Forty to fifty years ago a bunch of new, young directors got their starts and made names for themselves, some of whom are still making acclaimed movies today.  You know, names like Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, Friedkin, De Palma, Malick, etc.  Some have been or are on the verge of being forgotten — people like George Roy Hill or Philip Kaufman.  Another is Walter Hill.  Back then Walter Hill was a powerhouse — Hard Times (1975), The Warriors (1979), Southern Comfort (1981), 48 Hrs. (1982), Extreme Prejudice (1987) and others.  My favorite may be Streets of Fire (1983), the “rock and roll fable.”  Later, he turned to producing and only helmed occasional movies.  That has been a loss to the cinematic world.  Dead for a Dollar is his first movie in six years and his first western in ages.

Walter Hill’s movie is reminiscent of several others, most notably The Professionals (1966) and Django Unchained (2012).  Bounty hunter Max Borlund (Christoph Waltz) takes an assignment to ride from New Mexico into Mexico with army representative Sergeant Poe (Warren Burke) to retrieve a woman, Rachel Kidd (Rachel Brosnahan) and the army deserter (Brandon Scott) accompanying her.  Borlund is told Rachel was abducted, but like The Professionals this situation is not as it seems.  Complicating matters are a Mexican crime boss (Benjamin Bratt) and a recently released prisoner (Willem Dafoe) whom Borlund had sent to jail five years previously.  All of these characters and their messy interactions come together in a tiny Mexican town.

I generally like this movie and actually find it quite satisfying.  The narrative is complex but cleanly handled, the locations are authentic and starkly beautiful, the dialogue sharp and believable.  I even like Hill’s transitional practice of letting scenes finish and going to black before changing to the next sequence.  The action, when it comes, is well staged and dramatic.  What it does seem to lack, however, is tension.  As in heightened tension, whether by tense music, or a crescendo of menace, actors getting actorly . . . you know what I mean.  Hill stages confrontations very deliberately and without added stimulation.  It works, at least it did for me.

Quibbles may be made about that lack of razzle dazzle, of the minimal racism directed toward the two important black characters in that Old West environment, or of how many of the characters actually speak in complete, comprehensible sentences (as opposed to the grunt and slang dialogue that has supplanted actual writing).  Those didn’t really bother me at all.  I enjoyed watching this sharply written and directed western adventure because like so many other Walter Hill productions, it is darned entertaining.  I’m glad he’s still around doing his thing.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  14 January 2023.