"The Hunter" appeared in theaters in the summer of 1980, just a few months before Steve McQueen's premature passing. Some reviewers have savaged the movie as his worst, and many folks love to slam it. However, the worst thing I can identify is its ordinariness, that it does not measure up to the talents of its stars. For that reason, it seems like a sadly mediocre end to McQueen's career.<br /><br />McQueen had taken a long hiatus from movies in the 1970s (unless you count the bizarre "An Enemy of the People") but returned with two 1980 releases, "The Hunter" and the western film "Tom Horn". I never have really liked "Tom Horn" (too darn much blood and gore) but "The Hunter" is much better. It's a story of a modern bounty hunter (McQueen), his pregnant girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold), and McQueen's efforts to bring the bad guys in. There's lots of action (much of it cartoonish) and a subplot about Harrold's pregnancy and a frantic hospital scene at the end of the movie. The two stars give good if not great performances, but they're let down by a bland script, which looks like an expanded 1970s cop-show story. Sadly, McQueen complained about a persistent cough during filming, and was diagnosed with terminal cancer in late 1979, at the age of 49.<br /><br />It seems like yesterday that this film premiered in theaters, but surprisingly it's been 28 years. McQueen's return to films wasn't earth-shaking, however he showed flashes of what could have been a successful career revival. I think it's a glimpse of what might have been, rather than a look at a tired, faded star. In that respect, the movie is rather sad, because McQueen never made another movie.