THE HUNTER

Ralph "Papa" Thorson arrives in a small town in Illinois where, despite being a terrible driver, he captures bail fugitive Tommy Price. Thorson drives to Houston to bring in a dangerous hooligan named Billie Joe, whose kinfolk include Sheriff Strong, a corrupt redneck lawman who warns Thorson not to get involved. Papa ignores him and ends up in a destructive fight with the enormous fugitive, but succeeds in apprehending him.

Thorson drives Tommy Price and Billie Joe back to Los Angeles, where he collects his reward. However, Thorson vouches for Price. Price soon begins fixing things at Thorson's house and becomes one of the many acquaintances who hang out there.

At home, Thorson is an old-fashioned guy who has a love of antique toys and classical music. His schoolteacher girlfriend Dotty is pregnant and would like "Papa" to be there for her when the baby is born, but his job continually keeps him on the road.

Thorson works for elderly bail bondsman Ritchie Blumenthal, who sends him on dangerous assignments to chase down fugitives in all parts of the U.S. Thorson is stalked by psychotic killer Rocco Mason, who was one of Thorson's previous retrievals.

Thorson is sent to rural Nebraska to bring back two fugitives, the Branch brothers. He flies to Nebraska and rents a car. At the Branch farmhouse, the brothers steal his rental car and try to kill him with dynamite. Thorson commandeers a combine harvester and chases them through a cornfield. A stick of dynamite they dropped earlier blows up the car. They survive, albeit badly injured. Thorson returns to the local airport with the destroyed car on a trailer, and puts the Branch brothers on a plane to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Rocco Mason terrorizes Dotty at her workplace. Thorson tries to protect her, but she instead tries to make him give up his bounty hunter way of life and to take her to a Lamaze class. When Thorson grows tired of the demands, he tells Dotty he wishes she would've had an abortion. She threatens to leave him.

Thorson's police friend, Captain Spota, dies by suicide after he is investigated for dealing illegal drugs from the department's evidence rooms. Thorson starts drinking more heavily.

Blumenthal sends Thorson to a Chicago slum to pick up fugitive Anthony Bernardo, a dangerous ex-con. Thorson and Bernardo exchange gunfire at an apartment building. Thorson chases Bernardo on foot through the streets to an elevated train, where Thorson is forced to climb on the roof of the moving train to avoid being shot. The chase climaxes at the Marina City complex, where they steal vehicles and Thorson chases Bernardo to the upper levels of a parking garage. Thorson corners him at a dead end. Bernardo stomps the gas pedal, misses a turn and accidentally plunges off the parking deck to his death in the Chicago River.

Returning to Los Angeles, Thorson learns from a badly beaten Price that Dotty has been kidnapped by Rocco Mason, who is holding her at the high school where she teaches. Thorson rushes there but Mason disarms him, kills a security guard with an assault rifle, and attempts to kill Thorson. Thorson lures Mason into a chemistry classroom that he has flooded with flammable gas. Mason opens fire, igniting the gas and blowing up the room and himself.

Dotty goes into labor and Thorson rushes her to the hospital. He alerts an emergency nurse and collapses in the lobby. When he comes to and walks back outside, Dotty has already given birth. He holds their new baby, who looks like Thorson.