The Hunting Party

"You're Invited to a Party... We'll Play the Deadliest Game of All... Hunting 26 Men and 1 Woman!"

1971 1h 51m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🥫

20%

ROTTEN

⭐

6.2

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 78🥫20%Rotten Tomatoes★6.2IMDB · 3,962

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A ruthless rancher, and his gang, use extremely long range rifles to kill the men who kidnapped his wife.

“You're Invited to a Party... We'll Play the Deadliest Game of All... Hunting 26 Men and 1 Woman!”

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Cast

Oliver Reed
Frank Calder
Candice Bergen
Melissa Ruger
Gene Hackman
Brandt Ruger
Simon Oakland
Matthew Gunn
Mitchell Ryan
Doc Harrison
L.Q. Jones
Hog Warren
William Watson
Jim Loring
G.D. Spradlin
Sam Bayard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Don Medford
Writers: Lou Morheim, Gilbert Ralston, Gilbert Ralston
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Spain.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Don Medford, shot by Cecilio Paniagua. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tom Rolf shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Oliver Reed and Candice Bergen and Gene Hackman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "You're Invited to a Party... We'll Play the Deadliest Game of All... Hunting 26 Men and 1 Woman!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0067224 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 78 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Don Medford directs. Cecilio Paniagua behind the camera. Tom Rolf cuts. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America, Spain. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

155 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Spain.
3Directed by Don Medford, shot by Cecilio Paniagua. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor Tom Rolf shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Oliver Reed and Candice Bergen and Gene Hackman carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "You're Invited to a Party... We'll Play the Deadliest Game of All... Hunting 26 Men and 1 Woman!".
7IMDB entry: tt0067224 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 78 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "infidelity", "wife", "texas", "ranch".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Cecilio Paniagua
Editing: Tom Rolf
Makeup / hair: José Antonio Sánchez
Stunt coordinator: Juan Maján
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Hunting Party (1971)
Rotten Tomatoes: 20% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6.2/10 · 3,962 votes
MPAA: R

Also by

Don Medford

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2019-08-18
★ 6/10
Grim early 70’s Western with Oliver Reed, Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen In the Southwest, an outlaw gang led by Frank Calder (Oliver Reed) kidnaps a school teacher (Candice Bergen) so he can learn how to read. Unfortunately for them, she’s the wife of a sadistic wealthy rancher (Gene Hackman) and he’s coming with his personal posse to hunt ’em down with high-powered rifles. Mitchell Ryan, Simon Oakland and L.Q. Jones are also on hand. “The Hunting Party” (1971) treads similar terrain of two earlier Westerns: "Bandolero!" (1968) and "Macho Callahan" (1970). There are also elements of the later “The Train Robbers” (1973). But “The Hunting Party” is the least of these, although it’s not far off. It’s worth catching just to see Reed star in a Western (he’s essentially the British version of Brando), not to mention the potent sequence between Frank (Reed), Doc (Ryan) and Melissa (Bergen) in the last act. The grim climax is memorable as well. There’s a lot of Peckinpah-styled violence. One effective scene involves someone getting shot in the face with a shotgun. There are also a couple of rough adult-oriented sequences. The problem is, the characters are too shallow to care much when their lives are eventually threatened. There’s loads of quality emoting by the actors, but not enough character-defining moments, which was expertly done in “Bandolero!” Speaking of which, the issue of Stockholm syndrome rears its head. This condition occurs when a strong emotional link develops between captor and captive wherein the former intermittently abuses the other in one way or another, whether beatings, threats, intimidation or harassment. Melissa gets to know Frank & Doc and slowly discovers that they're not outright evil. They're basically goodhearted people trapped in a tough lifestyle. The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot in Spain (Almeria and Granada, with interior stuff done in Madrid). GRADE: B-

Production companies