Bounty (2009)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Purely Joyful Movie!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I have seen some bad movies, but the best thing I can say for this movie is that it is not the worst I have seen. I wasn't sure if it was the writer's or the director's fault, but since Jared Isham gets both credits, I can blame it on him. The same problem goes on throughout this movie over and over. Bad guy has gun. Good guy has chance to take gun or takes gun. Good guy basically gives the gun back. I can say that I have never seen a movie squash the suspension of disbelief so many times. Watching this was painful to say the least.

The movie is not bad, don't get me wrong. Especially for an independent low budget film. So let's start with the good things: the cast was good, with solid character work; I liked the camera with its brownish western scenes and apparently the director made a good job, too. Unfortunately the plot had too many weird moments to make the movie overall enjoyable. *Spoiler* Why would a person start a brawl with a bystander/friend and risk getting shot, only to get into the jailhouse, when he could have walked right into the very same jailhouse by simply using the door? Why would you steal a horse from your mate instead of stealing it from an enemy, when you are about to be chased by that enemy? Why would you meet at the town square with your enemy, then dissolve again to start a gun fight, instead of starting the gun fight right at the town square? Why would a Sheriff wait for several hours to start a manhunt, instead of shooting your back when you leave the town, when he had the chance? And if he indeed did wait for hours, why would it take more than a day to catch up when the Sheriff had a gang on horses and good scouts, and the fugitive had two people on one horse? The last scene was so weird I honestly could not understand. All possible explanations that come to my mind are much more difficult and dangerous and costly than simply getting a new hair cut or crossing the state line to avoid being followed or found. */Spoiler off*So all in all a nice try, but needs better screenwriters.

I am not a huge fan of Westerns, but this was suggested by a friend. I had never even seen an independent film in the western genre before so I was interested. It was actually pretty good. It has all the good stuff - horses, shooting, love, and cowboys. The story was good and I think for a non studio release of a western it was great. I hope Stage Ham comes out with another. I don't want to give too much of the story away (and I didn't click the spoiler alert) for that reason. I didn't want people to skip over this comment because they didn't want to have the ending spoiled. The acting was great, and the production value was very good. It had the feel of a traditional western and it was a good first try. I highly recommend seeing this film. It is worth it... AND it supports the smaller filmmakers. I can't wait to read YOUR comments after you view it.

I approached this film with a totally open mind, (there were no comments or reviews that I could find ;-). The opening scene was, to me, slightly marred by the obviously too modern barn architecture in the background but I let it go - until the obligatory bar-fight scene, when the fighters spilled out into the "street".In the background here was a neat row of about a dozen dark green, 35 foot tall Italian Cypresses, standing out in stark contrast to the tan scrub hillsides and framed beneath 6 power lines. None of these would have been in the "old west" and it would have taken 25 years or so for the Cypresses to obtain that height once they arrived. OK, I will ignore them (and ignore the composition shingle roofing on these buildings).In the next major scene, however, where the villain is abusing the damsel-in-distress, I couldn't possibly ignore the 8-foot high chain-link fence in that background; mercifully it was mostly covered in overgrowth but still unmistakable and peeking out over it's top was a modern building, sporting new-styled Spanish cement tiles and if that weren't enough - a satellite dish on it's front.From that point on, it was a matter of earning back respect and in many regards, that was accomplished. Interior scenes were much better as were the field scenes, the major offense to the optic nerve here was caused by the choice of the "town" it was filmed in (did I mention the modern milled-plywood siding?) and the subsequent lack of concise post-editing to at least try to ameliorate these errors.The actors and lead actress put on a good show. My own feeling is that the origins of the maiden's plight needed some additional clarity. There were also many "dissolve to blacks", which sort of left one waiting for a commercial occasionally. Camera work was pretty solid as was direction. Gunfights were surprisingly good. The score, however, was outstanding.Not a bad first effort.