The Hunt (1966)

Three men go hunting rabbits during a hot day. Heat and talking about events happened in the past make them angry, until they go totally crazy.

Director:

Carlos Saura

Writers:

Angelino Fons, Carlos Saura

Stars:

Ismael Merlo, Alfredo Mayo, José María Prada

6 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ismael Merlo	...	José
Alfredo Mayo	...	Paco
José María Prada	...	Luis (as Jose Maria Prada)
Emilio Gutiérrez Caba	...	Enrique (as Emilio G. Caba)
Fernando Sánchez Polack	...	Juan (as Fernando Sanchez Polack)
Violeta García	...	Carmen (as Violeta Garcia)
María Sánchez Aroca	...	La Madre de Juan (as Maria Sanchez Aroca)

Storyline

Three men go hunting rabbits during a hot day. Heat and talking about events happened in the past make them angry, until they go totally crazy.

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Plot Keywords:

hunting | heat | rabbit | hunt | killed by friend | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

23 September 1970 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

The Hunt

Filming Locations:

Aranjuez, Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Footprints of a Spirit (1998)

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Soundtracks

Española, abanícame
Written by Jorge Morell (as Morell) and Ricardo Ceratto (as Ceratto)
Performed by Los Cuatro de la Torre

User Reviews

Carlos Saura's daring tale of how morality can be depleted all in a jiffy

Carlos Saura's third feature LA CAZA won him a BEST DIRECTOR Silver Berlin Bear that year at the age of 34 (a triumph he would duplicate in 1968 with his next project PEPPERMINT FRAPPE and a final Golden Berlin Bear winning in 1981 for FAST, FAST), which is quite a prescient gesture then, Saura has a comparatively prolific career, even today, this reverend octogenarian is still making his next project. LA CAZA is only my second Saura's entry, after the soul-pulverizing domestic tale RAISE RAVENS (1976, 9/10), this time he was 10 years younger, vigorously sets up a male- predominant set-to among three old chaps in a stark hunting party, an eleventh-hour outburst bookends a weathered generation's disaffection and angst, it is an unpolished bravura to pull the trigger in such a reckless manner, but no one would deny the sleight of hand of cinematography (the late DP Luis Cuadrado) and how Saura patiently paves the way for its drama layers and how he would detonate the time-bomb with eloquent narrative arc.

The film devices a plain story about 3 old friends (a fourth partaker is one friend's young brother-in-law) reunite for a rabbit-hunting expedition in the rural hillside, soon their friendship would be tested under the entanglement of money problem, peer contempt and chronic discontent, starts with a premonition of one of them cannot find a first aid kit for his wounded finger.

Before the open-space shooting, they converse from hunting rabbits to man-hunting, from natural law's priority to piranhas' metaphor for hoi polloi, one who is familiar with that particular period of Spanish history may find access to many allusions here. The actual shooting is all fly- on-the-wall, with a dozen of poor critters being mercilessly put under the camera then waits for a headshot (in the latter half, including a devoted ferret), animal activists will go berserk (not to mention skinning the carcass), the bestiality simmering underneath all the veneer and guises is appalling and guns does facilitate the trigger-happy group.

Voice-over and close-ups are two frequent instruments punctiliously deployed here, the alternatively intensive and exotic score is a obliging company with the film's well-controlled rhythm, the cast is fittingly in working order, and Gutierrez Caba's fresh handsomeness is the vestigial innocence left among adulthood, at least we can still have faith until it gets tainted by the consumption of the malignancy, envy, opportunism and discrimination, I hope Saura agrees with me this time.