Best of the Badmen (1951)

The Worst Film Ever

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

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

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Jeff Clanton (Robert Ryan) a major in the Union army, captures the remnants of the Quantrill Raiders which include the James brothers as well as the Youngers. Clanton is disposed to let them all go if they take an oath of allegiance, but Mathew Fowler (Robert Preston), the head of the Fowler Detective Agency, a private law enforcement outfit that protects the moneyed interests, has his eyes set on the impressive rewards each of the "badmen" has accrued, setting up what looks to be a pretty good story when Ryan is arrested and faces hanging. He sides with the "badmen" against Fowler, who seems to represent the emerging new order. Claire Trevor, who is supposed to be a saloon girl, is actually married to Fowler, but falls for Clanton. Her character makes zero sense and the movie makes less and less sense as it goes along, a disturbing trend which even the great Robert Preston can't turn around, though he's always worth watching.

That was Jack Buetel 's first part since the infamous "outlaw" and he is a bit too old for the part of an ingenuous young man in love with star Claire Trevor.Robert Ryan portrays a good man,generous and loyal ,who wants to give a second chance to renegades ,but he thwarts a hateful corrupt detective 's plans,is arrested and sentenced to death after a travesty of a trial:his enemy's wife ,who hates her husband ,helps him to escape and he becomes an outlaw,joining the men he wanted to rehabilitate.This is an action-packed western ,with chases,treason and a love affair,short and compact:there's never a dull moment. The badmen did really their best.

I realize some people have found this above average but I thought it was strictly pedestrian in all respects except its interesting cast: Robert Ryan, Claire Trevor, Walter Brennan, Robert Preston, Lawrence Tierney, Barton MacLane and the rest.Ryan is an admirable actor. He has considerable range, from sympathetic to evil, maybe better at "evil." As a bad guy he seems almost able to make his eyes gleam with intent, his muscles bunched, ready to spring. See him in "Crossfire" for a good example. For "sympathetic," try "The Wild Bunch." The villain in this Western is Preston, first as a rabid bounty hunter who gets Ryan cashiered from the post-war US Army, then as a zealous businessman who is out to get Ryan and the outlaw gang with which Ryan has a brittle relationship. The gang includes the James brothers and the Daltons.But nothing much develops that engages the viewer. Bands of horsemen gallop along dusty roads in pursuit of a lone rider. A stagecoach rattles and bumps along. A bullet must be painfully removed from a shoulder with a knife heated over an oil lamp. Walter Brennan, showing little in the way of his usual humor, holds two guns on an angry gang. Aside from the familiar shots, the story is full of implausibilities. Why would Trevor in full Western female panoply, complete with tall, flowered hat, stay so close to the gang during a hold up that she catches one of the bullets being exchanged.The climactic shoot out, a necessary catharsis, was over in the blink of an eye with little suspense or drama.And then there's the real history of the James gang. It kept nudging into my consciousness. They were really mean SOBs in life. The James family was of modest means, not poor, and owned several slaves. During the war, under the guise of guerrilla action, they committed all sorts of crimes and continued to do so after the war ended. They weren't motivated by pro-Confederate sentiments or revenge. They just wanted the money -- which they didn't give to the poor. They were thoroughly hateful, and Ryan's throwing in with them for personal reasons tainted his supposed virtue.It's the kind of movie you can watch without being challenged in any way, while your mind drifts and you worry about not having paid the gas bill yet.

I really do enjoy the westerns made by RKO around this time.They seemed to include just about every outlaw roaming the west throughout a period of 100 years.They also employed just about every Western character actor available at the time.This even has the advantage of Technicolour which shows that this was clearly an A film.RKO had clearly decided that if Universal were going to throw all their horror characters in one film they would do the same in Westerns.They would of course make sure that most of the Badmen survived so they could use them in another film.For me the standout performance was of Walter Brennan.Any film with him had a big plus.Also that favourite Warner gangster Bart Mclane.