A Fistful of Bullets

Somewhere down in Texas, after the Civil War. Mexican bandit Al Stone (real name Alejandro Ramrez) and his gang rob a diligence belonging to the Donald Stephenson Company, carrying $500,000. The news spread and as Al and his men head to Mexico, a bounty is put on their heads, quickly gaining the attention of three men: African American bounty hunter Ichabod Smith, sadistic U.S. Marshall Derek Milton, and former Union General Daniel Rush. Each one of them decides to find Al for different reasons. Ichabod sees Al as his next bounty. Milton is hired by Donald Stephenson himself to track him down and find the money Al stole. General Rush wants to recover the stolen money as it was a payment from Stephenson to him after helping him exterminate some Native American tribes so he could take their land. The three men go on a separate quest to find Al. Meanwhile, Al Stone and his men arrive at Ahumada, a small town in Northern Mexico, from where Al is originally from. He meets his father, Father Fernando, who initially rejects him and asks him to go as he is disappointed by the criminal life that Al chose. Al refuses to leave and takes an old hacienda as a hideout for his gang. Ichabod searches for Tigerlily Michaels, a prostitute known for her weakness for non-white men and who, sure enough, happens to be Al's lover. She was Al's last stop before leaving the country. After spending the night with her, Ichabod interrogates Tigerlily about Al. She denies knowing him, but her nervous attitude makes it clear to Ichabod that she knows him, and he decides to wait and see what she might do. While waiting, Ichabod also comes to the rescue of Hatchet, a young Apache girl from a group of drunk men. Hatchet reveals to Ichabod that she has seen him before and that she is impressed by his skill in dealing with white men. She asks him to train her so she can become a bounty hunter. While Ichabod initially refuses to do it, as he finds out that Hatchet has no family nor any place to go, Ichabod agrees to take her along with him. Since Al Stone and his gang are known for trying to rob/attack Donald Stephenson in the past, Stephenson's people have gathered a fair amount of information about his persona that they deliver to Marshall Milton. This allows Milton to make the same connection as Ichabod, and he searches for Tigerlily Michaels as well. After pretending to be a client, Milton interrogates Tigerlily and threatens to kill her if she doesn't take him to Al, taking advantage of his position as a law figure. Unable to do otherwise, Tigerlily Michaels agrees to it and leaves town the next day. While on Ahumada, Al's men get frustrated for being unable to use the money they stole. As tension rises, Al decides to throw a party so they can have fun. Much to Father Fernando's disapproval, the town welcomes Al's party and accepts his gang. Later on, Al questions himself about what he has done and the life he chose and has a deep conversation with his father, who tells him that it isn't too late to take the right path and give back the money. Al refuses, convinced that his is the only way justice can be done. As they talk, it is revealed that their people were once expelled from their land by General Rush, as well as that Al's mother was executed by his men. As Al reunites with his men again, he asks them to be ready for any fight that might come along the way. Unaware of Milton's presence, Ichabod and Hatchet follow Tigerlily. Ichabod comes to learn more about Hatchet's story and is revealed that her family and tribe were executed by General Rush and his men. She feels guilty about it and is convinced that the only reason why she remains alive is to suffer as punishment for a mistake she made during the execution that caused the death of her brother. While Ichabod doesn't tell her about it, it is also revealed that he lost his wife and daughter during the war. As Tigerlily makes a stop in the middle of the desert, Ichabod and Hatchet are ambushed by Milton, who is an old acquaintance from the war of Ichabod. Instead of killing them, Milton proposes Ichabod and Hatchet join forces against Al and his men, considering that Al has around twelve men. As they don't have any other choice, Ichabod and Hatchet agree on it. They arrive at Ahumada the next day and they are not welcomed. The town denies knowing anything about Al and seems ready to take violent measures against them if they don't go. As Milton spots the hacienda, he agrees to leave. Together with Ichabod, Milton watches the hacienda and finds Al and his men. They come up with a plan to enter the hacienda while leaving Tigerlily under the watch of Hatchet (whom Ichabod refuses to take along to battle). Father Fernando informs Al about Ichabod and Milton, and Al orders his men to be on their guard when something that neither Al nor Ichabod or Milton were expecting, happens. General Rush and his platoon arrive. Father Fernando tries to convince General Rush that Al isn't there and asks him to go. General Rush threatens to burn down the entire town if he doesn't tell him the truth. Still, Father Fernando refuses and General Rush kills him. As his men are about to burn down the town, a local girl reveals that Al's men are hiding in the hacienda and they attack it. Al's men have no choice but to fight Rush's men and a big shootout begins. Ichabod and Milton take advantage of the chaos to break into the hacienda, while Tigerlily Michaels escapes from Hatchet to warn Al. Hatchet runs after her and they arrive at the hacienda at the same time as Rush's men do. As Hatchet comes to find some of the men who killed her family, she tries to fight them but is overwhelmed by them. As everything seems lost to Hatchet, the explosion of a dynamite deposit in the hacienda interrupts all the fights and saves her, while also killing half of Rush's men. By the end of the battle, all of Al's men are dead except for him. Ichabod finds Al and asks him about the stolen money. A surprised Al tells him that the money is hidden, but that he will reveal to him its location in exchange for his help: Al wants Ichabod to take him to meet Donald Stephenson so he can kill him with his own hands. Tigerlily Michaels knocks Milton and tries to save him from Ichabod, but Ichabod agrees on Al's proposal. Seeing how the explosion defeated Rush's men, the town decides to attack. Rush and his remaining men retreat. As the town finds Al, they ask him to leave to not have any more problems. Al agrees. He says goodbye to his dead father and leaves together with Ichabod, Hatchet, and Tigerlily Michaels, while Marshall Milton disappears without a trace. Knowing that it wouldn't be more likely to have an African American man and an Apache girl taking a Mexican bandit to someone like Donald Stephenson, Ichabod, and Al agree to seek the help of Ichabod's old friend, Sheriff Madsen. Madsen agrees and tags along to turn Al to Stephenson, unaware of Al's own plan of vengeance. Meanwhile, Milton is found by General Rush and his men. While they initially think it would be a good idea to kill him, Milton convinces them that they are on the same side as he was hired by Stephenson, and Rush agrees to let him live as long as they can take him along with them on their way to meet Stephenson and explain to him why he failed in recovering the money. Ichabod, Sheriff Madsen, Hatchet, and Tigerlily Michaels arrive at Donald Stephenson's ranch to turn Al. There, they find Milton and Rush. As Hatchet sees Rush, she recognizes him as the man who shot her and left her to die. Noticing her tense reaction, Ichabod understands the connection between them... a connection that becomes clear for everyone as Stephenson is about to pay Ichabod for taking Al to him, and Al begins to mention different towns and places that Stephenson and Rush destroyed in the past. Stephenson orders Al to shut up, while Sheriff Madsen becomes interested in how are Stephenson and Rush connected to them. As Al reveals himself to be a victim of their evil doing, Al takes out a hidden knife and stabs Stephenson over and over again. Chaos breaks loose and Ichabod fights Stephenson's men, while Hatchet attacks General Rush and chases him around the ranch. Sheriff Madsen has no choice but to help Ichabod. Milton, on the other hand, decides to help Al after he gets shot, hoping that he will tell him where the money is. A wounded Stephenson tries to escape from Al, but Al catches him very quickly, shooting at his knees. Reproaching Stephenson for all the evil actions he has committed, Al executes Stephenson by shooting at his hands, crotch, and then his head. As Al thinks about what his father told him about how vengeance wouldn't bring any real satisfaction, Al dies from his wounds. Milton finds him too late and decides to search for Ichabod, believing he might know where Al has hidden the money. As the enraged Hatchet chases Rush across the ranch, Ichabod goes after her, protecting her from Rush's men. Having come to see her as the daughter he lost during the war, Ichabod tries to take her out of there as soon as possible but Hatchet is way too deep in her revenge quest and has nothing on her mind but to kill Rush whatever it takes. Much to everyone's surprise, Hatchet's rage actually plays in her favor and she manages to kill several of Rush's men on her own especially by the time she manages to get a Gatling gun and executes most of them in a rain of bullets. Only Rush manages to hide from her attack and shoots Hatchet. Ichabod tries to interfere, but he is shot by Stephenson's helper, Kate McBain. As Kate is about to kill Ichabod, Milton arrives and kills Kate. As Ichabod has been badly wounded, he is unable to help Hatchet. As General Rush is about to execute Hatchet, she gathers all of her strength and hits him in the head with her hatchet. As Rush loses control of his body, Hatchet tells him "You know, this is personal" (a reference to the time he left her to die, telling her that it wasn't personal) and kills him. Milton sees Hatchet's victory and informs a dying Ichabod about it. Then he asks him about the money, to which Ichabod denies any knowledge. Milton tells Ichabod that if he doesn't tell him, he will force him to kill Hatchet. Ichabod tells Milton that Al hid the money inside the church in Ahumada town. Milton thanks him, warning him that if he lied to him, he would have to go after Hatchet. As Milton is about to leave, Hatchet finds him and knocks him down. Hatchet finds the wounded Ichabod and tries to help him, but is too late. Ichabod asks her not to continue on her path of vengeance and death as no one lasts too long in that kind of life and Hatchet promises him not to. Ichabod dies. As the battle ends, Sheriff Madsen and Tigerlily Michaels find Hatchet. They bury Ichabod and Al, and Hatchet and Tigerlily Michaels leave together, taking an unconscious, tied-up Milton along with them. Milton wakes up hours later and the two women decide to abandon him in the middle of the desert, wounded and tied. As Milton reproaches them, asking them if they know what they are doing and who is he, they reply that they do and laugh as they leave him to his luck. In a post-credit scene, it is revealed that the money is actually hidden inside Father Fernando's church and is found by an altar boy.