Any Bullet Will Do (2018)

Kevin Makely is Hollis Ransom, a former Union soldier turned bounty hunter following the Civil War. The bounty he’d like to collect most is the price on the head of his older brother.

That’s because prior to the war, Hollis fell in love with the daughter of one of his family’s slaves. Rather than lose his little bother to a black whore, Everett Hollis (Todd A. Robinson) had her lynched.

That led to the brothers fighting on opposite sides during the Civil War and facing off against one another in the Battle of Old River Lake, Arkansas, in 1864.

Both survive and head West, Everett with a band of ex-Rebel renegades, robbing and occasionally donning the masks of the Ku Klux Klan as they go.

Hollis makes his living tracking down those who dare rob from the gold mine owners in Nevada City, then bringing back their heads or scalps as proof of his success.

Then comes word that his brother is in the area and heading through the snowy hills to Big Sky, Montana. That forces Hollis to make an uneasy alliance with a female tracker named Rose Gage (Jenny Curtis) in order to fulfill his quest for revenge.

Review:

A poorly choreographed Civil War skirmish opens the film and lowers expectations. At one point, brothers Hollis and Everett wind up using the opposite sides of the same tree for cover.

Fortunately, the film turns out better than that thanks to quick bursts of violence, a snappy script and solid performances from Kevin Makely and Jenny Curtis.

Makely, who over-acted so badly as the villain in the same director’s “Reckoning,” is much better here, a tormented man who still carries a locket with a photograph of his lost love.

Curtis is a sassy young tomboy, who looks nice in a buckskin cap and plans to use the payment as guide to fulfill her dream of running off to Chicago, buying a fancy dress and eating in an Italian restaurant.

It would all come off much better if it weren’t for all the jarring false notes.

At one point, Hollis and Jenny find a skull in the snow. Jenny immediately recognizes it as a young girl from Nevada City. How?

At another, Everett decides he’s tired of being tracked by Hollis and shoots his defenseless brother. Ah, but the wound is in his side and doesn’t exactly look mortal as Everett stomps off.

Directed by:
Justin Lee

Cast:
Kevin Makely … Hollis Ransom
Jenny Curtis … Rose Gage
Todd A. Robinson .. Everett Ransom
Mark Ryan … Bill Gage
Meg Foster … Ma Whitman
Bruce Davison … Jonathan Carrington
Sean Cook … Lonnie
Randy Ryan … Karl
Brea Bee … Nina
Ian Gary … Jesse

Runtime: 110 min.

Memorable lines

Sergeant Major: “Captain, we got about 20 Federals coming up that hillside. And they’re mighty pissed.
Captain: “Thank you, sergeant major.”

Carl to his traveling companion, complaining about his aim: “You couldn’t hit a bear’s ass with a bag of banjos.”

Lonnie, upon finding two accomplices dead in their camp: “Carl, (the Indians) left a bag of scalps.”
Carl: “Blackfoot don’t leave no scalps in bags.”

Lonnie: “Have mercy.”
Hollis Ransom: “Mercy is something you beg for at the pearly gates. It’s just my job to make sure you get there on time.”

Everett Ransom, confronting four potential victims: “‘To where do you rats scurry?’ asks the cat.”

Rose: “I can see it, you know?”
Hollis: “What do you think you can see?”
Rose: “All that hate.”

Hollis to Rose: “There ain’t no killer in you. And that ain’t such a bad thing.”

Hollis, of Rose, looking skyward: “Lord, if I don’t shoot her by the end of this, it’ll be a god damned miracle.”

Rose: “You need rest.”
Hollis: “I need my vengeance.”

Everett Ransom: “Wake the rest of the boys. Shake the lead out of their bones. We got murderin’ to do.”