User Reviews

THE BOUNTY HUNTER 1954

THE BOUNTY HUNTER is a western film made by Judy Garland's company, Transcona Productions, and Warner Brothers. The film stars, Randolph Scott, Delores Dorn, Marie Windsor, Ernest Borgnine, Howard Petrie, Harry Antrim and Robert Keys.

Randolph Scott is a bounty hunter with a reputation for bringing in his wanted men dead. Scott is approached by an agent of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He is offered a large reward to find a trio of holdup men. The men had made off with $100,000 in cash. The Pinkerton Agency has not been able to trace the men. They have an idea that the unknown men might be hiding in the mining town of Twin Forks.

Scott hits the town under an alias and is soon asking pointed questions of the townsfolk. Of particular interest to Scott is the local doctor, Harry Antrim. Scott has reason to believe that one of the three hold up types had been wounded during the robbery. Antrim is not exactly forthcoming in the info department. His pretty daughter, Delores Dorn, lets slip that she recalls a bullet wound they treated.

There are several red fish of the herring variety thrown at Scott and the audience. In the mix here is Ernest Borgnine as the hotel operator, Dub Taylor as the post office man and Marie Windsor as a saloon girl. Once it becomes known that Scott is a famous bounty hunter, the pot soon gets to a boiling. People start to leave town and one man makes an unsuccessful play for Scott.

The pot is now overrunning and the unknown hold up crew start to lose their nerve. Needless to say that bodies start to pile up as the gang turns on each other. Scott follows the corpses till he arrives at the right bunch. There is a nice twist at the end when the gang members are revealed.

The director here is Andre de Toth. This was one of six films Scott and de Toth made together. While all of them, like this one, are watchable dusters, they do not match the westerns series made between Scott and director Budd Boetticher.

The odd camera angles etc present in this one are because the film was made in 3-d. It was however only released to cinemas in standard 2-d format. Director de Toth also filmed the popular 3-d horror film, HOUSE OF WAX. This is rather odd since de Toth only had one eye.

Right at the end of the film, future star, Fess Parker, as well as silent star, Buddy Roosevelt, have small bits.

Randolph Scott (Jim Kipp/James Collins), Dolores Dorn (Julie Spencer), Marie Windsor (Alice), Howard Petrie (Sheriff Brand), Hanny Antrim (Dr Spencer), Robert Keys (George Williams), Ernest Borgnine (hotel desk clerk), Dubb Taylor (Postmaster Danvers), Tyler MacDuff (Vance), Archie Twitchell (Harison), Paul Picerni (Jud), Phil Chambers (Ed), Mary Lou Holloway (Mrs Ed), Billy Vincent (fat tough in border store), Fess Parker (potential rowdy), Kathryn Marlowe, Shirley Whitney (saloon girls), Dorothy Seese (girl), Wanda Barbour, Gail Robinson (townswomen), Guy Teague (O'Hanlon), Vincent Perry (Parson Ellsworth), Hope Miller (Maria Domingues), Fess Parker (wild cowboy), Charles Delaney (sheriff), Budd Buster, Leo Curley.

Director: ANDRE DE TOTH. Screenplay: Winston Millier. Story: Winston Miller, Finlay McDermid. Photographed in Natural Vision 3-Dimension and WarnerColor by Edwin DuPar. Film editor: Clarence Kolster. Music composed and directed by David Buttolph, orchestrated by Maurice de Packh. Art director: Stanley Fleischer. Set decorator: William Wallace. Make-up: Gordon Bau. Wardrobe: Moss Mabry. Assistant director: Frank Mattison. Natural Vision 3-D supervisor: M.L. Gunzberg. Natural Vision consultant: Howard Schwartz. Visual consultant: Dr Julian Gunzberg. Sound recording: Francis J. Scheid. Producer: Sam Bischoff. Executive producer: Randolph Scott. A Transcona Enterprises Production.

Copyright 1955 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 25 September 1954. U.K. release: December 1954. Australian release: 29 September 1955 (sic). 7,083 feet. 78 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Hired by Pinkertons a whole year after the robbery, a bounty hunter manages to trail three train bandits to Win Forks. Unfortunately, he has few clues as to their identities.

COMMENT: The chase western in which the hero was required to track down a gang of outlaws, undoubtedly became the most popular (as well as the most used) of the genre's formulae. An interesting variant (as here) has the hero ignorant of the physical appearances of those he is pursuing. Although there are certainly a large number of films in this vein, "The Bounty Hunter" is definitely one of the most entertaining and suspenseful.

Despite the welcome intrusion of 3-D effects (most of which are quite dramatically integrated into the staging, though the delightful shock of the villain's hat being shot off into the camera is perhaps overplayed for its novelty appeal), "The Bounty Hunter" can be viewed as a classy follow-up to the highly successful collaboration of star Scott and director De Toth on "Riding Shotgun".

Miller's screenplay presents much the same critical examination of small-town folk and their various self-interests. Perhaps the multiple characterizations are not quite as incisively written, and perhaps they are not quite as vigorously played, but these trifling shortcomings are more than compensated by both De Toth's masterfully fluid direction with its long takes in dazzling tracking shots, and Miller's strong plot that successfully springs a number of tingling but still perfectly logical surprises.

Needless to say, the action spots are most excitingly staged (and there's more than enough of them to satisfy the fans). Scott even seems to perform a particularly hazardous stunt himself.

On another essential script ingredient, the screenwriter has penned some telling dialogue. And it's all most ingratiatingly acted. Scott paces through with his usual charismatic assurance and charming savoir faire, attractive Dolores Dorn delivers a most believable heroine, while our favorite "B" villainess Marie Windsor colorfully winds a crooked finger at our impervious hero. Howard Petrie makes a sterling sheriff.

It's also good to find Ernest Borgnine as the boorish desk clerk and Dub Taylor as a somewhat surly committeeman. Fess Parker can be spotted in a small bit right at the film's end.

Lavishly produced on actual locations as well as the studio's thriving back-lot, "The Bounty Hunter" also boasts excellent color photography and a rousing music score.

I couldn't spot the villains. No way! But even if you can (which would make you a darn sight more clever than me), you'll find this movie still charged with more than a triple dose of palm-sweating suspense.

It's funny, but today Randolph Scott is practically forgotten--even though his track record with film is unequaled. While John Wayne is strongly associated with westerns, he did not specialize in them like Scott and no one consistently produced great westerns like he did--especially since his heyday of about 1950-1960. And, while this is certainly not as good as the best of these, it's still a dandy film.

Before I start talking about the plot, however, despite Scott making such good westerns, it's odd that in so many of them small technical details often...well...stink. Like too many of his films, there is a fight scene where the guy doing the fighting is OBVIOUSLY a stuntman. The only way it might have been easier to spot was if they'd used a black lady for these scenes! Also, at the very beginning, Scott has a shootout with some of the worst editing I've seen in years. Clearly, despite his making good films, often the budgets weren't all that great--and this is little more than a B-western in that regard. But, because he was such a great and seemingly effortless actor, you tend to look past these glitches.

In this film, Scott plays a bounty hunter--which makes a lot of sense considering the title! However, when he's looking into a year-old robbery, people in a particular small town act amazingly unfriendly. Concensus seems to be that if there are any crooks in town, well, it's no one's business since they didn't hurt anyone in the town! And because they folks aren't especially civic-minded, Randy's got his hands full.

The acting, as usual, is good and the action and script also quite good. Plus, there were a few surprises here and there--enough that it's not just another run of the mill genre picture.

As Randolph Scott Westerns go, this isn't bad, but neither is it exceptional.

Scott is a bounty hunter, despised by us regular kind of folks who don't hold with huntin' a man down for the reward money. Little do us regular folks know that Scott is troubled by Oedipal guilt, having seen his father shot down by two thieves when he was just a boy -- Scott, that is, not his father.

Here, he's after three dangerous men who killed and crippled a number of people in the course of a hold up, after which they made off with the ten thousand in loot. A careful study of the map shows Scott they couldn't have gotten farther than Two Forks, not on the supply of water they had with them.

In Two Forks, Scott tries to pose as a Mr. Collins but his alias is soon exposed and he gets the suspicious treatment full blast. He doesn't know who the three miscreants are but he knows they're in town here somewhere, hidden like sharks among the innocent fat groupers, but either the townspeople are ignorant or unwilling to cooperate. "We've got a good town here, Mister," and so on.

There's no real reason to go on with the plot. A couple of people come across as mighty suspicious, though. There's the hotel clerk, for instance. That would be the grinning, nosy, limping Ernest Borgnine. Could he be a murderer? Or, more to the point, could he possibly be INNOCENT? Of ANYTHING? Dolores Dorn is the obviously virginal blond who engages Scott's interest. Marie Windsor does her doe-eyed good girl/ bad girl number and is very appealing in a B-movie sort of way.

Scott himself is more affable than usual. He has manners, smiles a lot, doesn't give much away but isn't openly hostile either. I think I liked him better in the Bud Boettiger movies, where he was always the grim, taciturn spoilsport -- turning down drinks, rebuffing even the mildest advances from his leading ladies, a hilarious wet blanket at every party.

Direction, dialog, photography, performances, all are pedestrian. Except, I guess, that the town doctor is given almost a minute to talk to his daughter about a medical textbook that came out just after the Civil War and introduced all kinds of new ideas based on the experiences of field surgeons. You know, I could almost believe that that book actually existed. "Cecil's Textbook of Amputation," or something.

Protagonist Jim Kipp is a bounty hunter with a reputation for catching those he goes after; it is this reputation that brings the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency to his door. They had been hired to track down those responsible for the robbery of $100,000 from a train during which several people were killed. They only have one clue; the three surviving robbers were last scene at a trading post one year ago. With this tiny piece of information Kipp heads to the post and learns two things; one of the robbers was wounded and they only bought provisions for a three day ride. The only town within three days ride is Twin Forks so he heads there. He soon realises he is in the right place when people start lying to him although he still doesn't know who he is after and there are plenty of other people who believe he might be looking for them as they have committed other crimes. The longer he stays in town the more tensions rise and things become more dangerous for him; especially after he lets it be known that he is expecting a picture of the robbers to come in the mail the next day.

This was rather an unusual western in that we don't know who the bad guys are until very end; this serves to keep the tension high as anybody could be a danger. Randolph Scott puts in a solid performance as Kipp; a character that may have been unlikable in other hands... his determination to get the job done is all that appears to matter to him. Dolores Dorn does a decent job as potential romantic interest Julie Spencer although Marie Windsor is more interesting as the sultry Alice. There is a reasonable amount of action here including several shootings and a brawl where one man makes the mistake of attacking Kipp and ends up sitting an a stove... for quite a while! There are plenty of suspects to choose from and when we do learn who the robbers are there are one or two surprises to be had; I must admit I only suspected one of the three! If you are a fan of Randolph Scott's other westerns I'm sure you'll enjoy this one too.

With a title like "The Bounty Hunter", you pretty much know what you're getting from the outset. In this one, Randolph Scott takes the title role and works his character through a number of portrayals on the way to solving a year old crime involving the theft of a hundred grand. Jim Kipp (Scott) has the same effect on the citizens of Twin Forks that Audie Murphy did in 1959's "No Name on the Bullet", but in that one, John Gant was a professional killer. Here, Kipp's reputation precedes him, and it has the folks awfully jumpy about who he's come after. A couple of them even leave town figuring it's not worth the bother to stick around because after all, it might be them.

I always like watching Randolph Scott in his Western films, not only for his rugged characterizations, but also for the expected change of outfits he brings with him. In this one, he starts out with the traditional all black attire he's generally known for, but changes appropriately for going out on the town and attending church service (for the first time). Dolores Dorn provides the romantic interest for Scott's character, while Marie Windsor is on hand as the bad girl who almost makes it unscathed to the end of the story.

A couple of character actors here bear mentioning; Ernest Borgnine's on board as the red herring in the mix, a hotel desk clerk with a gimp leg that's supposed to direct your attention to one of the original hold-up gang that Kipp is gunning for. Then there's Dub Taylor, probably the only time you'll ever see him in a suit and tie as the town postmaster and one of the eventual baddies. No expected comedic role here for Taylor, who sidekicked a bunch of Western lead actors as good old Cannonball. I think I like him better as a grizzled old goof-ball.

As the three villains of the piece are revealed on the way to the finale, I had to wonder about Marie Windsor's role. She was one of the original outlaws that the Pinkerton agent hired Kipp to go after, however in hindsight I find it curious that no one along the way would have fingered a woman in the mix. Just seems odd, that's all. Say, stay attentive for the very last scene when the rowdy cowboys ride their way into Twin Forks and ask who the sheriff is. The guy who seems let down by it all is Fess Parker!

TCM included this Randolph Scott film in it's recent night under the stars. This one is made for a 90 minute second banana under feature. For an under feature it has great color print and supporting cast includes Ernest Borgnine.

In this movie the star of the later movie Marty has a pronounced limp as a part of his character. Scott puts in another impressive performance. The camera angles used by the director of this one are quite impressive too.

The 1950's are rich in Westerns as even television was cranking them out in record numbers. Enjoyed this one myself.

What struck me as unique in this colorful but dark western is how genuinely mean everyone was to bounty hunter Randolph Scott, out to claim a reward for bringing back wanted criminal Robert Keys. Going from hotel proprietor Ernest Borgnine to Keys' wife, Marie Windsor, and all the way down to the local law and even church goers, he's about as welcome as a swarm of bees at a town picnic.

The character played by Scott isn't exactly a paragon of virtue either, his snarling vocabulary as he stalks Keys sounding like something that a hardboiled detective would tell a criminal in a film noir. Pretty decent for what looks like your stereotypical B western that kids rushed to on a Saturday morning and doesn't stop in action even after the bounty gets their man.

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't—find 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.