Hollywood filmmakers have consistently showed nothing but contempt for the eponymous character in the Randolph Scott western "The Bounty Hunter," a solid, somewhat predictable, but hard-edged Warner Brothers' sagebrush shoot'em up directed by the stalwart Andre de Toth who helmed several Scott outings and received an Oscar nomination for the script that he co-authored with William Bowers for "The Gunfighter." Bounty hunters were reviled as morally depraved bushwhackers by Hollywood until the late 1950s when Charles Bronson appeared in the low-budget western "Showdown at Boot Hill" and Steve McQueen embarked on a three year television run with "Wanted Dead or Alive." Nevertheless, bounty hunters received chilly receptions wherever they rode, and these films proved to be the exception to the rule that bounty hunters could serve as heroic protagonists. In "Showdown at Boot Hill," Bronson spent the entire time trying to collect the reward money that was rightfully owed him because he had gunned down a beloved member of the community, while McQueen had to prove himself a likable fellow despite being a man hunter in "Wanted Dead or Alive." "The Bounty Hunter" may not be a pivotal epic in the evolution of the bounty hunter, but it reflects Hollywood's clear lack of sympathy for this objectionable character and how he fitted in with society. What makes this 1954 western so interesting aside from "My Darling Clementine" scenarist Winston Miller's formulaic narrative is how the Randolph Scott character conducts himself and the conversion that occurs at fade-out that allows society to assimilate him by fade out.
"The Bounty Hunter" opens with this foreword. "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 the reward money . . . they tracked down criminals wanted 'Dead or Alive, and made themselves judge and executioner in some lonely court of no appeal. They were called "Bounty Hunters." Thirteen years later, Italian director Sergio Leone provided a somewhat different foreword to his spaghetti western "For A Few Dollars More." You see the difference that the intervening years had made: "Where Life has no value, death sometimes has its price. This is why the bounty hunters appeared." Interestingly, whereas "For A Few Dollars More" opens with the bounty hunter bushwhacking an outlaw, "The Bounty Hunter" opens with an outlaw trying to bushwhack the protagonist. The bounty hunter that Randolph Hunter plays in "The Bounty Hunter" is every bit as tough and ruthless as the bounty killer that Clint Eastwood created in "For A Few Dollars More." One character observes cynically about Jim Kipp's tenacity, "Well, you know what they say about you, you'd turn in your grandmother on her birthday if there was a reward on her." The mentality of the 1950s prohibited Scott from wearing a beard like Eastwood and he doesn't draw first in a showdown. In fact, despite the hostility expressed toward bounty hunters, the filmmakers go out of their way to whitewash the Scott character as much as possible. He doesn't shoot first and ask questions later and he tries to bring his prey in alive. Moreover, he tosses back the small fry. A young rancher tries to bushwhack him, but Kipp disarms him and refuses to ship the kid back to prison. Later, Kipp explains his origins as a bounty hunter. He watched helplessly as his storekeeper father was gunned down by outlaws because he didn't have enough money for them to steal. This incident prompted the young Kipp to become the most dreaded bounty hunter.
After Kipp has picked up his $500 bounty reward for the outlaw, a Pinkerton Detective approaches him in the barbershop with a proposition. About a year ago, seven masked robbers held up a train with $100-thousand in currency from the Philadelphia mint bound for Dodge City. They killed three guards and crippled several bystanders. A local trailed the desperadoes and killed four of them and wounded another in the leg. The robbers vanished off the face of the earth and none of the bills from the hold-up have appeared in circulation. The Pinkertons have run into a dead end and they need to reassign their best agents to other cases so the famous detective agency offers Jim Kipp the sum of $10-thousand dollars to do what they couldn'tfind the outlaws and the loot. Reluctantly, Kipp takes on the job and rides across the desert to a way station frequented by owlhoots and learns that the survivors paid for three canteens of water. Kipp rides to Twin Peaks, the nearest place that the hoodlums could have ridden in the parched desert wasteland without dying from thirst. Predictably, he receives another chilly reception, especially from a hotel clerk, Bill Rachin (Ernst Borgnine) who walks with a limp. Kipp tells the inquisitive Rachin that he will conclude his business in a week's time. Kipp questions the local doctor, Dr. R.L. Spencer (Harry Antrim of "Baby Face Nelson") about a man who might have needed his help for a gunshot wound a year ago. The doctor isn't exactly truthful with Kipp, but he defends his actions to his daughter. Kipp wasn't a lawman so the good doctor didn't have to violate the sacred patient/physician oath of confidentiality to reveal the truth.
Kipp's presence in Twin Peaks has everybody upset and on the prod. Several surprises await anybody who winds up watching this entertaining oater, not the least of which is Kipp's refusal to send an escaped convict back to jail. In fact, the youthful convict defends himself by pointing out that he committed the crime a long time ago and now is a responsible member of the community with a wife and a baby on the way. In the end, according to those moral dictates of the 1950s, the Kipp character stops bounty hunting, becomes the town lawman, and takes Spencer's daughter as his wife.
"The Bounty Hunter" opens with this foreword. "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 the reward money . . . they tracked down criminals wanted 'Dead or Alive, and made themselves judge and executioner in some lonely court of no appeal. They were called "Bounty Hunters." Thirteen years later, Italian director Sergio Leone provided a somewhat different foreword to his spaghetti western "For A Few Dollars More." You see the difference that the intervening years had made: "Where Life has no value, death sometimes has its price. This is why the bounty hunters appeared." Interestingly, whereas "For A Few Dollars More" opens with the bounty hunter bushwhacking an outlaw, "The Bounty Hunter" opens with an outlaw trying to bushwhack the protagonist. The bounty hunter that Randolph Hunter plays in "The Bounty Hunter" is every bit as tough and ruthless as the bounty killer that Clint Eastwood created in "For A Few Dollars More." One character observes cynically about Jim Kipp's tenacity, "Well, you know what they say about you, you'd turn in your grandmother on her birthday if there was a reward on her." The mentality of the 1950s prohibited Scott from wearing a beard like Eastwood and he doesn't draw first in a showdown. In fact, despite the hostility expressed toward bounty hunters, the filmmakers go out of their way to whitewash the Scott character as much as possible. He doesn't shoot first and ask questions later and he tries to bring his prey in alive. Moreover, he tosses back the small fry. A young rancher tries to bushwhack him, but Kipp disarms him and refuses to ship the kid back to prison. Later, Kipp explains his origins as a bounty hunter. He watched helplessly as his storekeeper father was gunned down by outlaws because he didn't have enough money for them to steal. This incident prompted the young Kipp to become the most dreaded bounty hunter.
After Kipp has picked up his $500 bounty reward for the outlaw, a Pinkerton Detective approaches him in the barbershop with a proposition. About a year ago, seven masked robbers held up a train with $100-thousand in currency from the Philadelphia mint bound for Dodge City. They killed three guards and crippled several bystanders. A local trailed the desperadoes and killed four of them and wounded another in the leg. The robbers vanished off the face of the earth and none of the bills from the hold-up have appeared in circulation. The Pinkertons have run into a dead end and they need to reassign their best agents to other cases so the famous detective agency offers Jim Kipp the sum of $10-thousand dollars to do what they couldn'tfind the outlaws and the loot. Reluctantly, Kipp takes on the job and rides across the desert to a way station frequented by owlhoots and learns that the survivors paid for three canteens of water. Kipp rides to Twin Peaks, the nearest place that the hoodlums could have ridden in the parched desert wasteland without dying from thirst. Predictably, he receives another chilly reception, especially from a hotel clerk, Bill Rachin (Ernst Borgnine) who walks with a limp. Kipp tells the inquisitive Rachin that he will conclude his business in a week's time. Kipp questions the local doctor, Dr. R.L. Spencer (Harry Antrim of "Baby Face Nelson") about a man who might have needed his help for a gunshot wound a year ago. The doctor isn't exactly truthful with Kipp, but he defends his actions to his daughter. Kipp wasn't a lawman so the good doctor didn't have to violate the sacred patient/physician oath of confidentiality to reveal the truth.
Kipp's presence in Twin Peaks has everybody upset and on the prod. Several surprises await anybody who winds up watching this entertaining oater, not the least of which is Kipp's refusal to send an escaped convict back to jail. In fact, the youthful convict defends himself by pointing out that he committed the crime a long time ago and now is a responsible member of the community with a wife and a baby on the way. In the end, according to those moral dictates of the 1950s, the Kipp character stops bounty hunting, becomes the town lawman, and takes Spencer's daughter as his wife.