The Bounty Man (1972)

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Clint Walker is mean bounty hunter Kincaid in this early 1970's made-for-TV Western.

He rides into town to dump his latest capture, and makes the local saloonflies mad in the process. The hangers-on, led by Keough (Richard Basehart), decide to get back at Kincaid for refusing to buy them a drink with his new found wealth. Kincaid leaves to capture a $5000 reward by getting Billy Riddle (John Ericson). He spirits Riddle away from a ghost town/criminal hangout, but also gets some extra baggage in the form of Ericson's girlfriend Mae (Margot Kidder). As Riddle and Mae speak in whispers and plan their escape, Riddle's gang decides to take him from Kincaid and claim the reward as their own. Suddenly, a routine bounty for Kincaid turns into something else as he must deal with enemies on two fronts.

Walker bares a resemblance to Tom Selleck, and is just fine here. He is not the nice guy from other films I have seen him in, and his story about what happened to his wife explains the bitterness in his character. Walker should have had a much larger career in westerns than he did. Kidder is very good as Mae, the prostitute who falls for Riddle. Some of her dialogue is a little shrill, but she handles it well and turns in a performance that is smart. Basehart is the creepy head of the gang that rides after Walker. It is almost refreshing to have villains who want one thing, money, and have no past history or old scores to settle with the hero. The film is a brief seventy four minutes, so any deep meanings and characterization is lost, save Walker and Kidder. This is also the kind of film where the good guy must win, must hit everything he shoots at, must turn the bad girl good, and all of that is here. A real plus is Moxey's direction, which is neither boring nor fanciful. He shows real nuts-and-bolts camera moves, not trying to take away from his leads or the action taking place. The title song and musical score are a mess, done by a forgotten pop group called The Orphanage.

"The Bounty Man" is a basic western that delivers the goods, and does not want much from its audience in return. It is entertaining and watchable, but I do not think the members of the television academy overlooked it for any awards.

Stats:
(1972) 73 min. (* * * 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
-Written by Jim Byrnes
-Cast: Clint Walker, Richard Basehart, John Ericson, Margot Kidder, Gene Evans, Arthur Hunnicutt, Rex Holman, Wayne Sutherlin, Paul Harper, Dennis Cross, Vincent St. Cyr, Hal Needham, Glenn R. Wilder, Rita Conde
(Not Rated)