Directed by Michael Fredianelli, Bury ‘Em Deep is a gritty Western that channels the spirit of classic black-and-white-era Westerns with a tale of redemption, revenge, and buried treasure.
Link Murdoch (Robert Bronzi), a hardened bounty hunter, rides into a dusty frontier town to collect on a bounty with Sheriff Sykes (Michael Paré). But tensions rise when it’s revealed that the dead man is the deputy’s second cousin, and the sheriff refuses to pay. The confrontation escalates quickly—Link sets fire to the sheriff’s office, triggering a gunfight in the street. Wounded in the chaos, Link is rescued and nursed back to health by Sister Marie (Rosanna Wyant), a devoted nun who runs a nearby orphanage. As he recovers, she urges him to turn away from violence (particularly murder) and follow God’s path, planting the seed for redemption.
When a ruthless banker visits Sister Marie to inform her that the bank is foreclosing on the orphanage, Link sees a chance to redeem himself. Promising to cover the debt as a path to salvation, he sets out for a remote Confederate graveyard where he buried his bounty earnings long ago. The graveyard, hidden deep in the wilderness, holds the fortune he hoped never to touch again—but now, it’s the key to saving the only place that ever offered him peace.
Link’s goal of redemption is derailed along the way, facing dangerous foes and reluctant allies. He takes shelter with an old man without his knowledge, only to be captured and escape once more. Meanwhile, the vengeful Sheriff Sykes targets Sister Marie as part of his plan to eliminate Link once and for all. From outlaw hideouts to saloons and brothels, Link faces the consequences of his past in a final effort to set things right.
A tense standoff unfolds in a pumpkin patch in Bury ‘Em Deep.
“The graveyard… holds the fortune he hoped never to touch again.”
Right from the start, you’ll see that Bury ‘Em Deep is a low-budget B-movie Western, and with Robert Bronzi in the lead, it leans deep into all the tropes of the lawless West. Bronzi plays Link as a man hardened by violence, but when he meets a very sexy nun, he realizes that there is a better way—all he has to do is atone for his sins with cash.
The rest of the film is Link trying to do right, but the bad guys are always standing in the way. Like a good Western, we meet characters along the way, and with Link, we’re forced to wonder if they are on our side or want us dead. What is so great about this story is that there is a major heel-turn to kick off the third act, and this is where we’re given everything we want from the genre: gun fight, blood, and “how the hell do our heroes get out?”
The biggest hurdle you’ll have to get over with Bury ‘Em Deep is the small budget. Hollywood ain’t making Westerns anymore unless it can be turned into a The Power of the Dog-like storyline or a four-part Horizon epic. Once you get past the budget issues, you’re left with an exciting Western led by a hero you can believe in—Bronzi.
In the end, Bury ‘Em Deep delivers a blood-soaked path to redemption through the eyes of a man desperate to right his past wrongs. Michael Fredianelli transports us to the brutal and unforgiving frontier, where violence is currency and salvation is earned the hard way. For Link Murdoch, redemption comes not from the preacher’s pulpit, but from the smoking barrel of a gun.
"…gunfight, blood, and ‘how the hell do our heroes get out?’"
In my humble opinion, low budget equals greater creativity. This is certainly the case with Bury ‘Em Deep. Not your average, ho hum western. I highly recommend!