Tuesday's Overlooked TV Movies: Hunters Are For Killing

Like last week's THE BORGIA STICK, HUNTERS ARE FOR KILLING is an early made-for-TV crime movie that impressed me when I saw it as a kid. Burt Reynolds, before he was a movie star, plays an ex-con who returns to his hometown determined to prove that he didn't commit the murder for which he was convicted. Melvyn Douglas is his stepfather, who hates him and blames him for his own son's death. Although I didn't really know at the time what a Gold Medal novel was, what I recall of this movie tells me that it had a certain Gold Medal feeling to it, with Reynolds' character being surrounded by people he can't trust while trying to ferret out the truth.

In addition to Reynolds and Douglas, the cast includes the gorgeous Suzanne Pleshette and a vast array of character actors including Martin Balsam, Larry Storch, Don "Red" Barry, and A. Martinez. I don't think the movie ever had an official release on DVD or VHS, there are no clips from it on YouTube, and I couldn't even find a publicity picture from it on-line. But I remember quite well watching it at my aunt's house in Brownwood, Texas, and liking it. As I recall, even my dad, who wasn't a big fan of mystery movies, enjoyed it. I'd be curious to know if any of you reading this remember it.

UPDATE: As Todd Mason points out in the comments, this movie was released on VHS under the title HARD FRAME (a decent title for the storyline, but a little lacking compared to the original, I think). Copies both new and used are available on Amazon if any of you want to check it out and still have a machine that will play videotapes. (The image on the VHS box above is rather deceptive, since Burt was much younger, and as I remember, sans mustache, when this movie was made.)