L.A. Bounty

In the 1980s Sybil Danning gained a small cult following playing tough women, whether wearing sandals and carrying a sword, in uniform with a gun, or flying spaceships in some sci-fi future. Here she stars as Ruger, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, out to avenge her partner, killed by crime-lord Cavanaugh (Wings Hauser). Heard the story before? Yes, and you've seen this film before too, at least a dozen times. There are no surprises here and no attempt at anything original. That's the downside.

On the other hand, it's pretty well made. The plot is slight but hangs together, sets, dialog and direction are OK, and some of the acting is surprisingly good. Hauser has made a lot of films and it's easy to see why. As a demented Chris Walken style bad guy, he's both nasty and charismatic. The various cops and heavies and the main female victim do fine in support, and then there's Danning. She wrote and produced this film, and rarely can a star have created a role for her/himself with so little dialog. Even when spoken to, she simply doesn't reply. She broods silently, stalks about with a big gun in her hand, and, when she fires it, rarely misses. Not the world's greatest actor, Danning knows her strengths and brings this off better than most tough-guy actors could. But if this character does anything else at all (eat maybe? sleep? make love?) we never find out about it.

Female action heroes are common enough nowadays (though not so much back in the 80s) but in movies like Kill Bill and The Long Kiss Goodnight, they're always given some point of vulnerability. Here there is none. Ruger is a hard and competent winner, which is great – it's just a shame she was given no other life or personality at all.

There's no particular reason to go looking for this film, but if you like tough women or mindless action entertainment, you should enjoy it. It's fun and much better than the low rating suggests.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

Sybil Danning executes something of a self-parody in the lame action vehicle "L. A. Bounty", a minor title for video usage.

Also co-producing and providing the weak storyline, Danning portrays a macha bounty hunter patterned after Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name, including his trademark mannerisms and cheroots. There the resemblance ends.

She's after nemesis Wings Hauser, a wigged-out artist and drug kingpin with a price on his head. Hauser has mayoral candidate Robert Hanley kidnapped and Danning is one step ahead of the police in trying to free him and put away Hauser for good.

Director Worth Keeter includes a lot of filler in this uninvolving opus. Hauser is allowed to ham it up preposterously while Danning, unflatteringly photographed, merely looks sullen.

Best technical credit is the often rousing musical score by Howard Leese and Sterling, which fails to disguise how listless the action scenes are.

Hauser plays a sadistic & cunning drug-lord in this one. He's a real madman & he's clearly having a lot of fun playing one. Sybil Danning plays a hard-boiled ex-cop turned bounty hunter out for revenge. Out to get Hauser, that is, because years ago he killed her partner. This flick really isn't that much worse than some of the early works of Steven Seagal, JC Van Damme or even Arnie Schwarzenegger. So, know what to expect and you'll have some fun with it. It's all nonsense, naturally, but we get some bloody shoot-outs (western-style, even), car chases, torturings & female nudity. Not much to complain about. One to watch if you're a Hauser fan for sure. He's stealing the show here.

A L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped by psycho Cavanaugh (Wings Hauser) and held for a $500,000 ransom. On the case is Ruger (Sybil Danning), a tough ex-cop turned bounty hunter who has a past with, of course, Cavanaugh. This was one of Danning's last vehicles before retiring in the late 80s and it is quite a change of pace for her. The story is credited to Danning ("Hey, let's make a movie where I am a bad ass.") and it is unlike any female action flick I can think of, mostly because her character is so tough and there is no focus on her sexuality. Ruger is the strong, silent type and only has maybe 7 lines in the entire film (IMDb trivia here says Danning only speaks 31 words throughout the picture). Director Worth Keeter was a product of Earl Owensby's North Carolina studio and handles all of the action well. The real highlight is, naturally, Wings Hauser in another trademark unhinged performance. Wings was doing lots of low budget cop hero roles around this time, so it is cool to see him slide back into the sleazy VICE SQUAD/Ramrod style. Quick supporting players include Robert Quarry, Branscombe Richmond, Bob Minor and Blackie Dammett.

A decent, if surface level low-budget crime-action feature when it came to the plot and set-pieces. However Wings Hauser is always watchable, especially when playing the more than lively, and unhinged bad guy... with artistic ambitions. On his trail is the silent, but tough as nails ex-officer turned bounty hunter seeking to settle a score. Sybil Danning - Hiding behind black sunglasses, leather jacket, mum jeans and always packing heavy heat... doing her best Man with no name/Cobra impression. Ice-cold, with very little dialogue. Cue in those drum beats, and wailing guitars and a few nice atmospheric night time visuals and explosions for maximum effect too. Action while serviceable isn't anything truly special. Really it's all on Wings Hauser being Wings Hauser.