Cinematical Seven: Bounty Hunters You Can’t Shake Off Your Trail

There are few things as cool as a bounty hunter. Going purely on the basis of movies and television, it’s the ideal gig when you lack the commitment to be a cop (even a loose cannon cop) and you don’t want the ruthless immorality of the bloody stuff. Of course, cinema’s bounty hunters run the gamut from Gerard Butler’s mellow Milo in The Bounty Hunter to the ruthless killers of Sergio Leone, so the boundaries between “hitman” and “hunter” are often blurred.

But the difference between an assassin and a bounty hunter isn’t financial (assassins are often guns for hire), but one of publicity. If you kill people for a living, you have to basically live off the grid. Bounty hunters have to surface, and provide proof that they’ve brought their quarry in, dead or alive … or they don’t get paid. They willingly wear their profession on their sleeve. That takes guts, and it’s no wonder that they tend to stand out in any cast of characters.

So in honor of The Bounty Hunter, here are seven of my favorite hunters of humanity. Butler’s Milo Boyd might want to rent all of these films and study them closely, especially in regards to fashion. No bounty hunter worth his or her grit would be caught dead in that short-sleeved plaid shirt. The whole point of being one is to live outside of society, so why would you choose to dress like your average Target ad?