Trailer
Plot summary
Ralph "Papa" Thorson works as a bounty hunter for Ritchie Blumenthal, an elderly bail bondsman who sends him after fugitives across the country. Thorson is an old-fashioned man who collects antique toys and listens to classical music, and the job keeps him on the road. In Illinois he captures bail fugitive Tommy Price, and in Texas he goes after Billie Joe, whose relative Sheriff John Strong warns him to stay out of it. His girlfriend Dotty teaches school and is pregnant, and she wants him at home when the baby arrives. A psychotic killer named Rocco Mason, one of Thorson's earlier captures, is stalking him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Hunter (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Steve McQueen was diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma on December 22, 1979, a month after filming ended, having first suspected it that autumn while shooting on location in Chicago; a chronic cough and shortness of breath caused delays in filming his performances.
- Because of his respiratory problems, Steve McQueen's action scenes were performed entirely by stuntmen, among them Loren Janes (uncredited) and Thomas Rosales Jr., who played the fugitive Anthony Bernardo.
- Peter Hyams was hired to rewrite and direct but was fired after doing a draft, and when Steve McQueen wanted to take over as director, the Directors Guild of America blocked him because he had been on the project before Hyams.
- For the early riverhouse explosion on the Kankakee River near Aroma Park, a structure was built for the film and then destroyed, while a cabin was taken apart, reassembled and sold as a hunting retreat on an island in the Kankakee river basin.
