The Bounty Hunter (1954)

 

Jim Kipp (Randolph Scott) is a ruthless bounty hunter and the titular character in 1954's The Bounty Hunter. One person he meets says his reputation is that he'd bring his own grandmother in for the reward. Kipp doesn't deny this, but what makes him an interesting protagonist are the hints that he's not completely ruthless. At one point during the movie, he's shot at by a young man who incorrectly thinks Kipp is after him. Kipp disarms the man, then lets him go.

Later, a woman with a shotgun threatens him, incorrectly thinking Kipp had killed her outlaw son. Kipp talks her down, shows compassion and, once again, lets her go. 

It's a bit of a stretch that two different people independantly jump to wrong conclusions about Kipp, but they are important scenes. Kipp does promote a ruthless veneer, so it's important to let us peek behind that veneer a few times.

Anyway, the main plot of the movie has Kipp chasing three outlaws who robbed a train of $100,000 a year earlier. There's no description of the outlaws available, but the serial numbers of the money are on record, so it's known they haven't yet spent the cash.

Kipp intelligently follows an old trail, discoveirng that the outlaws visited a remote trading post after the robbery, but only stocked up on a few days worth of water. That allows Kipp to narrow the search to the only nearby town.

Entering the town, he at first uses an alias, but his real identity soon becomes known. He's pretty certain the bad guys are living in town and that the money is hidden nearby. But he also knows the local doctor lied to him about whether he treated a wounded man a year earlier. He plays a psychological game, gradually making the townspeople nervous and hoping that one or more of the outlaws might give themselves away. Eventually, he runs a bluff to force the outlaws' hands.

All this makes for a strong story with some great characters thrown into the mix. There's also a great twist at the movie's violent climax regarding the identity of one of the outlaws. Several bursts of action throughout the film keep the pacing fast and Scott brings his usual sense of toughness and quiet authority to the role of the bounty hunter. 

I especially like a couple of instances where he's in a running gunfight with someone, cornering that person in an alley or other confined space, then firing a lot of near-misses to terrify his opponent into talking. I also like that he reloads frequently when doing this--The Bounty Hunter is one of those rare westerns that actually remembers a six-shooter carries six shots.

The Bounty Hunter isn't quite a classic, but it's a better-than-average Western.