BUDD (KILL BILL)

Kill Bill Characters
Budd
First Appearance	Kill Bill Vol. 1
Last Appearance	Kill Bill Vol. 2
Portrayer	Michael Madsen
Status	Deceased
Gender	Male
Alias	Sidewinder, victim #3
Occupation	Assassin
Location	United States, Barstow, California
Family	Bill (Brother)
Creator	Quentin Tarantino

'Budd' (played by Michael Madsen) is a fictional character in Quentin Tarantino film, ''Kill Bill''. Budd is a professional assassin, a member of his older brother Bill's Deadly Viper Assassination Squad under the codename 'Sidewinder', possibly to imply Budd's slippery nature.

Contents

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Trivia

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Along with the rest of the squad, he attacks and nearly kills former colleague Beatrix Kiddo (aka 'The Bride' or 'Black Mamba') at her wedding rehearsal, leaving her in a seemingly irreversible coma. When the Bride seeks vengeance, he is the third victim.
Over the next four years Budd abandons his old life for a meager existence in the outskirts of Barstow, California taking with him a Hattori Hanzō katana Bill had custom made for him. He later tells Bill that he pawned it in El Paso. Budd and Bill parted on bad terms, but not bad enough to keep Bill from coming to warn Budd personally of the Bride's intentions.

By the time Kiddo emerges from her coma and sets out for revenge against the other Vipers, Budd has degenerated into a broken-down (but still wily) alcoholic. He is not without remorse for what he has done, and tells Bill "That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die... but then again, so does she."

Kill Bill Vol. 2

That same night, Kiddo is outside his trailer, stalking him with her own Hanzō sword. Budd is ready and waiting for her, incapacitating her with a blast of rock salt from his shotgun into her chest before rendering her unconscious by inserting a syringe that contains a sedative into her. He proceeds to call Elle Driver, another former colleague, and offers to sell Kiddo's sword for one million dollars.

Budd and a crony take the unconscious Kiddo to a nearby cemetery to bury her alive. Kiddo wakes up to find her hands and feet are bound and, when Budd and his assistant attempt to pull her towards her coffin, tries to struggle free. Amused, Budd offers her the closest thing he can to mercy; behave, and he would let her have a flashlight six feet under ground; don't, and she would get a blast of mace in the eyes at point blank range. She chooses the flashlight, and then is placed inside of the wooden coffin, her hands rebound so she can hold the flashlight. Budd's final words to Kiddo are "This is for breaking my brother's heart." Budd then he nails the top down and buries her alive.
The next morning, Budd meets with Driver back at his trailer. After Budd assures her that Kiddo is in fact dead, they make their trade; Elle admires her new Hanzō sword, and Budd takes note of his new briefcase with the million dollars inside. After a brief conversation in which Budd asks Driver "which 'R'" she feels (relief or regret at the death of her greatest enemy), Budd opens the briefcase and is suddenly bitten on the face multiple times by a black mamba, which was hidden underneath the money by Elle. Driver gloats over him as he dies, answering his earlier question and stating that she feels, "regret that maybe the greatest warrior I have ever known met her end at the hands of a bushwhackin', scrub, alky piece of shit like you!" She then phones Bill, tells him Kiddo planted the snake in Budd's camper, and takes the money for herself.
Later, it's revealed Budd kept his Hanzō sword, after all. Kiddo, who survived her burial, finds it in Budd's camper and uses it against Driver. When Driver says she thought he pawned it, Kiddo merely quips "Well then I guess that makes him a liar, don't it?"

Trivia

★ Madsen has said he views his character as being the conscience of the film, given his character having walked away from his career as an assassin in pursuit of living a regular life.

★ The Bride never actually speaks to Budd.

★ Budd's codename is first found at the end of Volume 1. On the Bride's list, the word "Sidewinder" can be found under Budd's name.

★ Despite appearing to be the least competent (in terms of fighting prowess) or threatening of the DiVAS, Budd comes the closest to succeeding in killing the Bride.