The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party is a 1971 American-British western film directed by Don Medford for Levy-Gardner-Laven and starring Oliver Reed, Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Simon Oakland and Ronald Howard. The film was shot at studios in Madrid, and on location around Spain including the Tabernas Desert in Andalusia. The film's sets were designed by the art director Enrique Alarcón. Plot Relations are strained between sexually sadistic cattle baron Brandt Ruger (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Melissa (Candice Bergen) when he leaves for a two-week hunting trip with some of his wealthy friends. Mistaking her for a schoolteacher, outlaw Frank Calder (Oliver Reed) and his band of rustlers and thieves kidnap Melissa, not for ransom but because Calder wants to be taught how to read a book.