The Scalphunters (1968); Castle Keep (1969)

June 15, 2013 - 7:30 pm

The Scalphunters (1968)

"...the damnedest mixture of different sorts of movies you've ever seen...It has a lot of hard action in it. It has social comment. It has broad farce. It has comedy." — Roger Ebert

Directed by Sydney Pollack

A Western with a blistering satiric edge, The Scalphunters finds Burt Lancaster again embracing an unsavory character as Joe Bass, an ornery frontier trapper who is forced to give up a wealth of furs in exchange for an escaped slave, Joseph Lee, played by Ossie Davis. When Bass subsequently loses Lee to a band of even more loathsome scalphunters (headed by Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters), he wages a one man war across the desert to reclaim his "property." Balancing sharp wit, racial politics and the violence of revenge, the film culminates in an extended, mud-soaked fist fight that's a true classic of the genre.

United Artists. Producers: Jules Levy, Arnold Laven. Screenwriter: William Norton. Cinematographer: Duke Callaghan. Editor: John Woodcock. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, Ossie Davis.

35mm, color, 103 min.

Watch the trailer below.

Castle Keep (1969)

"...has the form and visual beauty of a dark fairy tale." — New York Times

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack's adaptation of author William Eastlake's WWII satire strikes an allegorical tone in a freefloating structure that anticipates Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22 (1970). In one of his most enigmatic roles, Burt Lancaster sports an eye patch as Maj. Abraham Falconer who stations his platoon in a 10th century chateau in the path of advancing German lines despite the irreplaceable art treasures housed within. While Falconer carries on an affair with with the chateau's countess, he and his men meditate on art, sex, death and Volkswagens before everything goes up in flames.

Columbia Pictures. Producers: Martin Ransohoff, John Calley. Based on the novel by William Eastlake. Screenwriter: Daniel Taradash, David Rayfiel. Cinematographer: Henri Decaë. Editor: Malcolm Cooke. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Patrick O’Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Falk, Astrid Heeren.

35mm, color, 105 min.

Watch the trailer below.

Part of:

Burt Lancaster: A Centennial Celebration

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