*** SPOILERS *** I liked the first half of this movie, bolstered by an excellent cast of Hackman, Reed and Bergen. The initial set up is a good one: Hackman chasing down Reed and his kidnapped wife by using his long range sniper rifle to gun down Reed and his crew. The first couple of encounters are strong. Of course Bergan falls for Reed. But then that's it. That's pretty much the whole plot. Hackman guns down everyone. No showdown, no interesting shootouts, no twists, no surprise ending, nothing. For Hackman, 70s/genre fans only.

The first hurdle to overcome for this viewer had to do with the idea that Melissa Ruger (Candice Bergen) could actually fall for an outlaw thug like Frank Calder (Oliver Reed). Granted, husband Brandt (Gene Hackman) was no prize in the perfect husband sweepstakes, but this was carrying the old Stockholm Syndrome idea just a bit too far. Heck, Melissa even went so far as to say it herself when she found herself with Calder in an intimate moment - "You smell like a horse". Some might even say he looked like one too.I read with interest some of the other reviewers for this picture how they felt it wasn't realistic that Brandt didn't shoot Calder immediately when he had the chance. The thing is, I had it nailed the first time Ruger backed off with his long rifle; he wanted his revenge up close and personal, preferably with his wife watching as he settled the score. You had to know that was on his mind when he saw Melissa call out for Frank during one of the long distance ambushes.You know, I had to wonder how completely devoid of common sense Hog Warren (L.Q. Jones) was after the first time he tried to have his way with Melissa. Something should have told him that attempting to rape her later on in the story would not have been a good career move. While that scene was going on, I was picturing Calder breaking into the room and going full bore crazy on old Hog, but it ended when Hog felt that stabbing sensation to his throat. Nice move there, Melissa.As for Candice Bergen, I thought this was a rather intensely physical role for her to be handling, and the scene that really convinced me of that was when she took that horse spill in the desert with the animal falling almost on top of her. I wondered how the film makers managed that without injury to the actress, it looked kind of dangerous. And it didn't look like a stunt-woman in Miss Bergen's place either.The biggest head scratcher of all for me though was when Frank Calder became a compassionate killer after shooting his friend Doc (Mitchell Ryan) to put him out of his misery. Throwing away his weapons didn't seem to be the best idea figuring that the merciless Brandt Ruger would keep pursuing him and Melissa. The closing scene hints at the desperation of all three, with Brandt sealing the deal in the middle of nowhere. That he would wind up virtually committing suicide stranded in the desert was a fitting end for the low down skunk.

This western is from the same crop as Peckinpah's efforts, most notably "The Wild Bunch": extreme violence, tough versus tough, and some important themes brought in between. The "Hunting Party" of the title is led by coward rancher Brandt (Gene Hackman), who along with his gang, track down the dangerous bandit Frank Calder (Oliver Reed), kidnapper of Brandt's wife (Candice Bergen). Calder uses her talents as teacher so she can teach him how to read - something he never knew how to - in order to read maps and stuff for future robberies. But it seems that Calder and Brandt's wife are getting well together, better than what she used to had with her possessive husband. Brandt's reckless hunt to Calder (who has a bigger group of men) has one point in his favor: a collection of special rifles that can shoot to long distances, an unseen invention at the time, and unknown to Frank and his pals.No heroes, no villains. All roles are reversed in the usual sense of what we know about westerns, they're not what they appear, right from scene one, a comparison between Calder and Brandt in the way handle situations: Brandt being violent with his wife during sex intercut with images of Calder butchering a cow. In terms of favoritism, we should root for Hackman's character because his woman was stolen and felt for the "bad guy"; but no, he reveals to be a more repulsive and ignorant character than the ever changing bandit, who has traces of humanity at moment goes by. His kidnap of the teacher might be his way to be a better man, someone who wants to get out of his current poor status. Like that Wilde quote: "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future." But Brandt was never a saint!The contrast between both men is very interesting to follow, just as much as in following the powerful chain between them, the headstrong teacher Melissa, one of Bergen's best and most difficult roles. She doesn't understand why she's there, and even if so, she always tries to escape Calder and return to her abusive husband, confusing the idea of what care really is. But her trust in Calder comes when he protects her against the guys in his group who try to abuse her; and when he acts like them, she relents a bit because it's nothing compared to what she had with Brandt. Yes, way before than the whole controversy involving "Straw Dogs" infamous scene. The movie feels staggered for a long time, the plot takes a whole while to reach its best and most exciting parts - the hunting - but we can't deny that Don Medford made an impressive picture, filled with action, gory slow-motion shootouts like Mr. Sam P., with brief humored scenes (all effective) and greatly acted by Reed, Hackman, Mitchell Ryan and Bergen. I only disliked the way the script treated the female character during the first half hour, only making Mellisa as an object at almost all scenes, but later on she grows a lot and stands her ground with firmness.Finally, a western with some deep thoughts. 7/10

Oliver Reed is an outlaw, Frank Calder, and along with his rugged brood, swipes a cattle baron's wife, and lives to regret it. The cattle baron is Brandt Ruger(Gene Hackman), his wife, Melissa(..the lovely Candice Bergen). So Ruger assembles a group of his friends as a hunting party to seek after Frank and his outlaws, not knowing until much later that Melissa has become quite attached and affectionate towards her kidnapper. This indeed drives Ruger over the edge and there'll be hell to pay before he's through.I'll be honest, the stale plot isn't earth-shattering, and even though the movie results in a bleak, uncompromising, and tragic manner, it's pretty predictable. But, if you want your fix of bloody violence with plenty of people blown away by long range rifles(..mostly by Hackman, who's a crack shot), then "The Hunting Party" might just be what the doctor ordered. It has plenty of familiar faces. LQ Jones a sleazy scoundrel who, while in a drunken high, attempts to rape Bergen, getting his medicine(..what she doesn't complete, Hackman sure as hell does), with Mitchel Ryan as Reed's compadre, Doc, who is gut shot, but lives on the brink of death for damn near an hour as the group move from territory to territory seeking a town physician to pull the bullet buried inside him.The major problem with this western is that you kind of have no one to really side with. Hackman, understandably so, becomes so bloodthirsty, that he alienates those who accompany him on the quest to find Reed. We don't really spend a great deal of time with him, either, so we have little real time to get to know him all that well. He very well could be a disaster of a husband which might explain why Bergman responds so passionately eventually to Reed. We do recognize a friction between the Rugers, and it's visible how Brandt treats her as a prize no one but can claim, but still, Frank isn't exactly the greatest substitute, now is he? But, that scene where Reed forces himself on Bergman is hard to watch, and, despite the fact she succumbs to his desires, that rape does tarnish any sympathy one might have in his favor.The film seems to side with Reed, though, as Hackman just continues to shoot down his men, picking them off in intervals, and we follow them as they grow more weary, their tempers tested due to the fact that they are dying because of a broad. Simon Oakland(..who I consider to be one of the finest television actors in the history of the small screen, his face recognizable across all genres, particularly in the 60's and 70's, most notably, "Kolchak The Night Stalker") is well cast as Matthew Gunn, attempting to be a voice of reason for Ruger, trying to talk some sense into him, especially after it's realized that Melissa has chosen Frank over Brandt. But, it's obvious that Brandt isn't a man to lose any property that's his to anyone, much less an outlaw whose life has been about stealing and killing. Like a lot westerns coming out in the 70's, I reckon "The Hunting Party" suffered as the genre was starting to wain, it very much an example of "The Wild Bunch" influence.