Steve McQueen’s final film is an action-packed thriller that has a moving, emotional core beyond the chases and drama.
Ralph ‘Papa’ Thorson is a bounty hunter who travels the country picking up the bail absconders and fugitives. His girlfriend, Dottie (Kathryn Harrold), is heavily pregnant but rather than help her with her Lamaze class, he heads out for another bail jumper. Meanwhile, one of the people he helped go behind bars is out and has threatened his life, and Dottie could be put in the firing line.
Based on the true-life story of the real Papa Thorson, with the usual Hollywood leeway, of course, to glitz things up a bit. There’s lots to like here, McQueen’s performance being one of them. Bucking his usual style of being a hot-shot driver (which he was in real life, of course), Thorson is shown dinging every car he gets behind the wheel of (and many of the others on the road too) and even though he’s played as a misogynist, McQueen’s effortless cool makes him an engaging character. Also impressive is the young LaVar Burton, who had come from playing the iconic role of Kunta Kinte in Roots and would later be Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek universe. He’s not given too much to do other than provide a little comic relief, but his presence is felt.
Directed by Buzz Kulik, the film has an episodic feel, in a similar vein to how the autobiography would likely be. It’s something screenwriters Ted Leighton and Peter Hyams should have sorted out, and as such, it never really shifts gears smoothly. There’s plenty to enjoy, however, and the famous L-train sequence is perfectly pitched.
Imprint’s Blu-ray release is rather short on special features compared to what we’ve come to expect from the Australian label, but what we have is decent enough. There’s an informative commentary from film historian Jason Ney and a vintage documentary about McQueen, Man on the Edge. This is a fantastic watch, even though it’s a fair few years old. It’s the show that Shaun Ryder watched before adding his lines to the Happy Mondays cover of Step On. During one anecdote, director Norman Jewison recalls the actor telling him “You’re twisting my melon, man” before noting that “he talked so hip”. For that nugget alone, this is a must-buy!
The Hunter is available on Blu-ray from Imprint,
