The Hunting Party 1971

Brandt Ruger, a sexually sadistic cattle baron, strains relations with his wife Melissa Ruger as he leaves for a two-week hunting trip with some of his wealthy friends.

Outlaw Frank Calder and his band of rustlers kidnap Melissa, not for ransom but because Calder wants to be taught how to read a book, believing he can learn from her. The capture sets the stage for a brutal power play that will test everyone involved.

On a luxurious private train, the hunting party indulges in reckless hedonism with the women present, even as Ruger plans a far more merciless form of sport. He boasts of long-range rifles, claiming a precision that could reach 800 yards, and his friends agree to the grim idea: they will shoot at the captors from a distance, treating the hunt as if they were chasing men rather than animals.

Calder must guard Melissa from the rapacious urges of his own men, and though he initially keeps her safe from assaults, he eventually overpowers and rapes her. Melissa fights back, attempting to shoot and stab Calder and to escape, and she even begins a hunger strike—until the lure of a jar of peaches tempts her away from resistance.

With rifles equipped for long-range shots, Ruger and his crew begin picking off the outlaws one by one. Melissa drives back at her captors, stabbing Hog Warren after his second violent advance toward her. Calder closes in at close range and manages to shoot one of Ruger’s men, while the rest of Ruger’s circle grows uneasy as they witness the growing danger of their plan and the mounting casualties.

Calder’s men grow restless and mutinous. Calder kills one of his own associates when the revolt becomes too heated. The group’s morale continues to crumble as Doc Harrison, played by Doc Harrison in the drama, is gravely wounded, and Hog Warren’s final revelation inflames tensions further: Melissa is now Calder’s woman in Calder’s eyes.

On another grim ambush, Ruger sees that Melissa does not try to flee with Calder; instead, she rides off with him on Calder’s horse. Matthew Gunn, Matthew Gunn, Ruger’s ally, pleads with him to show mercy and let Melissa go, but Ruger remains unyielding.

With the last of Calder’s men thinning out, they are all taken down from a distance at a water hole. Calder and Melissa press onward into the desert, their strength waning as heat and thirst take their toll, their horse dead and hope fading. Ruger appears on foot, and in a final, brutal act, he fatally shoots Calder. As Calder lies dying, Ruger turns and shoots Melissa as well, leaving himself alone with the bodies.

The film closes as the credits roll over a sepia-toned photograph of three bodies in the sand, a stark reminder of the ruthless dynamics at the heart of this twisted pursuit.