The Bounty Man (1972)

Clint Walker is Kinkaid, the renown bounty man of the title, and he’s set his eyes on a big prize this time.

That would be Billy Riddle (John Ericson), a young gun with a $5,000 reward on his head.

With the help of some cooperative and some coerced informants, Kinkaid tracks Riddle to Battle Mountain.

He’s able to get him out the saloon and on the trail back to a sure hangman’s noose with less trouble than expected.

But they’re soon joined by Billy’s girl, Mae (Margot Kidder), who’s determined to find some way to spring him free.

And they’re about to encounter fellow bounty man Angus Keough and his band of ruffians.

Keough’s not quite as industrious as Kinkaid. He’d rather let someone else do the hard work, then steal the bounty — or in this case, the wanted man — from them.

Clint Walker as Kinkaid, a bounty man looking for his next job in The Bounty Man (1972)

Margot Kidder as Mae, Billy Riddle’s girl in The Bounty Man (1972)

Review:

Pretty well done TV movie, fast-paced thanks to the slim running time and featuring a solid performace by Clint Walker in the lead role and some witty dialogue.

He’s a tormented bounty hunter. Once, he gave a “reformed” outlaw a second chance by hiring him to work on his ranch.

When Kinkaid returned hoe from a trip for supplies, he found the outlaw had run off with his wife, eventually leaving her a drunk in a saloon far from home where she committed suicide out of shame.

Billy Riddle sort of reminds him of that man. He’s a slick-tongued devil who neither as brave or as caring of his lady love as he pretends.

In fact, he encourages Mae to seduce the bounty man in order to improve his chances of escape.

John Ericson as Billy Riddle, suspicious of a visitor to Battle Mountain in The Bounty Man (1972)

Richard Basehart as Angus Keough, trying to figure out a way to swindle Kinkaid out of a $5,000 reward in The Bounty Man (1972)

Directed by:
John Llewellyn Moxey

Cast:
Clint Walker … Kinkaid
Richard Basehart … Angus Keough
John Ericson … Billy Riddle
Margot Kidder … Mae
Gene Evans … Tom Brady
Arthur Hunnicutt … Sheriff
Rex Holman … Driskill
Wayne Sutherlin … Tully
Paul Harper … Hargus
Dennis Cross … Rufus

Runtime: 74 min.

Song: “The Bounty Man” by the Orphanage

Arthur Hunnicutt as the sheriff, handing over another bounty to Kinkaid in The Bounty Man (1972)

Gene Evans as Tom Brady, the store owner providing information on Billy Riddle’s whereabouts in The Bounty Man (1972)

Memorable lines:

Wanted man: “Three days. Three days of running us to ground like animals. You lousy bounty hunter.”
Kinkaid smacks the man across the face, sending him sprawling: “You want to talk to me, you call me Kinkaid.”

Rufus: “You must be a rich man. How about buyin’ us all a drink?”
Kinkaid: “No.”
Rufus: “What’s the matter? Too good to drink with us?”
Kinkaid: “I don’t even like the idea of talkin’ with you.”

Angus Keough: “Kinkaid, maybe you’re livin’ a little high on the hog. But we’re all still swimmin’ in the same swamp.”

Tom Brady to Kinkaid: “You got more stubborn than a two-headed mule.”

Augus Keough: “Driskill, you’ve been livin’ in a dung heap so long, you’ve forgotten what faith is.”
Driskill: “You’re late breakin’ the news.”

Mae: “Last few days, I’ve seen a part of you I don’t like.”
Billy Riddle: “Well, excuse me for not bein’ myself, but that man’s takin’ me in to die.”

Dennis Cross as Rufus and Richard Basehart as Angus Keough in The Bounty Man (1972)

Clint Walker as Kinkaid, the bounty man known for always getting his man in The Bounty Man (1972)