The Bounty Killer

Plot synopsis:
Two of the highest ranked bounty killers in the Thrice Burned Lands, Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and Mary Death (Christian Pitre) team up to exterminate a party full of yellow-tied corporate criminals. Drifter’s explosive killing style is in stark contrast to Mary’s graceful way of delivering death to white collar scum. Despite their difference in style, they exhibit level of comfort with one another that seems to indicate a long and dynamic history between these celebrity assassins. After the fight moves to a skyscraper’s rooftop, Drifter disposes of his intended target and saves Mary from falling to her death.
The bounty killers ride into the bustling town of San Dalloosa, Drifter on his chopper, Mary in her signature cherry-topped death machine. They arrive at Daft Willy’s Chop Shop and Bounty Supply, a converted jet fuselage from the Corporate Wars where bounty killers exchange the bodies of slain targets for cash. A crowd has gathered at the entrance to welcome the heroes. Drifter doesn’t attract the same amount of attention from the paparazzi as Mary Death—how could he? She’s stunningly beautiful—a chiseled, unrepentant killer in thigh high boots. She greets her fans and the press, telling them “I never pull out before the big kill.” While Mary basks in her fans’ adoration, Drifter meets an exuberant gun caddy for hire named Jack LeMans (Barak Hardley). Drifter is not in the mood to hear Jack’s very enthusiastic offer of service, so he leaves him at the gate and heads on into Willy’s.
Inside we meet the proprietor, Daft Willy (Kevin McNally). He’s a cantankerous English thug in a blood-soaked apron who will log your kills for the Council of Nine while delivering you a healthy, filth-laden dose of sass. Willy tells Drifter a new death warrant has been issued for their friend Snaggletooth Harry. Drifter’s distress over this revelation attracts the attention of Mary, who enters with a cart full of dead executives. She’s curious to know why he’d make such a big deal out of a small-time collar, telling him “He must be your snitch.” Just then, Jack springs out of Mary’s cart. Willy, Drifter and Mary all pull their guns. Jack pleads for one chance to prove he’s the world’s greatest gun caddy. Drifter decides to give him a shot, knowing he’ll probably be dead within a week anyway. After the bounty killers leave, Daft Willy receives a new death warrant on his Council-Comm printer. The look on his face tells us this isn’t your everyday warrant.
Jack and Drifter practice tossing guns back and forth from Drifter’s chopper to Jack’s scooter. They’re on their way to Harry’s Whisky Saloon in Drip Rock to find out why he’s a wanted man. Meanwhile, Mary works on her Mustang’s rear differential which was overstressed by the massive pile of bodies she towed on her trailer. She fixes the car, kicks the trailer away and vows to her car, “No more attachments, just like mama.” At that moment, a tiny car approaches. Out pops Greg Gunney (Jeff Meacham), a sleazy salesman in a sport coat/turtleneck combo. He offers Mary a chance to “join the team” and use her celebrity to endorse his company, Wasteland Resorts—a subsidiary of Second Sun Enterprises, the mysterious company of yellow-ties Mary encountered at the loft party. Mary sees through Greg’s scheme and executes him and his bodyguard with her signature go-go boot spur-kick-to-the-throat move. Upon searching his car she finds a disturbing death warrant—it’s for Francis Gorman, aka “Drifter.”
Back in Drip Rock, Drifter finds that Harry is dead, his body surrounded by copies of the Francis Gorman death warrant. It’s a trap. Mary arrives in Drip Rock and confronts Drifter about the poster. She’s furious that he lied to her. Drifter assures her there is some sort of mistake and he’s going to the Council building to work it all out. She won’t let him off that easy. “I’m going with you, and that’s not a request.” She fires her gun at Drifter which sends him flying out the second story window. Upon landing he’s attacked by several yellow-tied goons. He calls to Jack to grab the bikes. Though grossly outnumbered, the bounty killers eliminate their attackers while arguing about whether or not Mary gets to tag along to see the Council. Just as the last goon drops dead from his sniper post, Jack and Drifter haul ass out of town. Mary puts her hair up and struts to her Mustang.
Outside the town, Mary fires at Drifter and Jack. Jack tells Drifter she won’t be a problem because he modified the car’s boosters while they were in Harry’s Saloon. Mary kicks on her boosters, sending the vehicle into a violent donut spin before bursting into flames. Jack: “That’s not supposed to happen.” Drifter looks back to a soot-covered Mary to make sure she’s alive. She looks back to Drifter with deep anger in her eyes.
Back in Drip Rock, a slick Corvette stingray enters the town square, now littered with the bodies of several yellow ties. Behind the wheel is Van Sterling (Gary Busey), a high ranking executive at Second Sun. He questions one of the struggling henchmen and learns the bounty killers got away and are on their way to the Council. Van then answers a call on his briefcase video phone. He relays the information about the bounty killers to his boss, a severe business woman in yellow stilettos by the name of Catherine (Kristanna Loken). She encourages him to “finish the job” or she will have no choice but to terminate him. Van promises to track down the bounty killers and “keep the killing alive.”
Later that night, Drifter explains to Jack that he’s a wanted criminal and that he should take off. Jack vows to stay. Suddenly, out of the darkness, Drifter is approached by a skull-faced assassin who holds a knife to his throat. This is a Gypsy.
Drifter and Jack are tied to a pole in the middle of a rambunctious celebration at a Gypsy camp. Heavy drinking, fire dancing and other revelry surround the two prisoners. From the largest tent enters the Gypsy Queen, Mocha Sujata (Eve Jeffers). Mocha interrogates Drifter, wanting to know the location of Nuri, a Gypsy girl who escaped their camp many years ago. “She mentioned the name Drifter.” Mocha, not happy with Drifter’s refusal to give up any information, orders another Gypsy to burn him with her fire wands. Despite the extreme torture, Drifter keeps his mouth shut. Mocha calls off the interrogation for the night, leaving the prisoners alone. Drifter confesses to Jack that the Gypsies are looking for Mary. Jack doesn’t understand why Drifter would risk their lives for a woman who tried to kill them, but then realizes that Drifter must be in love with Mary. Drifter explains how he first met Mary many years ago when she lived her life as a Gypsy named Nuri. Nuri approached him while he was in the company of a prostitute Estelle (Mindy Robinson) and demanded he teach her how to be a bounty killer. While training her, they fell in love. But the relationship ended when Drifter suggested they get a place together and settle down.
At daybreak, the Gypsies are all passed out from a hard night of knocking back pots of roach liquor. Drifter and Jack have cut themselves free from the pole. They climb atop a Gypsy coach (an Airstream trailer pulled by three motorcycles) and make their escape from the camp. Upon hearing the engines’ roar, the Gypsies awake and chase after their prisoners. A Western-style stagecoach scene unfolds when Jack and Drifter try to eliminate their pursuers. A bazooka finishes them off and allows the guys to ride off into the desert.
Mary arrives at the Thirsty Beaver, the bounty killer training facility and tavern where she lived during her training with Drifter. Inside she finds the Beaver’s owner, Lucille (Beverly D’Angelo). Lucille helps Mary get cleaned up and back on the road with her old Gypsy bike. She makes sure Mary leaves with her chest-plate armor, telling her “Sometimes it pays for a girl to be practical.”
Jack and Drifter pull the Gypsy coach up to a small shack in the middle of what appears to be a junkyard. Outside the shack is a Chevy Nova painted up in Pabst Blue Ribbon race car livery. Drifter tells Jack they need the help of the car’s driver, a coyote named Jimbo (Abraham Benrubi), who will help them get across the Badlands and over to the Council building. Jimbo tells the guys there’s too much risk and that he’s not willing to do the job no matter what price they’re willing to pay. Drifter convinces Jimbo by offering him a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Jimbo’s favorite drink and a rarity in the post-apocalyptic world.
Mary is lost in the Badlands, a war-torn city engulfed by a violent nuclear storm. She sees a beacon that leads her to Azimuth’s map shop. Inside she meets the mapmaker and pleads with him to help her find her way out of the Badlands and over to the Council building. He refuses to help her until he looks up and realizes she’s the famous Mary Death. He then offers to help in exchange for an autograph.
Jimbo successfully makes his way through the Badlands in record time. To celebrate, he cracks open a can of Pabst. “Now I can die a happy man.” Just then Jimbo is shot in the arm by an unseen assailant. The car takes several more hits from a sniper in the hills while Drifter, Jack and Jimbo take cover. Drifter soon realizes the shooter is Mary. He convinces her to come down from the hill and talk it out. Mary points a gun at Drifter and tells him he’s a dead man. Jack has had enough. He loses it, exclaiming that he’s sick of all the guns and the Badlands and Gypsies trying to eat them. He tells Mary that Drifter was beaten to hell by the Gypsies but never gave her up because he loves her. He also points out that Mary could have easily shot Drifter, but she didn’t because she loves him. Mary drops her gun and agrees to let them use her map to get to the Council.
The group arrives at the Council building and finds the village destroyed by an army of yellow-ties. Inside the Council chamber are the slain bodies of the Council judges. Drifter explains how he knew there must be something wrong. He knew the Council personally. In fact, he was offered a position to be the tenth judge but refused in order to become the first bounty killer. Mary is distraught by the Council’s death, but agrees they must go after those responsible—Second Sun. Just then our heroes are captured and surrounded by another group of yellow-ties including Van and Catherine, who we learn was once married to Drifter. Catherine explains her plan to pin the death of the Council on Mary Death so Second Sun can step in and promise a better life to the survivors of the Thrice Burned Lands. Just when we think all is lost both groups are attacked by Gypsies! During the fight, Jimbo is shot again but saved by Jack who hides him in the trunk of the Nova. Mary leaves Drifter to fight with Mocha. Then Jack leaves Drifter to fight with Van. Drifter is then knocked unconscious and taken aboard the Second Sun helicopter with Catherine. They fly away as the battle rages on. Mary kills Mocha, but is severely injured in the process.
Mary awakes in a Gypsy tent to find Jack at her bedside. He tells her the Gypsies are now under her control because she killed their queen. They make a plan to free Drifter from Second Sun with the help of Mary’s new Gypsy army. Inside Second Sun we find Drifter shaven and wearing a suit. He’s tied to a chair in a glass office. Catherine enters and tells him she’d like to reinstate his position as CEO of Gorman Enterprises, now owned by Second Sun. She thinks his “Drifter” celebrity will inspire market confidence. “Run this company with me, Francis. It’s the only thing you’ve ever been good at.” Just then Mary and Jack burst into the office bullpen with their Gypsy army. They knock Catherine unconscious and rescue Drifter. Jack, now a quick and precise gun caddy, assists Drifter and Mary as they unleash their fury upon the employees of Second Sun. Just as they’re about to make their escape, Mary is shot down by Catherine. Drifter kills Catherine and runs to Mary’s lifeless body. He then realizes Mary is wearing a chest-plate. Jack and Drifter carry Mary to safety.
Mary and Drifter spend two weeks naked in each other’s arms back at the Thirsty Beaver. Jimbo gives Jack his last can of Pabst to thank him for saving him from the Gypsies. Mary, now in a new black leather get-up, comes down the stairs and hops into her new cherry-topped death machine, a gift from Jack to make up for blowing up her old one. She tells Jack she’s off to do battle with another branch of Second Sun then hits the gas and takes off. Drifter runs out, stabbed again in the spleen by Mary. She looks to him in the rearview: “Come and get me, old man.”

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
The Pharisees.
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.
The versatile Mr. Dureya.
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..
Dureya the magnificent.
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 film to see some oldies!.
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..
I'm off to order this movie.
I hope it is on DVD by now..
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!
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..
Interesting -- But The Star Is Too Old and the Budget Too Small.
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 Of The Worst -- Ever.
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!.
It Doesn't Take Much To Make One a Killer.
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..
One more cult movie for me....
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..
a minor gem -- but a gem nonetheless.
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.
"One minute he was alive, and then he was dead.".
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.