Sydney Pollack's The Scalphunters (1968) is lightweight entertainment. At heart it's a counterfeit Spaghetti Western, retaining the double-crosses and coarse humor but little of the nastiness. Decent action and fun leads keep it afloat.Fur-trapper Joe Bass (Burt Lancaster) reluctantly trades a load of furs to Kiowa Indians for slave Joseph Lee (Ossie Davis). Bass and Joseph become reluctant partners against a band of scalphunters led by Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who massacre the Kiowas. Howie captures Joseph and plans to sell him, but the slave charms Howie's coarse wife (Shelley Winters) and manipulates Howie. Joe Bass isn't far behind, stalking the caravan in hopes for revenge.
From frame one, The Scalphunters throws out banter and sight gags which inspire even Bass's horse to double-take. Pollack gets great chemistry from his leads, and the movie's best moments come from their. Joe's predictably amoral, but Joseph's a much more interesting character. Endlessly pragmatic, he plays the erudite charmer or subservient Uncle Tom as the occasion suits. Our leads scheme and double-cross each other but there's no bite or malice; Pollack repeatedly assures us everything's a joke.
The Scalphunters succeeds as light comedy but doesn't quite work as a Western. William W. Norton's script sags in the middle section, falling into repetitious gags and middling action while losing the plot. The action scenes are a mixed bag: set pieces like a horse stampede feel uninspired, but Bass and Joseph's comic wrestling match and a violent Kiowa attack provide an effective climax. Elmer Bernstein's robust score redeems a lot, but The Scalphunters never generates the expected tension.
Burt Lancaster's scruffy stubble can't conceal his winsome charisma. Ossie Davis steals the show, making Joseph an endearing survivor. He quotes Latin, tptes Comanche cure-alls and handily outwits his costars. Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters, on the other hand, are relentlessly irritating; their scenes drag the movie to a crawl. Dabney Coleman gets an unrecognizable early role.
For all its playful self-awareness, The Scalphunters never amounts to much. Paul Bogart and Gordon Douglas's edgier Skin Game (1971) handled a similar story better. Still, as Friday night entertainment you could do worse.
