“Not your average nine-to-five job”
“To be certain, bounty hunting isn’t your average nine-to-five job. But then, I’m not your average guy. I’ve had guns pointed in my face so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve survived having the trigger pulled more than once or twice. I have been stabbed, scratched, beaten up, and hit with every imaginable (and unimaginable) weapon of choice — chains, boards, tire irons, golf club and crowbars. I’ve been tossed through windows, pushed through walls, and shoved through doors.
Does that make me a tough guy? You bet your ass.”
— from You Can Run But You Can’t Hide by Duane “Dog” Chapman
Who do you call when you’ve posted bond and the ungrateful beneficiary of your kindhearted generosity (minus your cut) decides to take a powder?
The bounty hunter, also known as fugitive recovery agents, bail enforcement agents, bail enforcers, and fugitive apprehension agents, is arguably “the ultimate outsider in law enforcement,” and frequently one of the most despised. Yet they’ve beenstandard characters in American fiction at least since the days of the Old West. Cindy Fazzi, author of a series of novels about Domingo, a modern day bounty hunter, suggests that that “pop culture has long mythologized and even romanticized” the occupation, and suggests that Elmore Leonard himself helped kick start the profession’s popularity in the latter half of the twentieth century with his debut novel, The Bounty Hunters (1953).
Certainly, it’s interesting how he (or she) has morphed into the modern era. Here are a few suggestions:
- Dave Flynn by Elmore Leonard (The Bounty Hunters)
- Josh Randall (Wanted: Dead or Alive)
- Ruby Dark by Bruce W. Most
- Jinx Almeda by Brian Michael Bendis
- Dave Barrett by Sam H. Rolfe (The Manhunter)
- Rick Deckard (Bladerunner)
- Lily Crow by Liliana Hart
- Django & Dr. Schultz by Quentin Tarrantino (Django Unchained)
- Domingo by Cindy Fazzi
- Dixie Flannigan by Chris Rogers
- C.J. Floyd by Robert O. Greer
- Elmer Fudd by Tex Avery, Tom King, etc.
- Domino Harvey “created” by Tony Scott, Richard Kelly & Steve Barancik
- Jack Keller by J. D. Rhoades
- Karl Morgen by Dietrich Kalteis
- William Munny (Unforgiven)
- Painter by Melinda DiLorenzo
- Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich
- John Ruth & Major Marquis Warren by Quentin Tarrantino (The Hateful Eight)
- Colt Seavers by Glen A. Larson (The Fall Guy)
- Streeter by Michael Stone
- Ralph “Papa” Thorson
- Dottie & Brandi Thorson by Pamela Norris (The Huntress)
- John Tiffany by Stephen Desberg & Dan Panosian
- Jack Walsh (Midnight Run)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- The 10 Best Bounty Hunter Movies
Cindy Fazzi, author of Multo, a bounty hunter novel, picks her ten faves. - A Brief History Of Bounty Hunting In American Art And Life
Fazzi again, this time offering up some history.
Respectfully compiled by Kevin Burton Smith. Who did I miss?
