Terreur à l'ouest

Born Hungarian André De Toth directed seven B series western between years 1951 and 1955 (B series films in Europe means that it were made with few money and in a short time). This Bounty Hunter was one of them. It is a solid, without ups and downs, and very estimable western. This modest film deserves all the respect, admiration and gratitude possibles. An even in our times, when toughness is missing in service of computers special effects. The film has got craft agility, is very well build and adequately played by specialist stony face Randolph Scott (Boetticher's lonesome rider). We meet efficacious Ernest Borgnine in a supporting role. Western lovers will enjoy this film.

Randolph Scott is in my Hall of Fame. He made one solid western after another. "The Bounty Hunter" is another good one. The first half of the movie is fine but the second half is great stuff. The last half hour is very exciting. "The Bounty Hunter" is a good looking movie with a nice supporting cast. This movie is another enjoyable entry is the solid resume of Randolph Scott. Honorable mention: Ernest Borgnine. (By the way, I can't believe this movie had an Intermission. It's only 89 minutes long.)

The film starts with a foreword: Forward During the early days when civilization was pushing its frontiers farther and farther West, there roamed a special breed of men...neither outlaws nor officers of the law, yet more feared than either. For reward money...they tracked down criminals, wanted Dead or Alive, and made themselves both judge and executioner in some lonely court of no appeal. They were called "Bounty Hunters". Once finished opening credits begins the noisy action : A bounty hunter called Jim Kipp (Randolph Scott) is sub-hired by Pinkerton, to track down three wanted killers that assaulted a train and to retrieve the robbed loot . The only clue he received is that one escaped bandit was shot in the leg. He tracks them to Twin Forks but has no clues to their identity. There he seeks out the local Dr. R.L. Spencer (Antrin) to ask for if he recalls attending a man with an injured leg long time ago . The doctor supposedly does not remind but his daughter Julie (Dolores Dorn) confirms this suspicion. There are several suspicious people , Sheriff Brand (Howard Petrie) , the Saloon girl (Mary Windsor) , the doctor Spencer , the manager hotel Bill (Ernest Borgnine) , Jud (Paul Picerni) , the post office manager (Dub Taylor) , Vance Edwards (MacDuff ) .... Who are the robbers ? Meanwhile , he attempts to stifle conflicts, but he encounter problems instead. When the law put up the money "The Bounty Hunter" put on his guns! The highter the reward the hotter the gun he uses to collect it ¡¡She gave "The Bounty Hunter" a different kind of reward.

Passable western with good cast in in which a year after a violent train robbery a bounty hunter arrives in a litttle town to investigate the identity of three robbers , then tensions surface as just his presence in the location acts as a catalyst . As our starring trails 3 unknown murderous train robbers to a town and finds a host of suspects , resulting to be a kind of whodunit , in which we have to find out the identity of the hidden robbers . It is a medium budget movie with thrills, rapid action, shootouts, as well as fine players, nice production design and pleasing results. It is still a run-of-the-mill entry in Western genre, in which Randolph Scott delivers his ordinary interpretation . Actually shot in Red Rock Canyon State Park , Iverson Ranch , Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California and Mojave Desert, with adequate interpretations and solid sets . The picture is well starred by Randolph Scott . He was a prolific actor in Western, his career is divided in films directed by Budd Boetticher in Seven men from now, The tall T, Decision at sundown, Buchanan rides alone, Comanche station, Westbound. Henry Hathaway as : Heritage of the desert, Wild horse, Sunset Pass, Man of the Forest. Ray Enright directed him in : The spoilers, Trail street, Alburquerque, Coroner creek, Return of the bad men. Andre De Toth directed him in Men in the saddle, Carson city, The stranger wore a gun, Riding shotgun, The bounty hunter. Finally, his main testament, Ride the high country along with Joel MacCrea directed by Sam Peckinpah . Support cast is pretty good with notorious secondaries as Ernest Borgnine , Dub Taylor , Paul Picerni , Howard Petrie , and the usual Femme Fatal Marie Windsor , among others

It contains a lousy cinematography Edwin B. DuPar , being extremely necessary a perfect remastering and filmed in 3D, but released only in standard 2D version. And thrilling and moving musical score by David Buttolph . The motion picture was professionally directed by Andre De Toth . He was known for his tough, hard-edged pictures, whether westerns or urban crime dramas, and showed no compunction about depicting violence in as realistic a manner as possible, an unusual and somewhat controversial attitude for the time. Probably his best known film is House of wax (1953), a Vincent Price horror film shot in 3-D. As De Toth only had one eye, that put him in the somewhat odd position of shooting a film in a process in which he would never be able to see the result. That didn't seem to matter, though; the film was a critical and financial success, and is generally considered to be the best 3-D film ever made. Andre De Toth was a classical director , Western usual (Indian fighter, Man in the saddle , Ramrod , Last of Comanches , The stranger wore a gun), but also made Peplum (Gold for the Caesar) and adventure (The Mongols , Morgan the pirate , Tanganyika) .The picture obtained limited success , but it results to be enough agreeable. Rating : 6/10 . It's relentless routine , but also a good stuff for young people and Western lovers who enjoy enormously with the extraordinary adventures starred by Randolph Scott .

The Pinkerton detective agency, unable to track down three violent train robbers after a year, turns to bounty hunter Randolph Scott. He's given very few clues to go on and has no idea what the men look like. Still, he manages to track them to a small town called Twin Forks. But the people there aren't particularly friendly towards strangers who show up asking questions.

The last of six westerns director André de Toth made with Randolph Scott. This was filmed in 3D but only released in standard format. This explains why there are some 'in your face' shots where you have someone sticking something at the camera. Scott does fine in a by-the-numbers role for him and his stuntman works overtime in some decent action scenes. Despite the formula plot, the movie does a nice job of keeping the identity of the train robbers a secret. One is especially surprising. Nice supporting cast includes Ernest Borgnine, Marie Windsor, Dolores Dorn, and Dub Taylor. It's a pretty good western. Nothing extraordinary but above average for the period.

The feared bounty hunter Jim Kipp (Randolph Scott) is hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency to track down and find three wanted killers that robbed a train one year ago and recover the stolen money. The only clue he received is that one outlaw was shot in the leg. Jim Kipp comes to Twin Forks and seeks out the local Dr. R.L. Spencer (Harry Antrim) to ask whether he recalls attending a man with wounded leg one year ago. The doctor apparently does not recall but his daughter Julie Spencer (Dolores Dorn) confirms Kipp's suspicion. Kipp decides to stay at the hotel to investigate the town and most of inhabitants are affected by his presence. Will he succeed to find the trio?

"The Bounty Hunter" is an average and entertaining western. Randolph Scott shines in the role of a tough, but fair bounty hunter, feared by outlaws and sheriffs. The identities of the killers are disclosed in the end and well resolved. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Feras Humanas" ("Human Beasts")