The Shooting DVD

Monte Hellman filmed The Shooting in 1966. The movie would seal his reputation as a director and continue to build a cult following over the subsequent years. Often called an existential or anti-western, its bleak, unyielding setting of the Utah desert is perfect for characters on a journey that seems to lead only to self-destruction.

When former bounty hunter turned miner Willet Gashade (Warren Oates) returns to his small camp, he finds his partner dead, his brother Coin gone, and his third partner, Coley (Will Hutchins) holed-up in a nearby cave.

As Willet tries to coax Coin out, they are approached by a woman (Millie Perkins). She is willing to pay good money for a guide across the desert. However, Willet and Coin will soon realise, they are being paid as trackers as well as trailfinders - and will discover they are not the only ones in the woman's pay: Billy Shears (Jack Nicholson), a ruthless and brilliant gunman, is on the journey too.

Under the baking sun of the desert, the ill-matched band continue on the trail - hunting someone, running from something and heading nowhere - until the explosive, cataclysmic finale.

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