The Scalphunters

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The Scalphunters

1968

1h 42m

Western

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

70%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

56%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Illiterate fur trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is coerced by some Kiowa Indians into trading his haul for a well-educated, escaped slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Bass seeks to track the Indians and recover his treasure, while Joseph wants to travel to Mexico, where slavery is illegal. Their plans are complicated by the arrival of a band of scalp hunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who want to kill the Indians, claim the furs and resell the black man.

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Variety Staff

Variety

03/20/2008

Lancaster and Davis work particularly well together, ditto Savalas and Winters. There are talky periods of slow pace, but they are terminated before undue damage has been done.

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Time Out

02/09/2006

An amiable enough liberal comedy Western, with colour-coded cultural conflict worked through an ironic circular plot.

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Renata Adler

New York Times

05/21/2005

While the individual incidents are familiar, they are played with gusto by Lancaster and Davis.

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Brian Orndorf

Blu-ray.com

09/27/2014

B-

Navigating the movie's period attitude is relatively easy, but finding its sense of humor takes some work.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

09/30/2013

1/4

...a seriously misguided and hopelessly dated endeavor that's best left forgotten.

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TV Guide

03/20/2008

3/4

A comical western with more than a hint of social satire.

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Will G

@Kingofthepixies 03/11/2025

Great film, very underrated and heartfelt. Can't understand the negativity on here.

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philip w

@RT34210439 01/01/2024

Well if you don't like this there's something wrong somewhere = it's very entertaining

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12/26/2020

Burt Lancaster wants his furs back. Ossie Davis wants his freedom back. I want my 90 minutes back.

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steve d

@RT35616104 07/18/2020

Nothing special even if it has its fun moments.

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delysid d

@RT67044741 04/09/2019

i really liked this 60s american western, how i wish i was a cowboy

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05/18/2015

Por maior que seja o gozo de ver Burt Lancaster e Telly Savalas em confronto a caminho do México, "The Scalphunters" não é muito mais que um simples western cómico de aventuras, com a agravante de um subtexto racial datado aos olhos de hoje.

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Sydney Pollack

Director

Burt Lancaster

Joe Bass

Shelley Winters

Kate

Ossie Davis

Joseph Lee

Telly Savalas

Jim Howie

Dabney Coleman

Jed

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Synopsis

Illiterate fur trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) is coerced by some Kiowa Indians into trading his haul for a well-educated, escaped slave named Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Bass seeks to track the Indians and recover his treasure, while Joseph wants to travel to Mexico, where slavery is illegal. Their plans are complicated by the arrival of a band of scalp hunters, led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who want to kill the Indians, claim the furs and resell the black man.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Producer: Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules Levy
Screenwriter: William W. Norton
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Bristol Films, Norlan Productions
Genre: Western, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 2, 1968, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 42m