The Hunter's Moon (film)

The Hunter's Moon was the only film Richard Weinman directed, though he had previously worked on another rural-themed film, 1988's Pumpkinhead.[1] Weinman said he wanted to explore the subjects of "freedom and people controlling other people's lives."[2]

The film was independently distributed; co-writer and co-executive producer Bill Kemper came up with the idea for the movie and provided most of the funding. Although set in the rural Appalachians, the film was shot in southern California. It had a low budget of under $10 million;[2] the filmmakers were able to cast Reynolds, who had just appeared in Boogie Nights, because he had not yet received the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination that massively boosted his salary. Suki Mendencevin was the film's cinematographer, and soprano Custer LaRue and folk group The Baltimore Consort recorded several traditional Appalachian ballads for the soundtrack.[1]

The Hunter's Moon premiered in April 1999 at 18 theaters in Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida. These were effectively test runs; the filmmakers hoped it would do well enough in the South for them to release it nationally, as other backwoods films like Poor White Trash and Girl from Tobacco Row had done before it.[2] The movie's reception, however, was tepid, and so the hoped-for national release never happened.[3]

In July 1999, The Hunter's Moon was released to video.[4] Also in 1999, the film was shown at the Long Island International Film Expo in Malverne, New York.[5]

The actors who play the romantic leads, Keith Carradine and Hayley DuMond, met on set. Carradine became smitten with DuMond, several decades his junior, and they started dating. The couple would later marry in 2006.[6]

In the Depression-era, Turner is a World War I vet who is haunted not only by memories of the war, but by the civil and economic unrest of the time. He stumbles upon a beautiful backwoods mountainside named Samuels Mountain while wandering in the Appalachian Mountains. While camping, he meets Flo, the daughter of tyrannical landowner Clayton Samuels. Flo is initially infuriated at Turner, whom she accuses of spying on her while skinny dipping, but soon the two fall hopelessly in love.

Their burgeoning relationship is threatened by Samuels, who has become fiercely protective of Flo after his wife's death and killed a number of her previous suitors. There are also dark secrets buried in the Samuels family. Flo, who has taken on the role of matriarch, resents Clayton, whom she believes worked her mother to death. Samuels is bitter toward Flo because she is the illegitimate child of his wife and Judge Tully, a corrupt man whom Samuels runs moonshine for. Meanwhile, Samuels's mistress Borlene is also sleeping with his son, dimwitted Jackie Lee.

When Turner and Flo show up at Samuels's supply store, Samuels notices the attraction between the two and disapproves of their courtship. As Turner tries to convince Flo to run away with him, Samuels determines to end their relationship by any means necessary. He sets traps around the mountain, and he and Jackie Lee hunt Turner down. Turner is forced to draw upon his war experience to elude them.

The film received mixed reviews in regional markets. The Commercial Appeal praised the scenery and the lead actors.[7] The Florida Times-Union gave the movie 1 1/2 out of 4 stars, calling it "thinly plotted."[8] The Tennessean also noted some plot holes along with places where the low budget was obvious, but praised the story and Reynolds's performance.[9]

Upon the film's video release, Entertainment Weekly gave it an F rating, and stated that the movie generated, "unintentional laughs".[4] However, the film received the Festival Prize when it was shown in Malverne. Writer Wayne Byrne, writing 20 years later, called it "some of Reynolds' very best late-career work."[1]

• The Hunter's Moon at IMDb