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.

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.

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.

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.