The Bounty Killer

I grew up watching movie matinée at 4:00 after school. Immediately after, my brother and I went outside to recreate what we had seen. We were awesome. Most movies these days don't catch my attention, but when I saw the cast of this one, I was taken back to another time.

Bounty Hunter was more than I could have asked.....not quite as predictable as most, and with some lessons to be learned. Oh, my gosh, Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele! Never understood what a sawed off double barreled shot gun loaded with cannon sized shells could do. Yikes, 3 in one shot! Well enough. I liked it sufficiently to research it. When I found out who his final killer was in real life, it rocked me for a moment. The person who said the actor was too old.....awwww gimmee a break.

Dan Duryea -- innocent(!?) and decent rube from Vermont, goes west and decides to become a bounty hunter. Embittered by circumstances, he becomes the mean, Dan Duryea-esquire sneering nasty man known as the BOUNTY KILLER.

This episodic movie, chock full of old western stars, is a real frustration, because the elements to an Anthony Mann style western are there -- an intriguing premise, great acting by Duryea in the second half of the movie, and malicious murder of a cheerful sidekick. But...

Well, first and foremost, the role is written for someone who is no older than 30 and who can play somewhat clueless innocence. Duryea looks every bit of 55, which makes his pursuit of the young, pretty heroine a touch creepy. Also, for the first half of the movie, Duryea's attempt to portray youthful innocence is simply awful. Oddly enough -- for someone who, by all accounts, was a nice guy who only married once -- Duryea cannot carry off nice and he really cannot carry off clueless. It is a relief when the script, about 30 minutes in, finally allows him to be sly and tricky. (The performance gets much better when circumstances turn Duryea bitter -- and he gets to show us a darn good depiction of a good man gone drunk and evil.)

Secondly, this movie was made on the cheap, and it shows badly. All the outdoor dramatic scenes take place on the same cheesy "outdoor" set, with a photograph of the desert mountains serving as a backdrop to the plastic trees.

Third, the plot has some big old holes and lines that no actor could make sound right. Also, the ending, alas, is really, really, really predictable.

All in all, this movie is worth seeing, but it probably won't seem that way until you've gotten through 30 minutes of the movie. Fans of the genre should stick it out.

This could have been quite a decent western adventure were it nor for the surprisingly weak effort from Dan Duryea. He ("Duggan") arrives out west where he is shocked by the lawlessness and violence he encounters. Determined to make a decent living for himself and his gal "Carole" (Audrey Dalton) he takes up as a bounty hunter, but has he the strength of character not to become subsumed by greed and violence himself? To be blunt, Duryea is just not at his best here, and at nearly 60 years of age is not remotely convincing as the naive man he is supposed to be; unless he has been in kindergarten for an awfully long time. The story is decent, the film keeps moving along well enough, and the supporting efforts from Randolph Scott lookalike Rod Cameron and Buster Crabbe keep it off the rocks, but unfortunately too much of the plot and the storyline depend on the implausible efforts of the leading man.

Having arrived fresh in town from the East, Willie Duggan (Dan Duryea) soon gets a lesson in the ways of the Wild West when he gets into a fight for chatting to another man's woman, Carole (Audrey Dalton). Fortunately for the naive Willie, gun fighter Johnny Liam (Rod Cameron) comes to his rescue and tells Willie he needs to wise up and to do it quickly. In need of some money Willie takes a job guarding a payroll and when he has a run in with some outlaws he learns of the bounty on the leader's head and decides bringing outlaws in would be a good way to make money. Things don't go to plan when he has a run in with Mike Clayman (Buster Crabbe) who kills his partner and leaves Willie for dead but after recovering from his injuries Willie is hell bent on getting revenge.

The Bounty Killer, which features a fine cast of mature actors, has an interesting idea about how a naive guy can turn into a monster, has a grand performance by Dan Duryea as tenderfoot turned bounty hunter, though the tenderfoot part was a bit forced, has some good action, but it's a bit too slow paced and not too exciting. Ok western, but not great.

I have just seen this old western on spike TV (UK) today 10/11/16, it was fun to pick out the older stars who at one time or another were top billing in their day.

I spotted the Sheriff was Johnny Mack Brown, Richard Arlen, Buster Crab, Bob Steel who was a B movie star in his early days I did not spot that the love interest was Audrey Dalton, until the credits rolled, all in all a good film if a touch one paced. Dan Duryea was good value as usual, his best roles for me were when he opposite Audie Murphy, they did a few films together and seemed to hit it off. I try to keep up with the movie channels here, in the hope that some of these old westerns are shown, we have nothing to match these old films today, and quite frankly there are not the suitable actors around who could do these parts.