''The Scalphunters'' is a 1968 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...

Ossie Davis Ossie Davis (born Raiford Chatman Davis; December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, Film director, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He received num ...

and Telly Savalas. The film was directed by

Sydney Pollack Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Pollack is known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films. Over his forty year career he received numerous accolades ...

, with the score written by

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

. Davis was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Plot

Joe Bass (

), an American fur trapper, is on his way to sell the hides he has amassed over the winter. He encounters a group of

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

Indians led by Two Crows ( Armando Silvestre), who take his furs. In exchange, they give a disgusted Bass a slave, Joseph Lee (

), whom they had taken from a group of

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

s. Lee is a well-educated and refined house slave, unfamiliar with the ways of the wilderness. Bass sets out to recover the furs from the Kiowa. Lee makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape, then follows along. As Lee and Bass catch up to the Kiowa, they watch them being ambushed by a group of scalphunters, after the bounty offered by the government for each Native American scalp they bring in. The scalphunters, led by Jim Howie ( Telly Savalas), kill the Kiowas and take Bass's furs. Bass and Lee trail the new group. Lee stumbles over a cliff and is captured by the scalphunters. Howie decides to sell him in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. As they travel southwards, Jim Howie's girlfriend, Kate (

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...

), reveals to Lee that they are heading for

. He begins to win her favor, by doing her hair and telling her fortune, hoping she will persuade Howie to take him with them to Mexico (where slavery is illegal), rather than sell him. Bass pins them down with sniper fire, forcing them to let loose the packhorse carrying the furs. He is ambushed and the scalphunters recover the furs and proceed on their way. Approaching their camp at night, Bass tries to persuade Lee to help him, but the slave is now set on going to Mexico and refuses him assistance. Bass kills several of the scalphunters by starting a rock slide in the mountains. Then he contaminates the water of a nearby creek with locoweed, a toxic plant that causes the scalphunters' horses to run and buck wildly after they drink the water. They send Lee as a go-between to Bass, telling him he can keep the furs. A wary Bass comes down to collect the lone packhorse, but is ambushed by Howie. In an ensuing struggle, Howie is shot dead by Lee. The bickering Bass and Lee then fight, but neither can beat the other. Kiowas attack and overrun the scalphunters. Two Crows, who had survived the earlier massacre, has fetched reinforcements. He again takes the furs. Bass and Lee, now friends, prepare to follow the Kiowas to retrieve the furs yet again.

Cast

as Joe Bass *

as Kate * Telly Savalas as Jim Howie *

as Joseph Lee * Dabney Coleman as Jed * Paul Picerni as Frank * Dan Vadis as Yuma * Armando Silvestre as Two Crows * Nick Cravat as Yancy

Novelization

Shortly before the release of the film, per the timing custom of the era,

Gold Medal Books Gold Medal Books, launched by Fawcett Publications in 1950, was an American book publisher known for introducing paperback originals, a publishing innovation at the time. Fawcett was also an independent newsstand distributor, and in 1949 the c ...

published a novelization of the screenplay by veteran pulpsmith Richard Wormser as "Ed Friend" (a pseudonym he employed for most of his media tie-in work). It qualifies as an "inferred novelization" as the source screenplay is not directly credited as the basis, though the copyright is assigned to Norlan Productions and Bristol Pictures—and the film is referenced on the front and back covers of the first edition. ''The Scalp-Hunters'' was not the only Gold Medal novelization of the era to tacitly disguise itself as a novel original to its author, and thus the basis for the film—and in this case, the strategy seems to have paid off; the book stayed in print well beyond the theatrical run of the movie: Future editions of the book (there was a second printing and a re-release about a decade later) eschewed mention of the film altogether.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scalphunters, The 1968 films 1968 Western (genre) films 1960s English-language films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Sydney Pollack Films produced by Burt Lancaster Films scored by Elmer Bernstein Films shot in Mexico United Artists films 1960s American films English-language Western (genre) films Norlan Productions films