Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

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.

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.

This unique very entertaining film is, in part, a traditional Western, with several skirmishes involving "Indians", a gang of outlaws, and a lone trapper, who comes to grief from both. In part, it is a slapstickish reluctant buddy comedy involving Burt Lancaster, as trapper Joe Bass, and escaped slave Joseph Lee(Ossie Davis), as well as the often caustic patter between complaining floozy Kate(Shelly Winters) and Jim Howie(Telly Savalas), boss of the fleeing outlaw gang. The trade of Joseph Lee forced upon Bass by the Kiowas in exchange for his year's catch of furs and pack horse serves as a parody on the exchange of desirable lands or other property for much poorer or diminished lands or goods frequently forced on various Native American tribes.Joseph Lee hopes to get across the Mexican border, where slavery is outlawed and blacks welcomed. He's willing to do whatever he has to to accomplish this. Joe Bass's goal is to retrieve his furs and pack horse. At first, Lee plays along with helping Bass retrieve his furs, but when he is captured by an outlaw gang who stole Bass's furs from the Kiowas and who happen to be heading for Mexico, his loyalty between Bass and the outlaws waivers. Both talk down to him at times as if he were intrinsically inferior, and talk about selling him on the slave auction block. Part of the comedy relates to the fact that Lee clearly has(unbelievably) absorbed far more high class white culture from his former owners than either Bass or the outlaws ever will. Remember, this film was released in 1968, the year Martin Luther King was assassinated.Bass nearly recaptures his furs several times, with or without the help of Lee. In addition to his uncanny ability to tract down the location of the offending party and to escape their superior numbers, he surrealistically pushes quite a few 1000 lb boulders down on his enemies, then later poisons a water hole with locoweed to make their horses revert to untamed bucking broncos(an idea he generously gives his horse, Jughead, credit for).In the final showdown between Bass and Howie, Lee has to decide whom to help, with the consideration in his mind of how he might best get to Mexico. After both unsuccessfully attempt to leave the other helpless, Lee and Bass engage in a long slapstickish fight in a muddy water hole, ending in a draw, both covered with gray mud, thus enhancing the impression of equality. But, in a sense, they are both losers, because the Kiowas return. Taking advantage of the distraction of Lee and Bass and the much weakened outlaw gang, Two Crows reclaims the contested furs and pack horse, as well as the now unclaimed Shelly Winters and what's left of the gang's supplies.Some think the film should have ended with Lee successfully escaping both Bass and the outlaws, with Bass's furs and horses to boot, something he nearly accomplished. I can certainly see merit in that view. However, the furs and horses don't rightfully belong to Lee. They rightfully belong to either the Kiowas or to Bass (depending on your viewpoint). Besides, we needed to give Lee an opportunity to show that he can duke it out with Bass, as part of the demonstration that that he is at least as respectable as Bass and the other white men, if not more so. Yes, the parting scene leaves us wondering what became of Bass and Lee, the two main characters, and thus is less than satisfying.Quite a few slaves actually did make it across the Mexican border, often with the aid of Mexicans temporarily or more permanently in Texas. Mexico long refused to cooperate in efforts to recapture these slaves. In 1857, Mexico formally declared any slaves crossing the border to be free. Thus, much of the US army was given the responsibility of reducing this flow(mostly unsuccessfully) and Mexicans were prohibited or much restricted in much of Texas....I should also point out that the Kiowas and Comanches were long term military allies during the 1800s, thus Lee's story about a Kiowa raid on his host Comanches is unlikely, historically.