The Bounty Killer (1965) User Reviews (14)

It Doesn't Take Much To Make One a Killer

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 12 October 2005]

Dan Duryea is a naive Easterner fresh off the stage and he gets in a fight with a town bully. Gunfighter Rod Cameron pulls him out of the scrape by killing the bully. Duryea then takes up with Audrey Dalton, the bully's mistress.

Duryea and Fuzzy Knight take a job guarding a payroll and get the best of some outlaws who try to rob them. There's a bounty on the leader and Duryea decides this is a good way to make some easy money.

He meets his match with Buster Crabbe though who kills Fuzzy Knight and shoots Duryea, leaving him for dead. Of course he recovers and sets about wreaking a terrible vengeance.

This vastly underrated B western has a wonderful cast of some old time actors getting together for a last hurrah. Kind of like The Over the Hill Gang, but this one is quite serious and quite good.

Duryea's transformation from a naive tenderfoot to a stone cold killer is truly astonishing. He uses a sawed off shotgun with deadly results and there's one scene where he's drunk and caressing his weapon like a phallic symbol across his lap. The meaning is rather obvious.

It's a great film for nostalgia lovers. Besides those already mentioned, people like Johnny Mack Brown, Eddie Quillan, Emory Parnell, Grady Sutton, Richard Arlen, Bob Steele, and many others. And the first movie cowboy of all Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson has a small role with a few lines in a saloon.

With this great B movie cast and a wonderful original script by Ruth Alexaner and Leo Gordon, The Bounty Killer, is an undiscovered gem for western fans. The ending will astonish you.

The Pharisees

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 18 June 2015]

The Bounty Killer is directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and written by Ruth Alexander and Leo Gordon. It stars Dan Duryea, Rod Cameron, Audrey Dalton, Richard Arlen, Buster Crabbe, Fuzzy Knight and Johnny Mack Brown. Music is by Ronald Stein and cinematography by Frederick E. West.

Willie Duggans (Duryea) arrives in the Wild West and quickly becomes exposed to its violence. Finding that big money can be made by bringing in bad guys, he takes up arms and plans to make enough money to set him up for a future with Carole Ridgeway (Dalton), a beautiful saloon singer. But the job isn't easy, physically, emotionally and mentally.

It's a film that asks some forgiveness from Western fans, you are asked to accept Duryea being too old for the role, some iffy production issues, coincidences and some giant leaps of faith. Yet if you can do that and just roll with its high energy willingness to keep the Western traditional in the mid 60s? Then this is better than a time waster.

Ultimately it's a message movie about the cycle of violence and how said violence can corrupt the most amiable of minds. The screenplay deftly brings in to the equation the roles of normal outsiders who don't mind violence as long as it is for their own ends, something which brings the best sequence in the film to the fore and lets Duryea once again show his class. Backing the superb Duryea is a roll call of Western movie veterans, all of which - with the leading man - make for a reassuring presence at our Oater dinner table. Neatly photographed out of the Corriganville and Glenmoor ranches in California, this may be a "B Western" trying to keep the traditional Western afloat in the mid 60s, but it's honourable in intent and entertains the Western faithful royally. 7/10

A film to see some oldies!

[mrbarryandmollyjsmith · 7/10 · 10 November 2016]

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.

One more cult movie for me...

[searchanddestroy-1 · 26 January 2014]

That's the third time I Watch this little gem since thirty years now. What a shame. The story reminds me ONE FOOT IN HELL, starring Alan Ladd as an ordinary farmer who becomes a ruthless cold blooded killer because the people of a little town let his wife die. Or also Joel McCrea in FORT MASSACRE, a cavalry soldier seeking a bloodthirsty revenge after the slaughter of his family by Indians. In this movie I am talking about, directed by the serial vet director Spencer Gordon Bennett, whose it is the last movie - am not Deadly sure - Dan Duryea is terrific as the tenderfoot against violence who becomes a cold blooded killer, a Bounty hunter. Terrific. OK, this feature is cheap at the most, and only old timers play in it. The Relationship between Duryea and the Rod Cameron's character is very interesting too. Cameron looks like the man who protects Duryea at the beginning of the movie, Duryea who is fascinated by Cameron, and in the end, all changes !!!

Terrific. I LOVE THIS. That changes. But this kind of screenplays, not exactly the same, appeared more often in westerns than in crime flicks. Characters studies. Offbeat schemes. See for instance Budd Boetticher's movies, starring Randy Scott for most of them. That's what I purchase as a moviebuff, and also as a novel writer and reader.

It was also a delightful feeling to find in this film such old timers as Fuzzy Nght, Buster Crabbe, Johnny Mac Brown, and many more grade B movie stars from the thirties and forties. The final scene between Duryea's character and the Young man - his actual son in real life - is unforgettable too.

Interesting -- But The Star Is Too Old and the Budget Too Small

[alonzoiii-1 · 5/10 · 22 May 2008]

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.

"One minute he was alive, and then he was dead."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 18 October 2015]

I've seen hundreds of Westerns, and this might be one of the dumbest, well maybe that's not the right word, but certainly one of the most ill conceived Western stories I've ever come across. The premise of a green tenderfoot Easterner arriving out West and becoming a gunfighter isn't the problem, it's just that the story here didn't seem to be written with any conviction. Dan Duryea's character Willie Duggan is clueless when he first arrives at the Silver Lady Saloon, and proves it by ordering up a hot pitcher of coffee and another one of hot milk!

By this time in his career, Dan Duryea had plenty of movie and TV credits, so I can't believe he played his character this badly without being directed in such a manner. As viewers, we're never really given any reason for Willie's motivation to become a bounty hunter, other than the easy money he and partner Captain Luther (Fuzzy Knight) picked up for bringing in Big Jim Seldon (Red Morgan) almost by accident. So when Willie declares he's going to go full time and bring in wanted outlaws alive, I was just as incredulous as the sheriff. In any other picture there would have been screen time spent on showing Willie practicing with a gun and mastering his quick draw technique over a period of time, but here he became a gunman in no time at all.

If anything, the draw for me was catching a host of veteran movie cowboys riding into their career sunset with the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, Buster Crabbe, Bob Steele and Fuzzy Knight on hand. Crabbe seemed to have the lion's share of the screen time among them as outlaw Mike Clayman, and I had to do a double take when his gang arrived to rescue him from Willie and the Captain; his henchman Jeb (John Reach) actually pushed a horse out of the way with his hands! That's about when I gave up on the picture.

But I stuck around to the conclusion because that's the vow I made myself to review these movies. With bad writing, terrible dialog, and a main character who goes from milquetoast to vicious killer, I can only surmise that the film makers meant to make the picture this bad on purpose.

One Of The Worst -- Ever

[bristolm99 · 1/10 · 13 May 2015]

I gave this movie a look because of some of the cast members, then found myself watching it because I couldn't believe how hilariously bad it was.

With one of the most cliché-riddled scripts and some of the most horrific acting, the cast and crew created one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was so bad, in fact, I think if I were a self-respecting cast member I would have pooled my money with my fellow actors, bought up all of the prints and hauled them off into the desert for a decent burial.

Why anyone would distribute this flick; theater owner would exhibit it; a backwoods TV station/network would buy it, is beyond me. Unless you too are in need of a good laugh, don't waste your time on this turkey!

The versatile Mr. Dureya

[LordOfAll777 · 10/10 · 31 May 2008]

What absolute nonsense that a previous reviewer states that Mr. Dureya cannot carry off nice in this film. The guy was acting for over 30 years and was a brilliant, versatile actor. Sure , he could play villains to perfection and because of this was well known and cast in these parts. But during his 30 years of film acting he frequently was cast as a good guy and he played these roles well.The Bounty Killer does ask too much in his age, sure, the part was written for a younger guy but as Dureya is so exceptionally good as the naive easterner it still works well.It's a wonderful film, it's low budget but it's a fine well acted and well written western.

Fish out of water narrative with potential morphs into failed vengeance tale

[Turfseer · 4/10 · 25 April 2022]

Ostensibly the awkwardly titled The Bounty Killer appears initially designed as a fish out of water story. The often-cast noir villain Dan Duryea starts out playing against type as Willie Duggan, a milquetoast of a man who hails from the staid environs of Vermont. Willie shows up at a saloon in the wild west town of Silver Creek where he's promptly assaulted by the town bully who in turn is killed by outlaw Johnny Liam (Rod Cameron).

Willie is horrified by the violence, but his spirits are buttressed by the saloon hostess, Carole Ridgeway (Audrey Dalton), who implies that she was a kept woman (by the man who had bullied Willie and then was killed) and had fallen so far from grace that she agreed to work as a prostitute.

The fish out of water angle becomes apparent when Willie takes a job delivering miners' payroll for a transport company. Desperate for workers, Willie's boss agrees to give him a chance despite his appearance as a complete greenhorn.

Willie's sidekick is Captain Luther (Fuzzy Knight), a former seafarer who dreams of building a new wind propelled wagon that will take him on exciting adventures which he can now only dream of.

This is where the initial premise goes awry. Somehow the completely inexperienced and pacifist Willie inexplicably survives a payroll robbery in which he's ambushed by (if I recall correctly) three men. Now how does the bumbling Willie dispatch these men so easily? If this was a comedy, I could buy it but here there's no rational reason why Willie so successfully morphs into a crack gunslinger.

Based on Willie's success dispatching bad guys, he decides to earn a living as a bounty hunter. His first reward of $500 is for the man he killed during the payroll robbery. So, he gives most of the cash to Carole and instructs her to return to her father's home in Arizona Territory where she presumably can recover from working as a woman of ill repute.

I was expecting The Bounty Killer to show Willie's transformation from an ineffectual pacifist to a man who is able to retain his ethical character but at the same time handle those immoral people who embrace violence as a way of life. But as it turns out Willie goes in the opposite direction becoming the type of vengeful, violent man whom he initially abhors.

This occurs when Captain Luther is brutally slain by the bandit he's hunting, Mike Clayman (Buster Crabbe). Willie is almost killed by Clayman but ends up at the Ridgeway farm where quite coincidentally Carole nurses him back to health.

The rest of the story is an unpleasant tale in which Willie-embittered by Luther's death-goes on a shooting spree attempting to rid his community of all the criminals with a price on their head. Willie becomes an alcoholic and ends up wanted by the law himself after accidentally shooting a bartender in a confrontation with the town sheriff.

The final irony is that Willie is shot to death by a young man who recently takes up bounty hunting as a profession. Leave it to lovestruck Carole to run after the doomed Willie at film's end.

The Bounty Killer could have been a much more enjoyable story had it not taken such a dark, moralistic turn. Duryea, one of best character actors of his day, is unfortunately saddled here with a role that's for the most part decidedly unlikable. There are much better westerns out there for the inveterate filmgoer to enjoy.

The Bounty Killer

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 9 May 2023]

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.

Horrific horse stunt

[mommaheartsya-48022 · 3/10 · 28 August 2022]

This started out being a rather charming western but quickly devolved into waaaay to much killing for my taste. But the worst death for me was not of a person, but of a horse.

Toward the last third of the movie, a character shoots a horse and rider running downhill. The horse tumbles head over heels repeatedly and the scene changes without the animal getting back up. There is no way this horse wasn't seriously injured or killed. As a horse owner, it's hard for me to believe anyone would do this to any animal in the name of 'entertainment'. It ruined the movie for me - very sad to think of how lax hollywood was about the humane treatment of animals. I hope it's truly better in present times.

Dureya the magnificent

[zebulonguy · 10/10 · 2 May 2007]

This amazing and wonderfully evocative film is one of the last films for the fine character actor Dan Dureya. This film provides him with a star role and it is a tour DE force performance. A wonderful cast of b western actors give magnificent support and Audrey Dalton shines as the love interest. Fuzzy Knight gives his best ever screen performance in a poignant role. Buster Crabbe makes a fine villain and Richard Arlen also effective.About the youngest guy is Peter Dureya - this is Dan's son and his role has a chilling significance for the film, you will have to watch it to see why. This western was penned by actor Leo Gordon and it's a strong study of character. Dureya plays an innocent tenderfoot arriving in the west from the civilised East. As he encounters the different characters of the film he absorbs them and totally changes in attitude. At first he is a nice, gentle guy but after witnessing a killing by bad guy Rod Cameron ( who in fact saves his life by doing so ) he sets out to earn money- eventually he becomes a bounty killer and then out for revenge he chases a whole gang . determined to eliminate them all. The ending is memorable and a fitting end to a wonderful film. Long neglected, try and search this one out , it will reward you with a viewing treat. One of the finest westerns ever and all shot on a shoe string. 10 out of 10 without any low points at all.

a minor gem -- but a gem nonetheless

[grizzledgeezer · 8/10 · 17 July 2016]

I suspect the bad reviews were written by people who know little about film making -- or human psychology. They wouldn't recognize a well-structured, well-written script if it sat in their faces.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. What ought to have been one of the all-time-great Westerns is significantly weakened by Spencer Gordon Bennet's slack direction that misses the story's quirky, off-kilter qualities. That it survives is due largely to the solid -- sometimes witty -- script, and decent-or-better performances.

The story has its share of twists, including a surprising-but-logical ending I won't reveal.

Another surprise is Duryea's reaction to Knight's murder -- he lays his head on Knight's chest and cries. (In an odd coincidence, the dying Richard Arlen was kissed by Buddy Rogers in "Wings".)

Dan Duryea's son plays an important role. That his voice is almost identical to his father's might have been the reason Peter Duryea was cast. And we also get to see a cameo from "Broncho Billy" Anderson, the first motion-picture cowboy star. *

It's dangerous to warmly praise a virtually unknown B film, as viewers often expect things the film doesn't deliver. But I don't think you're going to be disappointed. And you can see it for free on YouTube.

* Broncho Billy's sister, Leona, is remembered for her on-pitch-but-croaky voice. "Music to Suffer By" is available on CD. Get it.

I'm off to order this movie. I hope it is on DVD by now.

[gramawphyl · 10/10 · 16 October 2011]

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.