The Return of Hunter (1995) (TV)

Director:

Bradford May

Writer (WGA):

Bill Nuss (written by)

Release Date:

6 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Rick Hunter is back. Now a lieutenant, he is considering marrying his girlfriend. But before he could...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel

Cast

Fred Dryer	...	Lt. Rick Hunter
Barry Bostwick	...	Matt Sherry
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Sally Vogel
John C. McGinley	...	Det. Sgt. Harry McBride
Beth Toussaint	...	Vicki Morgan Sherry
Denis Arndt	...	D.A. Frank Battaglia
Miguel Ferrer	...	Jack Valko
Charles Hallahan	...	Capt. Charlie Devane
Phillip Van Dyke	...	Tommy Sherry
Wendie Malick	...	Pat Lafferty
Wendie Jo Sperber	...	Lucille
Barry Lynch	...	Michael, Matt's Attorney
Brian Keith	...	Pete Morgan
Ruben Santiago-Hudson	...	Det. Stan Lewis
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Lou Patrone

Also Known As:

The Return of Hunter: Everyone Walks in L.A. (UK)

Runtime:

Sweden:85 min | USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Fred Dryer Productions

Movie Connections:

Follows "Hunter" (1984)

Semi-entertaining film with a good supporting cast but iffy subtexts

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Hunter has been made Lieutenant in the LAPD and is enjoying a less stressful life in management. He is engaged to Vicky Sherry, ex-wife of ex-NBA star Matt Sherry. On hearing news of their engagement Matt pays a visit to Vicky and a fight ensues. Vicky calls Hunter to tell him that her ex is bothering her again, but when he gets there she has been murdered. With Matt Sherry the main suspect the media start a feeding frenzy around him prompting the real killer to come forward and start a cat and mouse game with Hunter in order to get the media coverage for himself.

As the title suggests this is the return of the cop Hunter who had a hit series many years ago. The story is a little confused even by his standards. The killer, Jack, is connected to other crimes and appears to have hit Hunter's fiancé as part of a series - however how Hunter works this out is unclear. The rest of it is pretty straight forward with no mystery of sense of excitement. It tries to spice things up by trying to be an attack on media sensationalism of criminals and also an attack on the liberal society in LA that lets criminals go for all sorts of reasons but goes to town on any cops that even slightly mess up (hence Everyone Walks in LA).

This is where it falls down a bit. Hunter's politics almost seems to be defending the cops who beat up Rodney King and the films points about the media are hardly new or clever. The media stuff is the same sort of material that 15 minutes tried to do and, even though this does it better, it's still not very good.

The cast are much better than the film deserves. Fred Dyer looks old now and feels a little like William Shatner in TJ Hooker - ie aging right wing cop given a stage to preach from. Barry Bostwick isn't very good as Matt Sherry - he just isn't convincing in a straight role. He's good in tongue-in-cheek roles such as he was in Spin City and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, however here he just feels trapped. Another good actor with not much to do is John C McGinley - it's hard to watch him in things like this after seeing him in so many big movies. And of course Miguel Ferrer - if you know who he is then you'll immediately know what role he plays - that's right, the killer (I haven't spoilt it, you know it from a third into the movie). He's good but only because his character's obsession with the media is interesting.

Overall it's an OK film with one or two things of interest. However the subtexts don't work very well and the thriller plot is pretty standard.