The Tracker

Renegade Mormon psychopath (!) Scott Wilson and fellow prisoners, including John Quade and Don Swayze, bust out of prison and go on a bloody rampage. Famous retired tracker Kris Kristofferson is pressed back into service by lawman David Huddleston to help catch them and ends up bringing his eastern educated son. Upon hearing that Kristofferson is tracking them, Wilson ups the ante by kidnapping two young girls.

This is one grim, eighties style western that never lets up in terms of action and suspense. The teleplay by Kevin Jarre (who also wrote Tombstone) has a lot of psychological depth, with Kristofferson revealing to his son a different, more violent side and in turn teaching the young lawyer how to be a man.

It's good to see character actor David Huddleston in a non-comedic hero role. Scott Wilson is also good as the pitifully disturbed heavy, probably his best role since In Cold Blood. Kristofferson gives a better performance here than in Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid.

Director John Guillerman also scored big with faux spaghetti western El Condor, with Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef. He does a great job capturing the great natural beauty as well as the dark side of the old west.