in their style, while THE SCALPHUNTERS sure wasn't.

Burt Lancaster plays one of the less sympathetic roles of his career. Early on, his huge load of furs is stolen, of sorts, by a group of Indians. What actually occurred is that they took the furs and gave him an escaped Black slave--which Burt did NOT want nor need. He treated Davis mostly like a piece of property, not a man.

Ossie Davis was fun to watch as this well educated Black man, though this was certainly an anachronism--as in most of the South, a Black slave who could read and write would have been hung, as it was against the law to educate a Black person (lest they learn about the real world or the inequity of slavery). To make this situation less believable, Davis knew quite a bit of Latin and about the world--making him smarter than at least 95% of White Americans at this same time in history.

Speaking of time in history, it's very hard to figure out when this film was to have occurred. You know it MUST be pre-Civil War since there is slavery and yet the guns are all repeating rifles and pistols--something you would have had a hard time finding even by the end of the Civil War. Some early cartridge guns had been developed by about 1860, but they were very rare and unreliable and would have almost never been seen in the West. Despite this, you don't see any single-shot guns--only repeating rifles and pistols using cartridges that are circa 1870 and later. Plus, none of these repeaters seem to need reloading!

Despite all these logical errors and anachronisms, there is a lot to like in the film--and lots of wonderful scenes. Davis' anachronistic character is very likable and he has many great lines. Lancaster, while a thoughtless jerk is also a pretty exciting action hero at times in the film. The relationship between these two is interesting and complex. Plus I liked seeing the relationship between Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters--their dialog was pretty funny at times and how Winters ended the film was rather satisfying.

Unfortunately, all the scenes, when placed together, are a mess and just don't fit together well. Much of this is because the movie moves uncomfortably from action film to comedy--and it's hard to laugh at a comedy about slavery or the massacre of Indians! The best example of this is the ending of the film. After suffering through tons of abuse and ambivalence by Lancaster, Davis has a wonderful scene where he is about to leave Lancaster in the desert and ride off to Mexico for a happy ending--a well-deserved and very rewarding ending I might add. However, oddly, the film did NOT end here but when one for about another ten minutes--and then tried to give a comedic style ending that just didn't fit the film at all. Ending it with Lancaster tied up and Davis wandering off would have been perfect--dragging it on and having a macho mud fight for a laugh was just awful and totally destroyed the impact of the film as social commentary.

Terrific and funny western.

[rclay-1 · 10/10 · 19 June 2007]

The best thing about this film is the humour, and the sharp dialogue. With this cast just about every scene is enjoyable, but the scenes between Burt Lancaster and Ossie Davies literally crackle. (Ossie Davies practically makes this picture his own, no mean feat with a cast of this quality). Telly Salvalas makes a really great baddie, and Shelley Winters is the perfect counter to him. The script has an edge like a razor, and despite being very funny, has some serious reflections on everything from greed to race. If you haven't seen it yet, you are in for a treat. From start to final minute, a cracking good picture. Even if you are not a western fan, I recommend this film. It's the great characters and dialogue that make it stand out.

A very different western

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 22 June 2023]

A very different western and just about as much action as laughs. It is one of Sidney Pollack's first films although he had done TV but would go on to many others and I believe Lancaster pulls him in to help make The Swimmer, the same year. Ossie Davis had a lot of TV and at 50 made this one and he's really good and will go on to make many especially later like, Do the Right Thing (1989) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). Telly Savalas is always good and really excellent here but unfortunately seems to fade away in the last half hour. Shelley Winters keeps going and although at 48 still good and many films to go. Burt Lancaster is splendid even at 55 and if it's not one of his best it is rather amusing and he seems to enjoy making it because he likes Pollack. I thought this was okay, really good at first and then gets going again with Winters and Savalas who are great together and for me it all rather goes down towards the end and it probably should have been ten minutes shorter.

Sophisticated Movie

[mime.de · 8/10 · 29 August 2002]

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.

The dirtiest, rottenest trade to ever turn a dollar.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 6 February 2016]

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.

Not one of Pollack's best

[cutter-12 · 5/10 · 9 February 2006]

Visually striking but odd and unsatisfying western that suffers from long stretches of boredom and not being able to decide if it's a comedy or a serious action film. It also features Telly Savalas as one of the more pointless villains in western cinema, though he does turn in a watchable performance with what little he was given. Shelly Winters is along for the ride too, in an even more pointless role as his floozy. It's as though the studio was nervous about the bare script and needed to pack the production with as much star power as possible.

And the script is bare. Burt Lancaster loses his furs to a party of Kiowa indians , who saddle him with unwanted runaway slave Ossie Davis in return. In pursuit of his furs, Lancaster sees them taken over by Savalas' band of 'Scalphunters' and the story plays out until the end as a game of cat and mouse with Davis in the middle. That's it. A nearly two hour film in epic widescreen and the story is as scant as that.

Except when Lancaster and Davis butt heads physically and philosophically, the film is a washout. Their scenes together, providing a few good laughs, are the only reason to stick it out till the end.

Entertaining in a low key way, Lancaster is always worth seeing, but hardly a good western. A blip on Sydney Pollack's filmography.