The Bounty Killer (1965)
After being on the receiving end of some hard knocks, mild mannered Willie Duggan decides the way to make some quick money and provide for his new love is to become a bounty hunter.
The Bounty Killer is a genuinely surprising film. Playing out quite differently to other films of the period. Dan Duryea is excellent in what is essentially a character study of how a man's personality changes through the terrible business of killing. Duryea isn't someone i'd normally associate with nice roles as Duggan is in the film's first few acts but he carries it off with charm and ease as he falls in love with saloon singer Audrey Dalton. His transformation from character actor to leading man, effortless. His metamorphosis into a sawn off shotgun wielding killing machine is shocking to witness.
The film isn't perfect though. In truth Duryea is, at 55, too old for the role and especially as a lover for Dalton who was 26 years his junior and the final scene is predictable and you'll see it coming (perhaps not who though) a good ten minutes before it happens.
Oh, finally. Look out for Larry 'Buster' Crabbe, from the old Universal Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials.
On the whole,
The Bounty Killer is an excellent western that i really enjoyed.
'Nice' Dan charms Audrey Dalton.