Dead Man’s Revenge (1994)

Keith Coulouris is Tom Hatcher, a young man forced to flee for his life when he was a boy.

He’s assumed the name Bodine and taken a job as a deputy U.S. Marshal with the intention of tracking down Payton McCay (Bruce Dern), the man who put his father in jail and his mother in her grave.

McCay is a railroad baron, willing to destroy anything that gets in his way. And willing to extort anyone he can to build a personal fortune.

In his role as U.S. Marshal, Bodine wants to get his hands on forged deeds to prove McCay’s broken the law.

But upon getting out of prison, Tom’s dad Luck (Michael Ironside) has his own plans for getting even. He wants to bring McCay to his knees.

Soon, Tom and McCay wind up in Rawlings, New Mexico, a town where many of the inhabitants have an old score to settle, and where very little is as it seems.

Rumors that a 60-strong band of blood-thirsty comancheros under the notorious bandit Diego Vasquez is rampaging the countryside and approaching Rawlings complicates matters for everyone.

Review:

This starts off as a typical Western revenge flick — yawn, yawn — with the added twist that longlost son and father are sure to be reunited at some point.

But give the film a chance, and it turns out to be more than that, with a neat touch of comedy to boot.

Let’s just say that Luck Hatcher has a very complex plan for exacting his revenge, and you’re sure to be surprised a couple of times along the way.

Dern turns in a snarling performance as the wild-haired villain of the piece. County singing star Randy Travis has a cameo as the federal marshal to whom Bodine answers.

Daphne Ashbrook plays Carrey Rose, a too-pretty-to-be-true blonde banker with a vault no one can penetrate. And Melora Walters has a couple of fun scenes as the not-to-bright saloon girl Bunny, who finds herself holding Bodine hostage at one point.

Directed by:
Alan J. Levi

Cast:
Bruce Dern … Payton McCay
Michael Ironside … Luck Hatcher
Vondie Curtis-Hall … Jessup Bush
Keith Coulouris … Tom Hatcher / Bodine
Daphne Ashbrook … Carrey Rose
Tobin Bell … Bullock
John M. Jackson … Beesly
Melora Walters … Bunny
Jack Rader … Hawkins
Doug McClure … Granger
Randy Travis … U.S. Marshal

Runtime: 100 min.

Memorable lines:

Payton McCay: “You know, I’ve always felt horse thieves oughta be treated like treasure — buried with care and affection.”

Bodine: “Drop your pants.”
Jessup Bush: “What?”
Bodine: “I find it takes the threat out of a man, looking that ridiculous.”

Payton McCay, when Bush shows up to collect a bounty: “No one told me you were a colored fellow.”
Bush: “Nobody told me it mattered.”

Bullock, McCay’s man: “All that (bounty) money givin’ you an uppity attitude, boy.”
Bush: “I ain’t been a boy since the first time I killed a backwoods chucklehead like you.”

Payton McCay, to Carrey Rose when she expresses concern over what the comancheros could do to the town of Rawlings: “I’ve sent for enough men to turn Diego Vasquez and his comancheros into bean dip. Trust me.”

Luck Hatcher, about his son Tom: “Bunny, he opens his mouth to holler, you put something in it.”
Bunny, cuddling up to Tom, flashing cleavage and a six-shooter: “Gladly.”

Bunny: “What are you doing?”
Tom Hatcher, pulling at the ropes: “I’m escaping.”
Bunny: “Stop, stop, stop it. Or I’ll shoot you.”
Tom: “No one named Bunny ever shot a U.S. marshal.”

Doug McClure as Granger, one of McCay’s railroad supervisors in Dead Man’s Revenge (1994)

John M. Jackson as Beesly, the traveling salesman who photographs the dead in Dead Man’s Revenge (1994)

Melora Walters as Bunny, holding Bodine (aka Tom Hatcher, Keith Coulouris) captive in Dead Man’s Revenge (1994)

Randy Travis as the U.S. Marshal who gives Bodine his orders in Dead Man’s Revenge (1994)