The Hunting Party (1971)

Directed by Don Medford. Starring Oliver Reed, Candice Bergen, Gene Hackman, L. Q. Jones, Simon Oakland, Mitchell Ryan, William Watson, Ronald Howard, G. D. Spradlin. [R]

While her sadistic rancher husband (Hackman) is away with friends on a hunting trip, Bergen gets kidnapped by Reed’s gang (not for ransom, but because Reed wants her to teach him how to read!), which inspires Hackman and his cohorts to hunt and kill the crooks with telescopic rifles as if they were sport. Ugly, violent Western only features characters at varying (often high) levels of despicability and stupidity, and is too relentlessly unpleasant and pretentious to qualify as a “Most Dangerous Game”-style thriller (the movie depicts/suggests so much attempted rape, it could be glibly described as the inspiration for Woodstock ‘99). The lack of sociological context and the sheer naïveté of its moral arguments make the it worse than empty when it comes to attaching meaning to its dehumanized provocations. Photographed by Cecilio Paniagua in Spain.

36/100