This is a very watchable Western that exhibits a high level of grotesque violence. I attribute the violence to the fact that this movie follows on the heels of “The Wild Bunch” which was a Western and which saw director Sam Peckinpah push the boundaries of on-screen gun play and graphically portrayed violence. “The Hunting Party” follows in the mold and shows a lot of bullet holes being made in some of the characters and there is generally sadistic bent to the character portrayed by Gene Hackman. Hackman is a cattle baron who treats his young wife like so much property. Oh, yes. And Hackman does not treat women well, in general, in this movie. Oliver Reed plays an outlaw who just wants to learn how to read. He mistakes Hackman’s wife, Candice Bergen, as being a schoolteacher who can assist him in his time of need. Bergen resists the kidnapping, at first, but grows fond of Reed and eventually sides with him as Hackman wages a bloody quest to recover his wife and put the outlaws to shame who abducted her. Therein, the violence ensues.
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“More Dead Than Alive” (1969) – Worthy Thoughtful Western
I started watching this western and began thinking that it was playing out as another dated take on The Old West that we have seen in countless TV shows and repetitive movies. There was a soundtrack featuring a harmonica, a jailbreak out of a Federal prison, gunplay galore and even some Gatling Gun action. It struck me as being old fashioned in an age where the Western had been electrified and shaken up by a work like Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch”. How could filmmakers fall back on all the old, reliable cliches of The Western genre and expect the audience to even care?
As it turns out, “Alive” and “Bunch” were released in the same year. I don’t know which, in essence, was seen first by the public but “More Dead Than Alive” impressed me as its story unfolded. Clint Walker plays a recently released convict known as Killer Kane who has spent 18 years in prison. As he sheds his shackles, he is left with an even more daunting sentence: What can a man convicted of multiple murders and who has only known life as an outlaw get by in this new world? What job will he be able to find, how will he live, how is it possible to shed the image the public has of him as being a person who has snuffed out others’ lives?
It proves to be a very hard ride for Walker who can’t keep even the most menial of jobs for long and is shunned by society in general as being a dangerous man.
Vincent Price has a nice appearance as a travelling sideshow operator who gladly invites Killer Kane to be his featured performer in Price’s Shooting exhibition. Even in this element of handling guns, Walker is met with strong opposition by the child like psychotic teenager Price was previously using as his featured shooting star.
Another similarity to “Bunch” is the observance of newly emerging technology such as a phone and bicycles. The times have certainly changed since Kane went to jail and the remaining movie chronicles his struggles to survive in his new environment and live down his bad name.
Definitely worth a viewing!
THE WILD BUNCH – 1969
Legendary, ultra violent western from director Sam Peckinpah. A group of aging outlaws plan just one more big heist before “peacefully” riding off into the sunset. OK. That was really lame! But it’s a familiar tale of thieves taking down one more score before disappearing with the loot and presumably staying out of any more trouble. The really electrifying action takes place at the end of the film when the four man bunch takes on a Mexican stronghold of soldiers numbering in the hundreds. You will witness tons of graphic blood splattering, grenade tossing, and Peckinpah’s patented usage of slow motion, cross cut edited carnage. Looking past all the extreme violence, this is an incredibly well made film full of fine performances and set pieces. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan are very good.