the audience applauded

Simply Perfect

Fresh and Exciting

As Good As It Gets

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.