L.A. Bounty

A L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped by psycho Cavanaugh (Wings Hauser) and held for a $500,000 ransom. On the case is Ruger (Sybil Danning), a tough ex-cop turned bounty hunter who has a past with, of course, Cavanaugh. This was one of Danning's last vehicles before retiring in the late 80s and it is quite a change of pace for her. The story is credited to Danning ("Hey, let's make a movie where I am a bad ass.") and it is unlike any female action flick I can think of, mostly because her character is so tough and there is no focus on her sexuality. Ruger is the strong, silent type and only has maybe 7 lines in the entire film (IMDb trivia here says Danning only speaks 31 words throughout the picture). Director Worth Keeter was a product of Earl Owensby's North Carolina studio and handles all of the action well. The real highlight is, naturally, Wings Hauser in another trademark unhinged performance. Wings was doing lots of low budget cop hero roles around this time, so it is cool to see him slide back into the sleazy VICE SQUAD/Ramrod style. Quick supporting players include Robert Quarry, Branscombe Richmond, Bob Minor and Blackie Dammett.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

Sybil Danning executes something of a self-parody in the lame action vehicle "L. A. Bounty", a minor title for video usage.

Also co-producing and providing the weak storyline, Danning portrays a macha bounty hunter patterned after Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name, including his trademark mannerisms and cheroots. There the resemblance ends.

She's after nemesis Wings Hauser, a wigged-out artist and drug kingpin with a price on his head. Hauser has mayoral candidate Robert Hanley kidnapped and Danning is one step ahead of the police in trying to free him and put away Hauser for good.

Director Worth Keeter includes a lot of filler in this uninvolving opus. Hauser is allowed to ham it up preposterously while Danning, unflatteringly photographed, merely looks sullen.

Best technical credit is the often rousing musical score by Howard Leese and Sterling, which fails to disguise how listless the action scenes are.

In the 1980s Sybil Danning gained a small cult following playing tough women, whether wearing sandals and carrying a sword, in uniform with a gun, or flying spaceships in some sci-fi future. Here she stars as Ruger, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, out to avenge her partner, killed by crime-lord Cavanaugh (Wings Hauser). Heard the story before? Yes, and you've seen this film before too, at least a dozen times. There are no surprises here and no attempt at anything original. That's the downside.

On the other hand, it's pretty well made. The plot is slight but hangs together, sets, dialog and direction are OK, and some of the acting is surprisingly good. Hauser has made a lot of films and it's easy to see why. As a demented Chris Walken style bad guy, he's both nasty and charismatic. The various cops and heavies and the main female victim do fine in support, and then there's Danning. She wrote and produced this film, and rarely can a star have created a role for her/himself with so little dialog. Even when spoken to, she simply doesn't reply. She broods silently, stalks about with a big gun in her hand, and, when she fires it, rarely misses. Not the world's greatest actor, Danning knows her strengths and brings this off better than most tough-guy actors could. But if this character does anything else at all (eat maybe? sleep? make love?) we never find out about it.

Female action heroes are common enough nowadays (though not so much back in the 80s) but in movies like Kill Bill and The Long Kiss Goodnight, they're always given some point of vulnerability. Here there is none. Ruger is a hard and competent winner, which is great – it's just a shame she was given no other life or personality at all.

There's no particular reason to go looking for this film, but if you like tough women or mindless action entertainment, you should enjoy it. It's fun and much better than the low rating suggests.

Here we have a fun little film which is easy to like, in which Sybil Danning has not only the starring role, but also is credited with story and co-producer.

When mayoral candidate Mike Rhodes (Robert Hanley) is kidnapped by drug runner Cavanaugh (Hauser) and his team of goons, this raises the ire of one of the toughest dudes around...ex-cop and now bounty hunter Ruger (Danning)! It seems the psychopathic Cavanaugh murdered her partner when she was on the beat. Cavanaugh slipped away and she has been on his trail. Now it's time to get revenge. But Cavanaugh wants to get to her first or she'll blow the whole mayoral kidnap plan, especially since Ruger has teamed up with Rhodes' wife Kelly (Lenore Kasdorf). So now it's an all-out war between Cavanaugh and his goons and Ruger. Is she woman enough to take on all the evildoers? And what is the final twist in the tale? In this movie, Danning and Wings are great opposites. Wings Hauser hams it up to the max (in a good way) and chews the scenery to pieces as the flamboyant artist Cavanaugh. It's truly "Wings gone wild" as he laughs, screams, skips (!) and spouts philosophy while wearing his clip-on earring. His lair is a supposed import/export business called "Gothic Imports". In the climax we see it has to be one of the largest warehouses ever.

Danning is quiet and curt as the no-nonsense bounty tracker. She says very little and when other characters say things to her, all we see is a silent, closed-mouth reaction shot. It's all in the name of fun. Just check out her many great entrances in the film. She usually appears silhouetted in a doorway surrounded by smoke as a mighty guitar riff blares on the soundtrack. She probably had a blast as the beer-swilling, leather jacket wearing, trailer-dwelling, shotgun toting "macho" hero. She basically blows giant holes in all the goons with a massive gun. She is funny and engaging as Ruger.

The movie really delivers the goods to the fans and moves along at a brisk pace. There is a standout scene which is an homage to Westerns, watch out for it. Directed by familiar name (at least to this site) Worth Keeter, don't hesitate to check out L.A. Bounty if you can.

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This is the last film Sybil Danning made before "retiring" from the screen for about 18 years (and making a comeback now, in 2007). Starring, writing the story and co-producing, Sybil fashioned herself here as a female Charles Bronson - "the strong, silent type", as even another character calls her. The problem is that her character is such a blank that she isn't interesting - maybe a few one-liners and / or arrogant smiles would have helped. The other problem is that she relies almost exclusively on her guns and doesn't get to throw even a single punch. She does handle her weaponry in a very professional, serious-minded manner, but I, for one, was disappointed that she didn't have even one tiny fight. Wings Hauser tries very hard to make his villain eccentric, but his performance is only slightly less uninspired than the rest of the movie. The production is cheap and low-grade (though the stuntmen do a good job), and the big "twist" of the plot is ludicrous. (*1/2)