Dead Man's Bounty
Alternate/Foreign Title: Summer Love [Original title]DVD Released (Y/M/D): 2008-04-29
Genre: Foreign
Sub-genre: Drama
Director: Piotr Uklanski
Stars: Boguslaw Linda, Karel Roden, Katarzyna Figura, Val Kilmer, Peter Aubrey (voice), Steve Daly (voice), Marek Barbasiewicz, Lech Dyblik, Romuald Andrzej Klos, Rafal Mohr, Jerzy Rogalski, Grzegorz Emanuel, Krzysztof Zaleski, Miroslaw Zbrojewicz, Bartosz Zukowski
MPAA Rating: R
Synopsis: An allegorical Western, Summer Love (Polish title of Dead Man's Bounty) literally begins with a bang. With the audience still sitting in darkness, a shot rings out. A man appears on-screen... dressed in black... bleeding... dying. It is THE STRANGER (Karel Roden), a harbinger of death, a nameless catalyst foreshadowing events to come.
As the film unfolds the characters are introduced not by name, but by what they represent. THE WOMAN (Katarzyna Figura) is a fading beauty who can't quite conceal the scars of her past. THE SHERIFF (Boguslaw Linda) is an alcoholic, lovelorn shell of a man who is literally mutilating himself over losing The Woman. THE BIG MAN (Krzytof Zaleski) is a fat, jealous cohort of The Sheriff who lusts after The Woman.
One day, The Stranger comes to town on horseback with THE WANTED MAN (Val Kilmer) who he retrieved at the site of a massacre in the film's opening scenes. The Stranger has come to collect the bounty money. He winds up getting roped into playing The Sheriff's sadistic gambling game and loses The Wanted Man to the gloating Sheriff. Fed up this self-destructive ploy, The Woman storms out of the saloon. Later that night, The Woman in a state of desperation seduces The Stranger. All hell breaks loose after their night of passion. A posse is formed under the Sheriff's inept leadership and an epic manhunt ensues.
Told in a highly visual style, Summer Love recounts a tale of love, pain, redemption and death. On a surface the story is as old as time: Man looses Woman... Woman wants a new life... Stranger comes to town. Summer Love relies less on dialogue than upon on fast paced, meticulously composed images. They lead the audience into the hearts and minds of the characters creating the visual tableaux that tell their stories. Source: MS Film
As the film unfolds the characters are introduced not by name, but by what they represent. THE WOMAN (Katarzyna Figura) is a fading beauty who can't quite conceal the scars of her past. THE SHERIFF (Boguslaw Linda) is an alcoholic, lovelorn shell of a man who is literally mutilating himself over losing The Woman. THE BIG MAN (Krzytof Zaleski) is a fat, jealous cohort of The Sheriff who lusts after The Woman.
One day, The Stranger comes to town on horseback with THE WANTED MAN (Val Kilmer) who he retrieved at the site of a massacre in the film's opening scenes. The Stranger has come to collect the bounty money. He winds up getting roped into playing The Sheriff's sadistic gambling game and loses The Wanted Man to the gloating Sheriff. Fed up this self-destructive ploy, The Woman storms out of the saloon. Later that night, The Woman in a state of desperation seduces The Stranger. All hell breaks loose after their night of passion. A posse is formed under the Sheriff's inept leadership and an epic manhunt ensues.
Told in a highly visual style, Summer Love recounts a tale of love, pain, redemption and death. On a surface the story is as old as time: Man looses Woman... Woman wants a new life... Stranger comes to town. Summer Love relies less on dialogue than upon on fast paced, meticulously composed images. They lead the audience into the hearts and minds of the characters creating the visual tableaux that tell their stories. Source: MS Film
