The Badlanders

This is the kind of film that you want to find when you sit down on a Sunday afternoon to have some "TV time".

Alad Ladd is as solid and dependable as ever with his usual "cool and unruffled" persona and is probably the least effective of all of the leads!

Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado initially look like an unlikely pairing but as the film progresses they "gel" more and more. It would also appear to have been an inspired piece of casting as the actors themselves "paired up" during this film and married the following year of its release! For me the two are the real stand-out performers in this film.

I don't want to say too much more on the other characters for fear of giving plot away but suffice to say there is not a stinker amongst them although I have to say that I felt Claire Smith as Ada Winton was a bit invisible to the point where I actually thought a the end of the film "Oh, is she back then; where did she come from?"

One thing that has puzzled me however is who was the actress that played Vincente's wife? It looked as if it could have been a young Natalie Wood but despite a speaking role (of sorts), there is no credit for her. Whoever it was she has some of the most expressive eyes seen since the silent days!

Overall however and enjoyable yarn with a good solid cast providing a good solid performance.

Satisfying tale of 2 paroled prisoners who set up to rob a mine belonging to the men who railroaded them into prison. Nice photography, somewhat slack pace. Good characterizations, especially by Borgnine and Jurado. Borgy plays a good man for a change, affecting the Chaneyesque character transformation from violent, angry inmate to a strong-willing individualist on the way to Mexico with the stolen loot. The heroes are surprisingly trusting, given that they had already been cheated by their new "employers". Nice tone, little substance or action.

Toward the end, there is a scene that I recognized almost word for word from a similar scene in The Asphalt Jungle, then I realized that the whole thing is a close approximation. The family man safe cracker is the family man "powder monkey", the heavy Borgine is the thug Sterling Hayden (with their girlfriends of questionable repute), the financiers with their bought lawmen and molls are the same, the caper is similar. This one is a bit more lightweight than the former.

Maybe it would have worked better as a noir in B&W but not a bad film.

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

The other reviews pretty much explain what this movie is all about. I would like to add a couple of thoughts.

First, this is probably Alan Ladd's last quality production. The photography and locations are all very good, and the cast is solid. Compare those aspects with Ladd's subsequent films, such as "Man in the Net" and "Guns of the Timberland." Those two are definitely disappointing, not up to the standards of a star who excelled in films such as "This Gun for Hire," "The Blue Dahlia," and "Shane".

Second, the ending undermines the film's impact. Viewers who have seen "The Asphalt Jungle" will attest to the fact that the very grim conclusion of that classic seems inevitable and fitting. In the case of "The Badlanders," I suspect that Ladd himself rejected any such ending (if in fact such had been contemplated).

(By the way, the same can be said for an earlier Ladd film. "Thunder in the East" also has a happy ending that virtually defines the term deus ex machina. Had the principles all been killed in that one, it would have had a tragic quality that would have made it much better.)

"The Badlanders" is a good film (though not a great one) despite the above criticism. Had it appeared right after "Shane," it might have been a major hit. Unfortunately, by 1958 Alan Ladd's personal decline was all too evident. Perhaps it was too late for a Ladd film, even a good one, to break through.