"The Hunter" is Steve McQueen's final film and he died just a few months after completing this movie. It's about the career of Ralph 'Papa' Thorson, a legendary bounty hunter...though I assume MANY liberties were taken in the script.
The story starts off well. In two interesting and funny cases, you see Papa capture two fugitives. However, the lighthearted style of the movie changes drastically when a psychopath announces to Papa and his pregnant girlfriend that he's going to murder them. The rest of the film is essentially an action picture where eventually you have the big showdown.
This film was hated by some critics when it debuted (see the Trivia section for more on this) but I felt very neutral towards the movie. I thought it started very well but later the film suffered for two reasons...it became all action AND Papa began acting like a real jerk towards his girlfriend. I sure hope the real life Papa Thorson wasn't like that!
By the way, coincidentally, the real life Thorson was murdered a year after this movie about his life was made. It's assumed a disgruntled ex-con did it, though as far as I know no one was prosecuted for this.
The story starts off well. In two interesting and funny cases, you see Papa capture two fugitives. However, the lighthearted style of the movie changes drastically when a psychopath announces to Papa and his pregnant girlfriend that he's going to murder them. The rest of the film is essentially an action picture where eventually you have the big showdown.
This film was hated by some critics when it debuted (see the Trivia section for more on this) but I felt very neutral towards the movie. I thought it started very well but later the film suffered for two reasons...it became all action AND Papa began acting like a real jerk towards his girlfriend. I sure hope the real life Papa Thorson wasn't like that!
By the way, coincidentally, the real life Thorson was murdered a year after this movie about his life was made. It's assumed a disgruntled ex-con did it, though as far as I know no one was prosecuted for this.