Film

The Hunter

Name: The Hunter
Genre: Thriller, Action, Comedy
Released: 1980
Cast: Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold, LeVar Burton, Ben Johnson

Steve McQueen's last film is a relaxed, funny bounty hunter thriller that lets its star coast on charm and capability. Papa Thorson chases criminals across three states while dodging a psychopath. It's lighter on its feet than it should be—more interested in McQueen's ease with a quip than in actual tension—but that's partly the point. For fans of McQueen or smart-casual '80s action.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like lean, workmanlike action where the thrills come from competence and rough character rather than spectacle, and a star who carries long stretches of silence with a dry, unhurried wit.

Skip it if the pace is loose and episodic, with plenty of procedure between the bursts of action, so if you need a tight plot or constant momentum, it will feel meandering.

What it asks of you: Ninety-three brisk minutes, mostly spent on tracking and waiting, with a tone that shifts between dry humor and sudden, blunt violence that arrives without warning.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Midnight Run1988

Similar DNA: a cynical professional transporting a target across America, banter doing half the dramatic heavy lifting, and Robert De Niro's weathered charm deployed for laughs as much as thrills. Fast, funny, entirely confident.

But The plot is deliberately slight and relies entirely on you enjoying the two leads sparring. If you need incident or stakes to feel invested, you'll check out.

The Grifters1990

Also a '90s crime film about a predatory world where nobody trusts anybody, with a similar texture of casual menace mixed into everyday scenes. Annette Bening, John Cusack, and Angelica Huston in a story of cons within cons.

But It's darker and meaner than The Hunter, and the ending lands somewhere cold and unforgiving. Not a comfort watch.

Papillon1973

McQueen again, in a different key: a prison escape epic with genuine stakes and brutality. If you want to see what McQueen could do when the film demanded it, this is the answer. Dustin Hoffman alongside him makes it sing.

But It's two hours and change and deliberately punishing. The Hunter moves; this one makes you feel every minute of captivity.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Hunter

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Both are films about people operating by the unwritten rules of a professional code—Papa with bounties, Jo with survival. Both are more interested in watching someone work than in plot.

A woman passes as a man to survive in the Old West—a true story, shot with the texture and quiet of a real period piece. Like The Hunter, it's fascinated by the codes of a closed world, but here the masquerade is everything. Maggie Sinclair is extraordinary.

But It's slow, painterly, and has no interest in justifying its protagonist's choices. The Hunter is propulsive; this one is meditative and asks you to sit with moral ambiguity.

Red River1948

Howard Hawks directing John Wayne on a cattle drive that becomes a battle of wills. It's where the lazy western iconography meets genuine filmmaking—tension through dialogue and glances, not just action. The template McQueen's film plays with.

But Black and white, 1948, and it moves at the pace of a man on horseback, not a bounty hunter with a schedule. Patience required.

Charley Varrick1973

Walter Matthau as a small-time crook suddenly in over his head, thinking his way out of trouble. Shrewd, funny, and lean. The spirit is close to The Hunter's—a protagonist relying on wits and experience in a game that doesn't care about either.

But The supporting villains are more threatening than the leads are sympathetic. You're rooting for someone who might deserve what he gets.

The Great Escape1963

McQueen in an ensemble, but his cool is the film's gravitational center. A heist-like prison break with charm, humor, and genuine suspense. One of the great adventure films, and it justifies McQueen's legend without breaking a sweat.

But It's an ensemble, so McQueen is one thread among many. If you came for him, you'll share screen time with a lot of other excellent actors.

Baby Driver2017

Edgar Wright's kinetic getaway driver thriller has the same confidence in its protagonist and the same refusal to let tension calcify into gloom. Style, humor, and movement working in concert. A modern equivalent of this film's lightness.

But The soundtrack dominance and stylistic flourishes will feel show-offy to some. It's more interested in being cool than in being believable.

Point Blank1967

Lee Marvin as a betrayed career criminal getting methodical revenge. John Boorman directing with geometric cool. A professional doing what he does best, no morality required. The ancestor of every competent-guy thriller that followed.

But It's not funny, and it's not reassuring. Marvin's violence is functional and empty. The Hunter is much warmer.

Coogan's Bluff1968

Eastwood as a country cop in New York, fish-out-of-water comedy playing against crime thriller. Similar energy to The Hunter—a capable pro in unfamiliar terrain, relying on instinct. Don Siegel directing with real style.

But It's a Siegel-Eastwood film from 1968, so the sexism is period-authentic but modern-uncomfortable. Dated in ways The Hunter mostly avoids.

Thief1981

Both films center on aging professionals whose skills and reputation precede them, and both treat that expertise with genuine respect. But where The Hunter winks, Thief is stone-faced about the cost of the life.

Michael Mann's debut with James Caan as a master jewel thief. Electronic score, Chicago nights, heist sequences shot with balletic precision. A film about craft and mastery that respects its protagonist's expertise the way The Hunter does. Hypnotic.

But It's glacial and detached in ways The Hunter never is. The emotional register is cold, and the ending is deliberately punishing. Beautiful but unforgiving.

Pale Rider1985

Both are films about competent men operating in violent worlds, but Pale Rider adds something supernatural to the equation. It's what happens to the hard-bitten professional archetype when you let the strangeness in.

Eastwood as a mysterious preacher in a gold-rush town, and it's a western that works as a ghost story. Clint Eastwood the director has made something genuinely strange—a revenge film that doesn't quite explain itself. Visual and hypnotic.

But It's oblique and refuses to clarify its own mythology. If you need your western plot points clear and functional, this will frustrate you. Also slower than The Hunter by a considerable margin.