Bullets for the Bad

• Also known as The Bounty Killer
• Directed by Chip Baker
• December 14, 2018 (US)

A broke bounty hunter rides into a town in the midst of a struggle between desperadoes and a local cattle baron.

Bullets for the Bad is a micro budget action Western with a script better than this bargain basement production deserves. Nothing too original but a solid story largely hindered by the limited budget with a healthy dose of issues that can be traced to director Chip Baker.

It mixes revisionist Western elements with traditional Western elements and a dash of humor. Though it uses sporadic humor, it is much more focused on drama. We have dirty dealings and kidnapped brides and a questionable gambler that moonlights as a bounty hunter. Or maybe the other way around. Mysterious stranger (Crispian Belfrage) is hired by local powerbroker Gonzalo Delgado (Antonio Mayans) whose daughter was kidnapped for leverage in a landgrab scheme over a possible rail line.

While it is a good script it is not a great script and the film comes off as a little unfocused with the pace occasionally becoming languid. It goes off on what feels like unnecessary moments to show how broken or damage the never-named bounty hunter is rather than trying to work that into the central story.

One scene shows him paying a visit an opium den. He’s some kind of Civil War vet and this is meant to show how he’s dealing with his pain. I do not think we get any other moments of addiction or any issues caused by addiction. Our look at his pain while he is tripping balls is little more than reused footage from the opening credits. It might have been better to discuss the war/a battle over showing hi-def footage of reenactors.

Most of the acting is good. I think David Gilliam, as the villainous Mayor Gordon W. Johnson is probably the weakest of the group with Crispian Belfrage and Antonio Mayans being significantly better than anyone else here. Belfrage in particular gives his antihero a sense of being driven by a dark moral code. Not dangerous, but certainly harder than most people around him.

Unlike many cheaper or recent Westerns, there is some work put into making people dirty. It is notably obvious when a band of outlaws who are allied with the mayor and you can see the dust on their clothing. One even has suspenders on and when he slips them off his shoulders their outline remains. Points for an attempt at authenticity.

Despite some weaknesses and flaws there is enough good here that I found myself watching to the end. I can’t say it was one of the better low budget Westerns I’ve seen, but it was not the worst. It was a clear effort to do a good job with very limited resources. They weren’t simply making it to make it, but they were making it because they wanted to make a good film. That comes through in any production no matter what it is.

That love and sincere effort gets you through the rough parts. The film has numerous panning cinematic shots accompanied by a soundtrack that highlights the drama. There are moments of visual beauty, excellent film, and fine acting. It is just there is an inability to do that more often than not.

Bullets for the Bad is an acceptable Western. It sadly falls a bit short in too many areas. Not a complete loss but a bit of rough viewing.