The Scalphunters is a 1968 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack, with the score written by Elmer Bernstein. Davis was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.
Bass is slightly bemused by his new companion, who is a welleducated and refined house slave, unused to the ways of the West. Bass orders him to help him recover the furs from the Kiowa. Lee only agrees to help if Bass agrees to take him to Mexico where slavery is outlawed. Bass is not amused, but the two strike up a friendly relationship, with Bass teaching Lee how to catch food in the West.As Lee and Bass come upon the Kiowa, they watch them being ambushed by a group of scalphunters, white Americans and Mexicans who were offered a bounty by the government for each Native scalp they brought in. These scalphunters, led by Jim Howie Telly Savalas, kill the Kiowa and also steal the furs which Bass had hoped to recover. He and Lee are forced to track the party, hoping to take back the furs. ........
Source: Wikipedia