Dead for a Dollar Review: Sluggish Western Falls Flat

Action auteur Walter Hill and Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz return to the western genre with disappointing results. Dead for a Dollar has all the hallmarks of a classic shoot ’em up. There’s a gringo bounty humor, his loquacious adversary, a supposed damsel in distress, trusty sidekick, Mexican outlaws, and ruthless baron mixed up in a dusty desert town. Toss in a venerated supporting cast, and you have the ingredients for greatness. Instead, we get a dull film with lifeless characters and tepid action scenes. The narrative sluggishly creeps to a climax with bewildering editing choices.

Initially set in 1897 Albuquerque, New Mexico, Max Borlund (Waltz) visits an old bounty in prison. Joe Cribbens (Willem Dafoe) is about to be released after a five-year stint. Borlund, or Mr. Borlund as he prefers to be called, warns Joe not to come looking for vengeance. Joe responds that Borlund is a dead man if they ever cross paths again.

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Several months later, the army connects Borlund with the wealthy Martin Kidd (Hamish Linklater). A Buffalo Soldier, Elijah Jones (Brandon Scott), has kidnapped his wife, Rachel (Rachel Brosnahan), and fled to Mexico. Elijah demands ten thousand dollars ransom for her release. Martin refuses to pay. He’ll give Borlund two thousand to rescue Rachel and capture Elijah. The army assigns another black cavalry man, Poe (Warren Burke), to help Borlund.

Poe tells Borlund a different story en route to Mexico. Rachel despised her husband. She left with Elijah to escape him. Meanwhile, in Guadalupe, Tiberio Vargas (Benjamin Bratt) learns the couple are hiding in his territory. He wants half the ransom as payment for them to escape. Borlund and Poe secure their marks but find themselves in a difficult predicament. Borlund informs Rachel that Martin is coming to get her. She’d rather die than return with him. The situation gets more complicated when Borlund realizes that Joe is also in town.

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The Plot of Dead for a Dollar

Dead for a Dollar has a convoluted plot that makes little sense. Every character knows early on that the kidnapping was orchestrated. Why would Vargas negotiate with the couple? He could have easily snatched Rachel and sold her back to Martin. Borlund is portrayed as an ethical man with a conscience. Why keep Rachel and Elijah when the truth is revealed? Also, what are the odds of Joe running into Borlund hundreds of miles away at such a specific time? The threads coming together are completely implausible.

Waltz wracked up every major acting award for Django Unchained the last time he played a western bounty hunter. His turn as Borlund is surprisingly boring. The character has no personality whatsoever. Conversely, Dafoe’s Joe could have been pulled from the “Red Dead Redemption” video game. He’s the stereotypical poker-playing, whiskey-guzzling genre bandit. Brosnahan stands out as the only character with any depth. She’s a rich white woman who left her husband for a black soldier. Brosnahan plays Rachel as forthright and a master of her destiny. She won’t be a victim or pawn for scoundrels.

Hill (The Warriors, Deadwood) baffles with a strangely shot and edited climax. Vargas and his goons riding into town looks like it was cut from different sequences. The villains pose zero threat as one-shot kills. The showdown between Borlund and Joe wouldn’t wake a sleeping baby. Diverse casting is the only noteworthy aspect of Dead for a Dollar. The Black and Latino characters are basically gun fodder but at least have parts in the story.

Dead for a Dollar is a production of CHAOS, Polaris Pictures, and Myriad Pictures. It will have a theatrical release on September 30th from Quiver Distribution.

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