Badman's Country

Remember the old Godzilla movies where every monster would show up and either fight with or against Godzilla? This western has the same idea. In this movie, Pat Garrett, Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp go up against Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Was Wild Bill Hickcock and Doc Holliday busy that day? Standard Western except that the humor is strangely lacking in this movie. Malcom Atterbury as Buffalo Bill is supposed to be the comic sidekick but he doesn't provide a whole lot of laughs. I am most likely reading way too much into this but when George Montgomery's Pat Garrett is giving his big speech to the town leaders about how it is their duty to stop Butch Cassidy because he will eventually destroy their town, I kept thinking about the arguments used for the Vietnam buildup, which happened a few years after this movie was made. I doubt director Fred Sears planned the similarity but if he did it was very subtle and clever. Hard to believe that Russell Johnson (the Professor on Gilligan's Island!) was the ruthless Sundance Kid. Fans of B-westerns should enjoy this movie.

And also Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, Calamity Jane and Belle Starr should be there ha ha ha ...I don't know if we are supposed to laugh in front of such idiocy. However, I know that many westerns were like this one, using so many legends of the West to write improbable and stupid stories. Wyatt Earp never met Butch Cassidy nor Wild Biill Hickock. But Bat masterson, I think yes, although. But try to forget to this nonsense and try to appreciate this little western made by the ambitionless Fred S Sears. It is after all fun to watch and easy to bear and if you are a petty Fred Sears - not fan, I hope for you - follower, you can try it. Neville Brand, George Montgomery, Buster Crabbe; forget the idiocy.

Talk about wish fulfillment! Badman's Country appeared on screen at just about the time when B westerns were disappearing owing to TV, which had already lionized Wyatt Earp (Hugh O'Brian) and Bat Masterson (Alan Dinehart and, later, Gene Barry) and would shortly do so for Pat Garrett (Barry Sullivan). Here, all three (played by different performers, of course) are collected together (along with an aging Buffalo Bill, who apparently deserted his Wild West show to join in this gunfight) to find Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and The Wild Bunch. The simple fact that none of this is in any way historical (other than the characters' names) hardly dims the modest fun of a solid B western with a grand slam shoot-out finale. Incidentally, Neville Brand, who plays Butch here, also did the role as the lead in The Three Outlaws, which I'll bet you anything William Goldman saw before he wrote his famous 1969 movie on the subject! Buster Crabbe, in one of his final roles, makes for an intriguing Wyatt Earp. This might be considered something of an apotheosis of all the B western scenarios coming together for the low-budget predecessor to How the West Was Won. Great fun, of a certain sort, and never a dull moment.

Pat Garrett gets shot at while going to Abilene. He's a bit out of his stomping grounds in New Mexico territory. But he's marrying a girl from Abilene., Karin Booth. George Montgomery plays Garrett and he's giving up law enforcement and settling down.

But when some of Butch Cassidy's and the Sundance Kid's Hole In The Wall gang are spotted around town Montgomery knows something is up. Coming to help are Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson played by Buster Crabbe and Gregory Walcott in from Dodge City. Not only them but Buffalo Bill Cody (Malcolm Atterbury) is on the scene also.

Neville Brand and Russell Johnson are Butch and Sundance. Montgomery and his team want to stand up to the gang. They have to deal with Morris Ankrum the mayor who just wants them all to go away.

A nicely staged shootout is the climax of this B western.

Ironic though because for a while Abilene had Wild Bill Hickok as its marshal.

Routine, by-the-numbers western about Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill and Bat Masterson joining forces--which, in reality, never happened--to fight off Butch Cassidy and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang in their attack on Abilene, Texas, to rob a bank--which, in reality, never happened either. But even if there weren't the overabundance of historical inaccuracies in this film, it still wouldn't be very good. It's a very low-budget affair and its cheapness shows in every frame, from the cardboard sets to the poorly lit and badly photographed exterior scenes. The action scenes are few and far between and not done very well when they do occur; the setpiece near the end, when the bandits attack the town, is predictable, poorly staged and about as exciting as watching paint dry. It's got a decent supporting cast-- Morris Ankrum, Buster Crabbe, Malcolm Atterbury, Richard Devon--but star George Montgomery just seems to be going through the motions and Neville Brand is sorely miscast as head bad guy Butch Cassidy. Fred F. Sears was a mediocre director at best, and he doesn't rise above his reputation with this film.

The "novelty" of having a group of real-life figures working together may be enough of a reason to watch this dull, listless oater for some people, but that's pretty much all--if anything--it has going for it.