SummaryVeteran bounty hunter Max Borlund (Christoph Waltz) is deep into Mexico where he encounters professional gambler and outlaw Joe Cribbens (Willem Dafoe) – a sworn enemy he sent to prison years before. Max is on a mission to find and return Rachel (Rachel Brosnahan).
Directed By:Walter Hill
Written By:Walter Hill, Matt Harris
Dead for A Dollar
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61
User score
Mixed or Average
4.3
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
53% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
41% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Sep 29, 2022
80
It’s solidly and proudly a B picture, as the Boetticher dedication makes clear. But in an age of blockbuster bloat and streaming cynicism, a solid B movie — efficiently shot (by Lloyd Ahern II) and effectively acted (by everyone) is something of a miracle. Hill had a job to do. He did it. That’s worth something.
Sep 29, 2022
70
This is not an epic; nor is it meant to be. It’s a snappy story about a bunch of violent men — and one particular woman, anxious to get clear of them.
User score
Mixed or Average
0% Positive
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
82% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
18% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jul 4, 2025
6
Story is okay, pacing is okay, action is okay, humour is okay, drama is okay. Everything is okay, not less not more.
Apr 16, 2023
5
(Mauro Lanari)
B-movie that Hill tries to liven up with an exuberant editing and rejuvenating the classicism of his western history with attention to the feminine and racial. Clumsy and not enthralling.
Sep 8, 2022
70
Although Hill certainly puts in a few sly tips of the hat to canonical and cult favorites and is clearly enjoying exploiting the audience’s expectations of the genre, Dead for a Dollar isn’t an empty nostalgia exercise. Nor is it a revisionist postmodern deconstruction. It’s somewhere between the two, built on a narrative architecture as classical in its vernacular as Doric columns on a bank, but with details that will surely remind audiences of the future that it was made in the 2020s.
Sep 8, 2022
65
Dead for a Dollar is a proud heir to a longstanding lineage of low-budget westerns. Consider that a feature and a bug.
Sep 8, 2022
58
Dead for a Dollar provides a decently intriguing yarn within the framework of the Western that burrows a few inches below the surface. No one can say Hill didn’t hold up his end of the deal, which may be all that matters to him in the end.
Sep 8, 2022
50
Hill wants to “do justice” to each of these people, but the result is that Dead for a Dollar doesn’t have a dramatic core. It has actors we like to watch, doing what they do well (like Waltz playing a civilized badass), but it isn’t structured so that any of their fates gets a rise out of us.
Oct 2, 2022
38
A vintage Hill bit with a horse coming through glass doors and a couple of decent exchanges in an overall perfunctory big shootout finale arrive just in time to remind of us how great this filmmaker once was, and how sad it is that he has to hang up his spurs with Dead for a Dollar.
Jan 22, 2023
5
Western movie made in 2022. When you look at the poster of the movie and see the names of Willem Dafoe and Christoph Waltz, one wants to watch it without hesitation. Because the ratings are high. For this reason, expectations are also rising. Here, the movie is far from meeting that expectation. The politically powerful husband of the woman who was kidnapped and asked for a ransom enlists a bounty hunter to find her. The bounty hunter has a rival as famous as himself. The subject is in the hands **** director and it could have been much better with these master actors. The music of the movie was good. There are scenes of sexuality and nudity in the movie.
Oct 4, 2022
5
Spending the budget on heavy-hitting actors can't save this cliche western. I watched this because it had some of my favorite actors, but they can only do their best with the lackluster lines given them. Watching this really brings to light the importance **** director and screenplay.
Jan 21, 2023
2
Another (stunningly audacious) production part of tribal project to rewrite history and turn us all into a single, grey matter, all with African-American cowboys and interracial adultery in New Mexico in the 1800's! No wonder is a "critics" favorite.
Jan 10, 2024
0
How does anyone like this film? The stories presented so badly. It's like watching a stage play. The characters are just playing characters. There's no real connection with anybody. It's such a strange film. And it really doesn't reference the title in any way. The acting is really terrible. Really terrible. Everyone is like an automaton. It's a terrible film. Don't watch it.
Production Company:
- Chaos, a Film Company
- Myriad Pictures
- Polaris Pictures
Release Date:Sep 30, 2022
Duration:1 h 54 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Vengeance for the right price
Awards
C&I Movie and TV Awards
• 7 Nominations
Western Heritage Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
