This is said to be the first Polish western and is written and directed by Piotr Uklanski. Known in the U.S. as DEAD MAN'S BOUNTY, this film uses some strange visuals to tell a story that is short on dialog. Val Kilmer plays a corpse and some scenes are through his dead eyes. Some awkward visual situations are actually comical in a sick way. My favorite is a young man building a gallows chops off one of his own fingers and actually hangs himself testing the strength of the rope. A cowboy known only as 'the stranger'(Karel Roden)finds a dead man(Kilmer) that he thinks is a wanted man. He takes him to the nearest town to collect the bounty. He ends up losing the corpse and the potential bounty in a gambling game with the town's drunken sheriff(Boguslaw Linda)and has the few townsmen turned against him when he has a dalliance with the barmaid(Katarzyna Figura). He manages to escape sure death and leads the small posse on a dangerous 'wild goose chase'. One scene has the stranger tending to a scalp wound by cauterizing with gunpowder and a match. The corpse rots chained to a hitching post as the sheriff finds out that there is no bounty to be had. This movie also known as SUMMER LOVE has a haunting theme song sung by John Davidson. Nevertheless this western is like watching a train wreck. There is just something that tells you not to look...but you do.
24 Reviews
Utter Waste Of Time Atrocious
rstone-272 September 2008
I do NOT understand why anyone would waste their time or money on utter trash like this... Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE a good Western -- Notice I said "GOOD" -- this is just trash
The acting is horrible -- Val Kilmer must know someone or owed a favor or something for them just to use his face and name in this ridiculous piece of crap...
To those of you who enjoyed this movie, I am making a list of you're names to ensure I do NOT watch anything you suggest -- our tastes are definitely different, yet it is your right to voice your opinion, no matter how far off base it is.
I gave this movie a 2 just in case they do throw out all of the one's and not count them.... Just bad in all area's...
The acting is horrible -- Val Kilmer must know someone or owed a favor or something for them just to use his face and name in this ridiculous piece of crap...
To those of you who enjoyed this movie, I am making a list of you're names to ensure I do NOT watch anything you suggest -- our tastes are definitely different, yet it is your right to voice your opinion, no matter how far off base it is.
I gave this movie a 2 just in case they do throw out all of the one's and not count them.... Just bad in all area's...
Really effing bad
NateWatchesCoolMovies16 June 2016
Ever wish there was a movie where Val Kilmer plays a dead corpse? Like...the whole movie? Well you're in luck, because in Summer Love he does just that. It's funny because there aren't even any flashbacks, any death scene or any instances where he's alive. He's just a dead body for the whole. friggin. movie. Now you might think what a lazy, pay cheque collecting half ass move, but let me assure you that stuff isn't easy. I've played a corpse in films for maybe minutes at a time after I've bee killed, and that was bad enough. Thinking about having to lie still and do that for an entire film gives me hives. So kudos to Val who sticks through it like a champ, spending every frame all rigor mortis-ed up and dead as disco. The film was released in North America unde the DVD title 'Dead Man's Bounty' a decidedly more genre title than Summer Love, which is all part of an effort to label it as a violent action western. It's It's a western, alright and it's plenty violent. But action? No sir. It's slower than the service I get at McDonald's and very, very European. Most of the actors besides Kilmer are Polish, kind of like Eastwood waltzing around with a bunch of Italians in a spaghetti western. I guess the term for this one would be perogy western. The lead actor is actually Czech, the ever awesome Karel Roden, playing a perpetually wounded and apparently mute gunslinger who arrives in a dinghole of a town with Kilmer's body, looking to collect his bounty. The town is a sour, miserable, derelict place, populated by bad tempered, booze gulping men, and one much abused whore (Katarzyna Figura). The sheriff (Boguslaw Linda) is a stumbling, incapable drunkard whose first thought is to rob anyone who passes through his town. Roden silently navigates this cesspool outpost, keeping Kilmer near and his guns at the ready. Not much actually happens in the film, mostly everyone just sits around drinking and mumbling incoherently to themselves in tones that no doubt sound poetic to their heavily inebriated minds. The whore gets slapped around a whole lot which will no doubt put some viewers off, if they aren't already asleep. The 'Summer Love' title comes from the chorus of a song which is played in an opening sequence that proves to be one of the few sparks of life in this fairly dead affair. Kilmer's trademark peppiness is nowhere to be found because... well... he's a dead guy, and the rest of the cast are basically drunk western zombies who have all lost their scripts. Morbidly fascinating, never enjoyable, startlingly bad.
Unbelievably bad
Anonymous_Maxine3 June 2008
I had never heard of Dead Man's Bounty when I saw it at the DVD store a few weeks ago, and I thought I had stumbled upon an unrecognized gem, since it had Val Kilmer in it in a truly unique role. Sadly, it wasn't more than ten or fifteen minutes into the movie that I realized that this is a disaster of epic proportions. The first clue you will see of how genuinely awful this movie is comes near the beginning, when you have a bunch of dirtbags in an old saloon laughing like a bunch of hyenas in a scene that goes on about five times too long. It's unbelievable how bad it is. And sadly, it doesn't get any better.
Val Kilmer is featured prominently on the movie's cover box, maybe to trick you into thinking that he has a role in the film, but unfortunately his bizarre role as a dead man is overlooked in favor of focusing on a bunch of half-wit crooks and the most inept conceptualization of a unique town sheriff that I've ever seen in a movie. He's played by Boguslaw Linda, who is unable to or uninterested in covering his Polish accent, immediately making it impossible that the movie is meant to take place in the American old west.
Does Poland have this type of frontier past? I don't know. My knowledge of Polish history is not my strong point, but I can tell you this, The Sheriff, as he is known in the movie, is the worst representation of law enforcement that I can ever remember seeing in a movie. He is introduced in a truly ridiculous scene where he is wearing some kind of blindfold and a roomful of men take turns punching him in the face. Before they start hitting him, he explains that they can each hit him once, and then, after the first round, they will each hit him again, and if he can identify who is throwing the punches, they lose. What the hell is this crap? I am completely at a loss to explain why a scene like this would ever be put into any movie.
Throughout the movie, the Sheriff continues to appear more and more beaten and bruised and drunk and battered, until ultimately he does nothing but show up occasionally, stumbling on screen and mumbling "not without...the law " You see, there is a lot of talk and preparation for a hanging, the details of which are as meaningless as the rest of the movie.
It takes place, by the way, in a town that consists of nothing more than two ramshackle wooden buildings facing each other across a flattened bit of dirt that is more of a path than a road. My understanding is that it is a part of Poland that is supposed to look acceptably enough like the American southwest, where none of the characters, except maybe the dead guy, could possibly have come from.
I have heard that Val Kilmer accepted the role because he was intrigued by his unique role, and also by director Uklanski's minimal use of dialogue in favor of a reliance on cleverly timed juxtaposition of images in unique visual montages.
Yeah, whatever.
Seems to me that Kilimer was unable to overcome what must have been the truly satisfying feeling that he must have gotten when he was offered the role. Personally, I would really feel that I had reached quite some level of success if someone approached me and offered me probably a few hundred thousand dollars to come and lay still for a while. I like to think that he didn't even read the script for this mess, because if he did I am at a total loss to understand why he accepted the role.
At any rate, the movie opens with a man bringing in the corpse of a man, played by Kilmer, seeking the reward. Soon he finds himself embroiled in a ludicrous love story involving the town prostitute, the alcoholic Sheriff, and lots of mayhem involving a series of stupid, stupid characters.
There is also a extensive and preposterous lack of understanding of American rituals. In one scene, a man cuts a cherry tomato in half and squishes the halves into Kilmer's eyes (for what reason, I can't imagine), and then later, a man makes a short speech over Kilmer's corpse, in which he explains that he was "one of the finest men we ever had," and then he proceeds to lop his head off with a shovel. What the HELL??
Not convinced yet? Here are some more reasons not to watch it. In one scene the Sheriff appears to be covered with ash, except for the perfectly clean areas around his eyes and what can only possibly be described as bright red lipstick. A man gets a head wound that drenches his head and body in blood. In a daze, he cauterizes it with gunpowder. Smart. Near the end, the Sheriff appears to have a broken arm. Sitting at the bar, he puts a rope around his neck and connects it to his injured arm, and uses his good arm to pull on the rope, lifting his shaking beer glass in his bad arm to his mouth, rather than using his good arm to drink. Also smart.
Why doesn't he just use his good arm? I have no idea. That, like everything else in the movie, makes no sense whatsoever, like the title. Summer Love? Are you kidding me? Avoid this mess at all costs.
In the meantime, here's something for the IMDb Goofs page
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers) : This movie got made. HA!
Val Kilmer is featured prominently on the movie's cover box, maybe to trick you into thinking that he has a role in the film, but unfortunately his bizarre role as a dead man is overlooked in favor of focusing on a bunch of half-wit crooks and the most inept conceptualization of a unique town sheriff that I've ever seen in a movie. He's played by Boguslaw Linda, who is unable to or uninterested in covering his Polish accent, immediately making it impossible that the movie is meant to take place in the American old west.
Does Poland have this type of frontier past? I don't know. My knowledge of Polish history is not my strong point, but I can tell you this, The Sheriff, as he is known in the movie, is the worst representation of law enforcement that I can ever remember seeing in a movie. He is introduced in a truly ridiculous scene where he is wearing some kind of blindfold and a roomful of men take turns punching him in the face. Before they start hitting him, he explains that they can each hit him once, and then, after the first round, they will each hit him again, and if he can identify who is throwing the punches, they lose. What the hell is this crap? I am completely at a loss to explain why a scene like this would ever be put into any movie.
Throughout the movie, the Sheriff continues to appear more and more beaten and bruised and drunk and battered, until ultimately he does nothing but show up occasionally, stumbling on screen and mumbling "not without...the law " You see, there is a lot of talk and preparation for a hanging, the details of which are as meaningless as the rest of the movie.
It takes place, by the way, in a town that consists of nothing more than two ramshackle wooden buildings facing each other across a flattened bit of dirt that is more of a path than a road. My understanding is that it is a part of Poland that is supposed to look acceptably enough like the American southwest, where none of the characters, except maybe the dead guy, could possibly have come from.
I have heard that Val Kilmer accepted the role because he was intrigued by his unique role, and also by director Uklanski's minimal use of dialogue in favor of a reliance on cleverly timed juxtaposition of images in unique visual montages.
Yeah, whatever.
Seems to me that Kilimer was unable to overcome what must have been the truly satisfying feeling that he must have gotten when he was offered the role. Personally, I would really feel that I had reached quite some level of success if someone approached me and offered me probably a few hundred thousand dollars to come and lay still for a while. I like to think that he didn't even read the script for this mess, because if he did I am at a total loss to understand why he accepted the role.
At any rate, the movie opens with a man bringing in the corpse of a man, played by Kilmer, seeking the reward. Soon he finds himself embroiled in a ludicrous love story involving the town prostitute, the alcoholic Sheriff, and lots of mayhem involving a series of stupid, stupid characters.
There is also a extensive and preposterous lack of understanding of American rituals. In one scene, a man cuts a cherry tomato in half and squishes the halves into Kilmer's eyes (for what reason, I can't imagine), and then later, a man makes a short speech over Kilmer's corpse, in which he explains that he was "one of the finest men we ever had," and then he proceeds to lop his head off with a shovel. What the HELL??
Not convinced yet? Here are some more reasons not to watch it. In one scene the Sheriff appears to be covered with ash, except for the perfectly clean areas around his eyes and what can only possibly be described as bright red lipstick. A man gets a head wound that drenches his head and body in blood. In a daze, he cauterizes it with gunpowder. Smart. Near the end, the Sheriff appears to have a broken arm. Sitting at the bar, he puts a rope around his neck and connects it to his injured arm, and uses his good arm to pull on the rope, lifting his shaking beer glass in his bad arm to his mouth, rather than using his good arm to drink. Also smart.
Why doesn't he just use his good arm? I have no idea. That, like everything else in the movie, makes no sense whatsoever, like the title. Summer Love? Are you kidding me? Avoid this mess at all costs.
In the meantime, here's something for the IMDb Goofs page
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers) : This movie got made. HA!
Bad, Bad, Bad. What a mess...
theanimalman30 April 2008
I wish I would have read more reviews and more opinions about this movie before I rented it. A waste of money. A waste of time. Very little dialog. The dialog was hard to understand in every way. The storyline and plot were both weak. The only thing that was nice at all was the cinematography.
The characters were interesting. At the same time you will spend so much time trying to figure things out, because of the lack of dialog, that you will be rewinding the movie a lot.
Do not watch this movie. It was a mess and will leave you feeling like a mess.
You will say, what the heck was that, when the movie ends?
The characters were interesting. At the same time you will spend so much time trying to figure things out, because of the lack of dialog, that you will be rewinding the movie a lot.
Do not watch this movie. It was a mess and will leave you feeling like a mess.
You will say, what the heck was that, when the movie ends?
Do NOT watch - brings shame to Poland
karolg23 April 2008
I mean, come on! Now my countrymen have started to make westerns! Is it not enough that our cinema sucks already? Now you need to infect English-language movies with Polish acting and no sense whatsoever? Please, stay away from this movie, do not waste your eyes on it. A 5-year-old baby could make a movie that makes more sense. I am from Poland and I am ashamed this title might actually be watched by you. Please, I am begging you, do NOT watch this movie and if you do, do NOT judge Polish people and Polish movies based on what you see there. We had some good movies in our history and we had some bad ones but this one - it is like nothing worse that I have seen in my entire life. Keep away!!!
Terrible......
Nprnuno17 May 2008
As most of you, I've watch a lot of great movies; In between those we often either voluntarily or mistakenly also find those movies that are so pointless that we think of reasons as to why anyone would make it. This is exactly what I can say for Dead man's bounty....
The very least I can do is try to "warn" some of you. If you enjoy being entertained by a motion picture because of the story, acting and intensity than you might want to chose something else. Now, it's not all bad.....In fact, if all you want is creative film editing, and unique angles along with original music ambient than you might think it's OK. As someone that values movie plots, acting and being entertained by a film, the truth is I thought this movie was so terrible beyond words. I could easily find a spot for it on my list of worst movies seen in a while.
As for having Val Kilmer in this, the truth is he was casted probably as a favor to the director; As a fan of some of Kilmer's films, I can't understand what his motive for this was. The movie seems part western part romance.........In the end, I'm sure most of you can agree with me that it simply is a rude waste of our time. In case you haven't seen this movie, my recommendation would be to avoid it completely.
The very least I can do is try to "warn" some of you. If you enjoy being entertained by a motion picture because of the story, acting and intensity than you might want to chose something else. Now, it's not all bad.....In fact, if all you want is creative film editing, and unique angles along with original music ambient than you might think it's OK. As someone that values movie plots, acting and being entertained by a film, the truth is I thought this movie was so terrible beyond words. I could easily find a spot for it on my list of worst movies seen in a while.
As for having Val Kilmer in this, the truth is he was casted probably as a favor to the director; As a fan of some of Kilmer's films, I can't understand what his motive for this was. The movie seems part western part romance.........In the end, I'm sure most of you can agree with me that it simply is a rude waste of our time. In case you haven't seen this movie, my recommendation would be to avoid it completely.
Civil war times western town, bunch of drunks, random events
correnickolas3 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Sure, you get to see some boobies, but if that's all you're looking for in a film, you get more mileage from youtube. I just paid a dollar from redbox because I saw Val Kilmer's name. Bad move. Plot didn't thicken, dialogue was shoddy, characters undeveloped at best. Somebody said cinematography was alright but don't expect too much. This movie moved very slow and ended without grace. Blacklist. I spent much of the movie wondering if some event or color scheme of things was symbolic. I never actually rewound to figure it out because nothing was ever explained in the end. No twists. It also left many questions that as it turns out, I had no desire to hear answered. One of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Know what to expect
FiveWeight20 June 2008
The first thing anyone should know before watching this movie is that the "western" actors have thick Polish accents. It might seem like a mortal flaw, but I got over that by assuming the setting was an Eastern European settlement in Texas.
The thing that always amazes me about so many foreign films that make it to the American market is the vast descrepancy between the movie's pros and cons. On one hand, you have a rough plot that seems to drag on while offering a series of shocking yet in their own right interesting scenes. Again, how can you overlook cowboys with Polish accents? On the other hand, the cinematography was beautiful. In some places, quite creative and all together very well filmed. The soundtrack was a quirky throw-back but used in a way that made it feel dark. On a scene-by-scene basis the editing was more Hollywood than retro despite the fact that as a whole it didn't seem to flow as well as movies we're used to. And again, if you can pretend the actors are supposed to have accents, they do a very good job of playing their roles - disgusting, every one of them.
Bottom line: if you're into quirky, unpolished movies that lack plot flow but excel in cinematography and creativity (and don't mind copious amounts of realistic gore) this movie is quite an offering. Otherwise, it's unlikely to satisfy.
The thing that always amazes me about so many foreign films that make it to the American market is the vast descrepancy between the movie's pros and cons. On one hand, you have a rough plot that seems to drag on while offering a series of shocking yet in their own right interesting scenes. Again, how can you overlook cowboys with Polish accents? On the other hand, the cinematography was beautiful. In some places, quite creative and all together very well filmed. The soundtrack was a quirky throw-back but used in a way that made it feel dark. On a scene-by-scene basis the editing was more Hollywood than retro despite the fact that as a whole it didn't seem to flow as well as movies we're used to. And again, if you can pretend the actors are supposed to have accents, they do a very good job of playing their roles - disgusting, every one of them.
Bottom line: if you're into quirky, unpolished movies that lack plot flow but excel in cinematography and creativity (and don't mind copious amounts of realistic gore) this movie is quite an offering. Otherwise, it's unlikely to satisfy.
Beware this turd! Remarketed as "Dead Man's Bounty" to sucker people into seeing it.
slatromhsiloof12 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The ten star reviews are a joke people. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME watching this garbage. Even if your idea of a good time is watching Val Kilmer play a lifeless corpse or a severed head this movie will not be for you. I am NOT JOKING, he actually plays a freaking dead body that gets dragged around. Don' get me wrong, Val has had himself some real winners but "lost favor" due to substance abuse and would take anything he could get. Apparently he was so out of it he couldn't even score a speaking role in the worst movie of all time, this Polish western. This movie would never be seen by American audiences without his picture on the cover, so it was re-marketed and the rest is tragedy. I feel so sorry for Val, having this turd hanging over him waiting to be cut loose while laying face down in the bowl....
Loved it!
p_k_quasar30 September 2006
I found it great! It must be one of the most multi-dimensioned films I've watched lately. I definitely need to watch it a couple of times again to actually grasp everything it "says". There are some really "hand-picked" characters in this and the actors do a great job for this. Loved the idea of Val Kilmer playing the role of a dead body. The photography was very good and at some points, almost ingenious! Perfect combinations of colors! Last but not least, the soundtrack, suits the film like a glove, with all its twisted sort-of-western, sort-of-love-story, sort-of-anything-else character. Unconditionally recommended! Trust me, you will have some good laughs, also! I'm looking forward to watching more movies by Piotr Uklanski.
Gunfight at Rio Polka
zardoz-1330 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Although his leading man days are history, Val Kilmer has maintained his sense of humor. During his marquee days above the title, he appeared as Elvis in "Top Gun" director Tony Scott's adrenaline-fueled, 1993 comedy-thriller "True Romance," with Christian Slater. You never saw Kilmer's face. You saw his physique and you heard his melliferous Elvis impersonation. Kilmer stole the scenes with Slater when he appeared in the background as the King and counseled the delusional hero.
Later, Kilmer appeared briefly as a Los Angeles taxi driver in the independent British feature "Played," a 2006 revenge crime thriller in the Quentin Tarantino vein about trigger-happy hooligans. During the filming of a scene where Kilmer's cabbie rushes the wounded hero to a doctor, Kilmer's real-life cell phone rang and he conversed with his mother without breaking character. The director of "Played" loved the spontaneity of Kilmer's improvised dialogue so much that he kept it in the film. Anybody who enjoys Val Kilmer movies, however, may knit their brows in dismay about the new Lionsgate's DVD release "Dead Man's Bounty," a symbolic but snake-bitten, frontier law & order western with an R-rating for violence, sexual content and language.
Originally, art house theaters showed "Dead Man's Bounty" in 2006 and 2007 under the unlikely title "Summer Love." First-time writer & director Piotr Uklanski had already acquired a reputation as avant-garde conceptual artist, whose works appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Venice Biennale, long before he went behind the cameras. According to a reputable Polish Culture website, Uklanski "recycles visuals, concepts, and clichés and gives them a new presence, both crass and seductive, precisely by questioning the politics of different visual worlds." The website adds that Uklanski "uses stereotypical motifs and strategies from pop culture, art, and cinema to address issues of cultural identity and authenticity." Uklanski lives up to this reputation with "Dead Man's Bounty." As an example of his "insolence in the way he plays with audience expectations," Uklanski cast " Tombstone " lead Val Kilmer as a corpse. Kilmer's dead man sprawls lifelessly in each shot, staring glassy eyed into eternity without a blink. Never does he utter the first syllable. You cannot say that you were not warned about "Dead Man's Bounty" in these hallowed pages. Most people who either rent or buy "Dead Man's Bounty" are going to howl like a coyote!
Like Val Kilmer's guest role as a corpse, "Dead Man's Bounty" qualifies as bizarre, almost surreal. Moreover, "Dead Man's Bounty" is being billed as the first Polish western! The rugged, violent, and ignoble west of Piotr Uklanski blends the nihilism of 1960's Spaghetti westerns and the authenticity of HBO's trail-breaking western mini-series "Deadwood." Uklanski depicts western violence as indiscriminate, sanguinary, and often satirical. The sympathetic heroes and dastardly villains that you would expect to find in a traditional western are absent from "Dead Man's Bounty." Indeed, Uklanski appropriates traditional western elements as a metaphor, but he retools the genre to accommodate his skewered ideology. Happily, the scenic Polish landscape substitutes splendidly for the arid 19th century American Southwest, and lenser Jacek Petrycki's evocative widescreen photography provides a feast of striking images comparable to Frederic Remington.
"Dead Man's Bounty" emerges as a mythic western. The characters lack names. Their occupation dictates their identity. This symbol-laden saga opens as a Stranger in black (Czech actor Karel Rogen of "Blade 2") finds a number of dead bodies at a river crossing by a burned stagecoach. He discovers the fly-infested corpse of the Wanted Man (Val Kilmer of "The Saint") among them. The Stranger rides into an anonymous frontier town but loses everything, including the body of the Wanted Man--worth five hundred dollars--to a drunkard (Boguslave Linda), the town sheriff who behaves erratically. As his favorite pastime, the sheriff dons eye patches and bets gamblers that he can identify them the second time they smash their fists into his face. "Dead Man's Bounty" probably trots too far off the trail for traditional cowboy movie enthusiasts.
The Stranger's next mistake is sleeping with the woman (Katarzayna Figura) who owns the town saloon. Afterward, the locals confront him with their guns and try to disarm him. When the Stranger drops his rifle, the weapon discharges accidentally and hits one of the locals in the leg. A crazy gunfight ensues with bystanders becoming casualties. One local wounds the Stranger in the head, and the drunken sheriff gathers a posse to pursue him. Later, the Stranger cauterizes his bloody head wound with gunpowder from his own bullets that he ignites with a pair of matches. Clearly, Uklanski has seen the Clint Eastwood oater "Two Mules for Sister Sara."
"Dead Man's Bounty" mimics westerns in general and Sergio Leone Spaghetti westerns in particular. The joke here is that most Spaghetti westerns featured an unknown or faded American star, and Uklanski exploits Kilmer with the same idea in mind for his Pierogi western but only as a corpse. Uklanski directs with a heavy hand and the pace is often leaden. On the other hand, "Dead Man's Bounty" is rarely predictable. Unless you fancy yourself a connoisseur of pretentious, postmodernist art, "Dead Man's Bounty" may give you saddle sores. Meanwhile, Kilmer buffs who don't share their star's sense of humor may find "Dead Man's Bounty" too tough a horse to ride.
Later, Kilmer appeared briefly as a Los Angeles taxi driver in the independent British feature "Played," a 2006 revenge crime thriller in the Quentin Tarantino vein about trigger-happy hooligans. During the filming of a scene where Kilmer's cabbie rushes the wounded hero to a doctor, Kilmer's real-life cell phone rang and he conversed with his mother without breaking character. The director of "Played" loved the spontaneity of Kilmer's improvised dialogue so much that he kept it in the film. Anybody who enjoys Val Kilmer movies, however, may knit their brows in dismay about the new Lionsgate's DVD release "Dead Man's Bounty," a symbolic but snake-bitten, frontier law & order western with an R-rating for violence, sexual content and language.
Originally, art house theaters showed "Dead Man's Bounty" in 2006 and 2007 under the unlikely title "Summer Love." First-time writer & director Piotr Uklanski had already acquired a reputation as avant-garde conceptual artist, whose works appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Venice Biennale, long before he went behind the cameras. According to a reputable Polish Culture website, Uklanski "recycles visuals, concepts, and clichés and gives them a new presence, both crass and seductive, precisely by questioning the politics of different visual worlds." The website adds that Uklanski "uses stereotypical motifs and strategies from pop culture, art, and cinema to address issues of cultural identity and authenticity." Uklanski lives up to this reputation with "Dead Man's Bounty." As an example of his "insolence in the way he plays with audience expectations," Uklanski cast " Tombstone " lead Val Kilmer as a corpse. Kilmer's dead man sprawls lifelessly in each shot, staring glassy eyed into eternity without a blink. Never does he utter the first syllable. You cannot say that you were not warned about "Dead Man's Bounty" in these hallowed pages. Most people who either rent or buy "Dead Man's Bounty" are going to howl like a coyote!
Like Val Kilmer's guest role as a corpse, "Dead Man's Bounty" qualifies as bizarre, almost surreal. Moreover, "Dead Man's Bounty" is being billed as the first Polish western! The rugged, violent, and ignoble west of Piotr Uklanski blends the nihilism of 1960's Spaghetti westerns and the authenticity of HBO's trail-breaking western mini-series "Deadwood." Uklanski depicts western violence as indiscriminate, sanguinary, and often satirical. The sympathetic heroes and dastardly villains that you would expect to find in a traditional western are absent from "Dead Man's Bounty." Indeed, Uklanski appropriates traditional western elements as a metaphor, but he retools the genre to accommodate his skewered ideology. Happily, the scenic Polish landscape substitutes splendidly for the arid 19th century American Southwest, and lenser Jacek Petrycki's evocative widescreen photography provides a feast of striking images comparable to Frederic Remington.
"Dead Man's Bounty" emerges as a mythic western. The characters lack names. Their occupation dictates their identity. This symbol-laden saga opens as a Stranger in black (Czech actor Karel Rogen of "Blade 2") finds a number of dead bodies at a river crossing by a burned stagecoach. He discovers the fly-infested corpse of the Wanted Man (Val Kilmer of "The Saint") among them. The Stranger rides into an anonymous frontier town but loses everything, including the body of the Wanted Man--worth five hundred dollars--to a drunkard (Boguslave Linda), the town sheriff who behaves erratically. As his favorite pastime, the sheriff dons eye patches and bets gamblers that he can identify them the second time they smash their fists into his face. "Dead Man's Bounty" probably trots too far off the trail for traditional cowboy movie enthusiasts.
The Stranger's next mistake is sleeping with the woman (Katarzayna Figura) who owns the town saloon. Afterward, the locals confront him with their guns and try to disarm him. When the Stranger drops his rifle, the weapon discharges accidentally and hits one of the locals in the leg. A crazy gunfight ensues with bystanders becoming casualties. One local wounds the Stranger in the head, and the drunken sheriff gathers a posse to pursue him. Later, the Stranger cauterizes his bloody head wound with gunpowder from his own bullets that he ignites with a pair of matches. Clearly, Uklanski has seen the Clint Eastwood oater "Two Mules for Sister Sara."
"Dead Man's Bounty" mimics westerns in general and Sergio Leone Spaghetti westerns in particular. The joke here is that most Spaghetti westerns featured an unknown or faded American star, and Uklanski exploits Kilmer with the same idea in mind for his Pierogi western but only as a corpse. Uklanski directs with a heavy hand and the pace is often leaden. On the other hand, "Dead Man's Bounty" is rarely predictable. Unless you fancy yourself a connoisseur of pretentious, postmodernist art, "Dead Man's Bounty" may give you saddle sores. Meanwhile, Kilmer buffs who don't share their star's sense of humor may find "Dead Man's Bounty" too tough a horse to ride.
Polish Western : Good Try
pllc157 June 2008
The only reason I rented this movie was that Val Kilmer rarely stars in a bad movie. There is of course a first time for everything. In many ways, this movie proves that oaters aren't as easy to make as we think, especially by foreign directors. The only one who got by with it was probably Sergio Leone, but even his movies lacked that something indefinably innate to our American psyche and panache. American actors in Clint Eastwood and Henry Fonda did help . I can see now why they changed the original title from "Summer Love" to " Dead Man's Bounty". That itself tells me the producers and director didn't have any core understanding about a western other than those standard shoot'em up scenes and violent themes. I suppose we can say the same about American directors attempting to make a Polish movie while failing miserably in the process.
Boring Disappointment
FightingWesterner3 August 2009
Dead Man's Bounty (the film's American title) has the look and feel of a classic Italian western. The cinematography, costumes, and sets look great. The cast is rugged, not a pretty face among them. At the beginning I was preparing for a pretty cool movie but what I eventually witnessed was an absolute disaster.
The script was perfectly dreadful. There was no suspense whatsoever and very little action or worthwhile drama.
Despite looking great, the cast spoke (English) with heavy European accents that were often unintelligible.
The final nail in it's coffin was the broad streak of pretentiousness that taints most of the picture, focusing heavily on the character of the barmaid who's featured in a couple of very awkward sex scenes. Also her speech near the end was repugnant!
The only novelty comes from the stunt casting of Val Kilmer in the role of the dead man, continuing his recent string of DOA performances!
The script was perfectly dreadful. There was no suspense whatsoever and very little action or worthwhile drama.
Despite looking great, the cast spoke (English) with heavy European accents that were often unintelligible.
The final nail in it's coffin was the broad streak of pretentiousness that taints most of the picture, focusing heavily on the character of the barmaid who's featured in a couple of very awkward sex scenes. Also her speech near the end was repugnant!
The only novelty comes from the stunt casting of Val Kilmer in the role of the dead man, continuing his recent string of DOA performances!
You have to be in a certain frame of mind...
long-jeffrey14 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This came on some OTA digi-net channel one night. The commercials for it touted Val Kilmer and Linda, so I decided to give it a go. Well, Kilmer certainly earned whatever they paid him. He had no lines because he was freaking DEAD the whole movie. I had to watch this thing twice by myself and then once again with my wife, and it was the same reaction. "What? Who? What was that? What just happened?" I seriously think psychedelic mushrooms were involved in the making of this pile of stuff. I kind of like it for that reason alone. Watch it when you're high, or something. I don't do that anymore, so I had to do it straight, and it was a struggle. I still am struggling with the guy setting his head on fire. I have to clean the cat litter boxes tonight, and am actually looking forward to it for a chang.
Don't Waste Your Time
hackraytex18 March 2017
I have to agree with a previous reviewer. A good western can be made in any nation so this is no reflection on Poland. I also love a good spaghetti western but I was very disappointed with this one. It looks like it was easy fast money and an easy fast credit for Val Kilmer so he was smart to take the job since it was only one day. I hope the next western I see that was made in Poland will be better. It looks like the actors did the best they could with what they had. Hang in there everyone.
Cash grab to capitalize a well known actor Val Kilmer
jordondave-2808519 August 2023
(2006) Dead Man's Bounty/ Summer Love
WESTERN
Super low budget straight-to-rental Western that is co-produced, written and directed by Piotr Uklanski, full of second rate acting and directing, with a cast consisting of foreign actors doing their best to speak English. It centers on a bounty hunter (Karel Roden) attempting to collect a $500 reward from a drunk sheriff (Boguslaw Linda) and ends up losing his bounty after a card game. Then after an one-night stand with an old broad, a group of buffoons who're supposed to be outlaws end up chasing this bounty hunter throughout the desert on horses, while he manages to escape and hide away from them on foot. Some of the main characters often quote one note pointless liners, similar to listening to a narcissistic student speaking on front of a classroom, for instance. Production values is very low with second rate acting, for the exception of Val Kilmer as the dead guy on the "wanted" poster, who just lies on the ground with a point of view coming through him as well, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Pointless zero stars/ Bomb.
Footnote: According to "Trivia" the makers of this thing they call a movie brought Val Kilmer $50,000 cash up front for a 'single' day of work with no dialogue need to be spoken.
Super low budget straight-to-rental Western that is co-produced, written and directed by Piotr Uklanski, full of second rate acting and directing, with a cast consisting of foreign actors doing their best to speak English. It centers on a bounty hunter (Karel Roden) attempting to collect a $500 reward from a drunk sheriff (Boguslaw Linda) and ends up losing his bounty after a card game. Then after an one-night stand with an old broad, a group of buffoons who're supposed to be outlaws end up chasing this bounty hunter throughout the desert on horses, while he manages to escape and hide away from them on foot. Some of the main characters often quote one note pointless liners, similar to listening to a narcissistic student speaking on front of a classroom, for instance. Production values is very low with second rate acting, for the exception of Val Kilmer as the dead guy on the "wanted" poster, who just lies on the ground with a point of view coming through him as well, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Pointless zero stars/ Bomb.
Footnote: According to "Trivia" the makers of this thing they call a movie brought Val Kilmer $50,000 cash up front for a 'single' day of work with no dialogue need to be spoken.
Polish Guy Directs A Western
nnewel1 August 2008
I liked this film a lot... inventive camera work, interesting music choices, very loose plot. Not a formulaic Hollywood Western here, which will displease a lot of people. Not a popcorn and soda movie, but one that has left me thinking about it the next day.
Also, Val Kilmer is not really in this movie, which will also upset people. I mean, he's technically there, with like 30 sec screen time and no lines. It was interesting how much weight this unimportant character was lent because of his star power, though.
This is an avante-garde European director doing a Western film... all hail the modern day cross- cultural mash up!
Also, Val Kilmer is not really in this movie, which will also upset people. I mean, he's technically there, with like 30 sec screen time and no lines. It was interesting how much weight this unimportant character was lent because of his star power, though.
This is an avante-garde European director doing a Western film... all hail the modern day cross- cultural mash up!
Visually Stunning Movie a la' Cormac McCarthy, With Flaws
mdkersey25 September 2013
Many of the scenes in this movie are visually quite stunning and it is worth seeing simply for the scenes. It is as if the movie originated as a set of excellent still photographs that were allowed to slowly blossom to life. The camera work is of course excellent. I could see filling an art gallery with stills from this movie. I could see hanging stills from this movie in my home and enjoying them every day.
The accents were of little significance to me (I thought they were German). There were many immigrants of Germanic and Eastern European descent in America. It was more noticeable that _everyone_ except Kilmer seemed to be German.
This movie had one of the most explicit descriptions of sex that I've ever heard as the female bartender described to a potential lover how he would make love to her in exquisite detail. It was quite torrid!
It was as if I were watching a movie made by a cinematic Cormac McCarthy, akin to "Blood Meridian", but the images, although striking, were not quite the standard archetypes of Western literature and so it fell somewhat short.
I believe this director is one to watch in the future because he is very, very close to doing with cinema what McCarthy does with literature. And if he does that then it will be a tremendous breakthrough, because so far McCarthy's stuff hasn't quite translated fully to the screen (or perhaps the translator hasn't been found yet).
If I were Cormac McCarthy and I wanted a director and camera person to do "Blood Meridian" or others novels in film, I would want it done by the people who made this movie.
The accents were of little significance to me (I thought they were German). There were many immigrants of Germanic and Eastern European descent in America. It was more noticeable that _everyone_ except Kilmer seemed to be German.
This movie had one of the most explicit descriptions of sex that I've ever heard as the female bartender described to a potential lover how he would make love to her in exquisite detail. It was quite torrid!
It was as if I were watching a movie made by a cinematic Cormac McCarthy, akin to "Blood Meridian", but the images, although striking, were not quite the standard archetypes of Western literature and so it fell somewhat short.
I believe this director is one to watch in the future because he is very, very close to doing with cinema what McCarthy does with literature. And if he does that then it will be a tremendous breakthrough, because so far McCarthy's stuff hasn't quite translated fully to the screen (or perhaps the translator hasn't been found yet).
If I were Cormac McCarthy and I wanted a director and camera person to do "Blood Meridian" or others novels in film, I would want it done by the people who made this movie.
Gives a whole new meaning to the word different
thesiouxfallskid1 July 2011
I had this film in my collection, saw the low rating on IMDb, noticed that a number of reviewers called it terrible, and so I put off watching it. I didn't have the time to read the favorable reviews, but one evening in the mood for a mediocre western I watched it and with very low expectations. I was very much surprised. For those whose idea of a good western are the classic westerns and even the spaghetti westerns, I can understand the one-star rating. But note the number of ten-star ratings. This is one of those love it or hate it films, and more will hate it than love it. Before you pass on this one I suggest reading reviews by those who really liked it. I would call it more of an art film than a western, though the art may be lost on many viewers. Note that the film may be titled Summer Love or Deadman's Bounty. Both are descriptive of what happens. Possibly the sorriest bunch of characters that you will ever see. And there is meaning in the film that some viewers may miss or rather not think about.
Awesome, just plain awesome
proskatr55 January 2009
Ever want to see a movie that is so ridiculously strange it's great? This is that movie. The actors, the dialogue, the story itself; they're all wonderfully crazy. Half of the time you don't know what's going on, and the other half you're insanely amused at the craziness on screen. I rented this movie because I thought it was weird that Val Kilmer was in it and was looking for a "different" kind of movie. This didn't disappoint my "different" desire. I'm not going to say much about Val Kilmer in this movie for spoiler reasons, but he has an interesting part, albeit a bit befuddling. So if you haven't been able to tell, this isn't your typical Friday night movie, and a lot (ok most) of people probably wouldn't enjoy this, but I did.
Tips: Watch this with friends, alcohol, and an open mind.
Tips: Watch this with friends, alcohol, and an open mind.
A Great Alternative Movie
lostra-119 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie in 2006 @ the AIFF (Athens International Film Festival) and had really great time watching it. It's not a regular western movie, and like this it should be treated. I would definitely put it in the same category like Grindhouse (Planet Terror & Death Proof). Acting is great(the Polish accent in the English language is just a marvelous idea) and Val Kilmer plays an ultimate role in the movie. The Director has some pretty cool ideas ("tomato" vision of the dead), scenery is epic and in general you have simple and cool elements like the ones you see in movies of this genre. Generally it is a good effort of the independent cinema.
The movie is great for people that have an eye for the irregular. 8/10 *
The movie is great for people that have an eye for the irregular. 8/10 *
One of the most brilliant movies of all time
theurge14-813-2625848 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Friends, countrymen, lend me your eyes.
Let me explain why this movie is so misunderstood.
Everyone on here seems to think that this is not a true American western. I happen to know that you are all wrong. In the true American west it has been scientifically proved by scientists that people truly did live in shacks in the dry heat while drinking after shave and smoking cactus weed and not eating any food at all. If anyone doubts this then tell how is it that people are able to live in Nevada. Exactly.
Secondly, the pace of action in this movie was stunning. The film editing could not keep up with the blistering pace of action. I mean for over an hour and a half everyone in this movie had blood on their heads dripping down their face. I mean if that isn't action, then I don't know how else this movie could please you. I was scared the entire time. I was worried for every character's life. I was terrified when I heard guns being cocked, I shivered when horses made those loud horse noises.
And the accents. Why do people think the accents were unrealistic. I mean, Antonio Banderas has a thick Spanish accent but nobody complained about him in El Mariachi or Desperado. I mean true, there hasn't been any Polish cowboys that I know of, but that was a long time so how do we truly know... for sure? Exactly.
My favorite part was the guy who cut his finger off chopping wood. He reacted so realistically that I could literally feel my finger almost fall of in pain. That is classy acting and that man deserves a medal.
Please watch this movie. I think this type of movie making needs to be supported especially by your dollars. If they sell t-shirts for this movie, I'm buying 20.
Val Kilmer played the best corpse ever.
Let me explain why this movie is so misunderstood.
Everyone on here seems to think that this is not a true American western. I happen to know that you are all wrong. In the true American west it has been scientifically proved by scientists that people truly did live in shacks in the dry heat while drinking after shave and smoking cactus weed and not eating any food at all. If anyone doubts this then tell how is it that people are able to live in Nevada. Exactly.
Secondly, the pace of action in this movie was stunning. The film editing could not keep up with the blistering pace of action. I mean for over an hour and a half everyone in this movie had blood on their heads dripping down their face. I mean if that isn't action, then I don't know how else this movie could please you. I was scared the entire time. I was worried for every character's life. I was terrified when I heard guns being cocked, I shivered when horses made those loud horse noises.
And the accents. Why do people think the accents were unrealistic. I mean, Antonio Banderas has a thick Spanish accent but nobody complained about him in El Mariachi or Desperado. I mean true, there hasn't been any Polish cowboys that I know of, but that was a long time so how do we truly know... for sure? Exactly.
My favorite part was the guy who cut his finger off chopping wood. He reacted so realistically that I could literally feel my finger almost fall of in pain. That is classy acting and that man deserves a medal.
Please watch this movie. I think this type of movie making needs to be supported especially by your dollars. If they sell t-shirts for this movie, I'm buying 20.
Val Kilmer played the best corpse ever.
Val Kilmer Kills It Again!
mrfrodo_078 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I was sitting in my house, and I had rented this movie along with Big Fish, Bourne Identity, and I got a good deal, too. All of these shiny unraveled treasures for only $5, way better than any foot longer i've eaten.
So I'm watching it, beginning is so good i get hooked, and it just kept reeling, and pulling, and jerking me in. Then the boobies come. That polish woman is so amazing of an actor I couldn't keep my eyes shut. The man that doesn't talk does talk just not with his mouth. When he spells out sex with the polish lady it brought me to my knees jerking memories off the chain of life of I was a little Jewish bartender with my Uncle Wendy watching Sesame Street with my other uncle, Wendi.
Then the man with no eyes comes in the bar. THAT WAS GOOD! He took that no good no talkers money by hitting his hand to his face to hurt the no talkers hand. Tought his hand such a good lesson. I was shouting HOOOOOORAY for 7 seconds of my lonely life. This is my favorite movie. My other favorite is not anything compared to this one. I like this one more.
If you love great westerns with polishers and a man that does not talk, like me and my puppy, then this movie is a good, well, yeah good choice for you to choose to tune into. My most favorite part is when the gun is thrown at the man and the man gets shot in the leg by the bullet because the gun is thrown. That made me want to not get shot again like i do when i workout with my son Jerald. The best part was played by Val Kilmer, he played such a good token black man I was amazed.
If you like wearing tomatoes on your eyes slap your knees and run to the movie renting place in your town because they have a lot of different ones so i don't know if you have a blockbuster or a movie gallery, red box or something like that. This movie is the best western ever.
I want to kick people out of public, and into my private abode of all races, heights, and ear-size to watch this pleasurable, pleasing movie. My kids will watch it everyday, or I'll be sad. This movie is going to make it, i know it will at least for a month.
Good movie, watch it, and love it. Soak up the goodness. Soak it up for me!
So I'm watching it, beginning is so good i get hooked, and it just kept reeling, and pulling, and jerking me in. Then the boobies come. That polish woman is so amazing of an actor I couldn't keep my eyes shut. The man that doesn't talk does talk just not with his mouth. When he spells out sex with the polish lady it brought me to my knees jerking memories off the chain of life of I was a little Jewish bartender with my Uncle Wendy watching Sesame Street with my other uncle, Wendi.
Then the man with no eyes comes in the bar. THAT WAS GOOD! He took that no good no talkers money by hitting his hand to his face to hurt the no talkers hand. Tought his hand such a good lesson. I was shouting HOOOOOORAY for 7 seconds of my lonely life. This is my favorite movie. My other favorite is not anything compared to this one. I like this one more.
If you love great westerns with polishers and a man that does not talk, like me and my puppy, then this movie is a good, well, yeah good choice for you to choose to tune into. My most favorite part is when the gun is thrown at the man and the man gets shot in the leg by the bullet because the gun is thrown. That made me want to not get shot again like i do when i workout with my son Jerald. The best part was played by Val Kilmer, he played such a good token black man I was amazed.
If you like wearing tomatoes on your eyes slap your knees and run to the movie renting place in your town because they have a lot of different ones so i don't know if you have a blockbuster or a movie gallery, red box or something like that. This movie is the best western ever.
I want to kick people out of public, and into my private abode of all races, heights, and ear-size to watch this pleasurable, pleasing movie. My kids will watch it everyday, or I'll be sad. This movie is going to make it, i know it will at least for a month.
Good movie, watch it, and love it. Soak up the goodness. Soak it up for me!
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