The Badlanders (1958)

One of my all time favorites.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Two ex-cons plan a gold heist from a mine that was stolen from one of them.The movie's uneven, with several compelling parts (the gang assault on Anita {Jurado}, the overhead shots of the mobs coming together). But there's also a slackness, particularly in the undercover mining sequence, which should have been more riveting. I hate to say so, but Alan Ladd (Dutchman) appears too laid back to be convincing as a gang leader. Maybe that's why a lively Borgnine (McBain) gets equal screen time. At this stage of his career, Ladd was apparently drinking heavily and unfortunately it shows.Director Daves was responsible for a number of superior westerns during this period, including 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and Jubal (1956), among others. In fact, he's one of the more underrated western filmmakers of the studio period. Too bad this project doesn't measure up to the caliber of his better ones. I suspect it's because of uneven pacing and Ladd's lack of assertiveness.Anyway, the thread with Borgnine and Jurado is rather touching, along with the silent crowd of Mexicans apparently too intimidated to intervene during the attempted rape. The racial aspect is present without being played up, a nicely subtle touch. Still, the 80-some minutes are generally too uneven to add up to anything memorable.

As a western remake of "The Asphalt Jungle," THE BADLANDERS falls far short of the mark. Nowhere is the suspense that John Huston got out of his concrete jungle evident here. Instead, director Delmer Daves manages to keep the tale fairly taut amid western locales with the usual assortment of good and bad motives for his leading players.Ladd gives his usual self-assured portrayal as a man unjustly serving time in prison, but it's Ernest Borgnine who has the strongest role and makes the most of it. Furthermore, his teaming with Katy Jurado (his then wife in real life) makes for some of the story's best scenes.Filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor, with good use of all the location photography, it's really little more than a standard western with some good action scenes and a capable cast, including Kent Smith as a silky smooth villain and Anthony Caruso in another one of his tough guy roles. The female interest is scarce and hardly worth mentioning.With a stronger background score, this might have been a much more intriguing film. As it is, it passes the time pleasantly enough but don't expect nail biting suspense, as in the Huston film, even though it involves a gold robbery heist.

The Badlanders is directed by Delmer Daves (Broken Arrow/3:10 to Yuma) and it stars Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine, Claire Kelly & Katy Jurado. It's based on W.R. Burnett's novel The Asphalt Jungle, only with a Western variation as opposed to John Huston's film noir movie of the same name from 1950. The plot follows Peter Van Hoek, known as the Dutchman (Ladd), and John McBain (Borgnine), as they get released from Arizona Territorial Prison in Yuma in 1898. Tho not together, they both head for the mining town of Prescott where they have issues and scores to settle. An intricate plan involving stealing gold from the Lisbon Mine is hatched, it's a chance to get rich, get revenge or maybe get killed?It's really just a solid piece of film, Ladd & Borgnine play it right, and with Daves adding his customary flecks of humour, it's never less than entertaining. Even the two handed romantic sub-plots {two girls/two guys you see} is competently handled, with the Jurado/Borgnine coupling given weight since they both would become married to each other the following year. Shot in Metrocolor and Cinemascope it isn't found wanting visually, particularly the work in and around Tuscon, Arizona. The problem for many will be its talky centre, this is a film that has very little action. Except for a good old punch up as Borgnine tackles three rebel rouser's types, and the inevitable double cross based finale, the film is more concerned with forming bonds and educating in the way of getting gold out the mine. The latter of which was really interesting to me personally, but it could go either way for anyone else. You will also yearn for some flesh on the bones of the villains {Kent Smith is especially weak}, because they are barely formed, thus rendering the revenge core almost redundant.It's an above average time filler, but a film where all the principals were operating safely to earn their pay. 6/10

This is one of Delmer Daves' less ambitious westerns, but also one of his best. You would not see Alan Ladd playing more complex characters, like Richard Widmark, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford or James Stewart, which were in other Daves' westerns. But Daves was able to make the most out of it and Badlanders is an entertaining, fast paced western, about two men who have been cheated out of what belonged to them, and decide to rob a mine. They would get rich and also revenge themselves. Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado give the best performances of the film, both play people who have had a terrible life but find hope in each other's arms. Claire Kelly has a small, but significant role, as the mistress of the mine's owner. Badlanders deserves to be released in DVD with widescreen in order to take full advantage of the fact that it was filmed in Cinemascope.