IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| BAD LANDS (director: Lew Landers; screenwriters: story by Clarence Upson Young/; cinematographer: Frank Redman; editor: George Hively; music: Roy Webb; cast: Robert Barrat (Sheriff Bill Cummings), Addison Richards (Rayburn), Andy Clyde (Henry Cluff), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Billy Sweet), Francis Ford (Charlie Garth), Noah Beery, Jr. (Chick Lyman), Francis McDonald (Manuel Lopez), Douglas Walton (Mulford), Robert Coote (Eaton), Paul Hurst (Curly), John Payne (Apache Jack); Runtime: 70; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Robert Sisk; RKO; 1939) |
| "A
lesser remake of John Ford's Lost Patrol (1934).
"
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz A lesser remake of John Ford's Lost Patrol (1934).
Under
the forceful direction of Lew Landers ("A Yank in
Korea"/"Chain Gang"/"Jungle
Jim
in the Forbidden Land") the
western kicks
up some dust
with a theme that the law (symbolized by the honorable
sheriff)
survives man's greed and bad nature. Clarence Upson Young bases
the story and
script on Philip
MacDonald's
novel Patrol. But the screenplay is weak and never
clearly or
convincingly conveys its rich theme of civilization as
a biblical
battleground over good and evil. Set in the Arizona desert in
1875, a nine-man posse led by
the
incorruptible Sheriff Bill Cummings (Robert Barrat) is chasing
down Apache
Jack (John Payne), who killed
the bride of Manuel Lopez (Francis McDonald). Other posse members
besides a vengeful
crazed Lopez include cowboys Rayburn
(Addison
Richards), Chic Lyman (Noah Beery, Jr.) and Billy
Sweet (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams);
a young
Easterner who thinks he's a Jonah (jinx to others)
named Mulford (Douglas Walton);
frontiersman Curly (Paul
Hurst);
Eaton (Robert Coote), an Englishman who was
court martial-ed
from the British army; and two
eccentric prospectors named Cluff (Andy Clyde)
and Garth (Francis Ford). The posse discover on
the trail the body
of an advanced scout, killed by Apache Jack for his
horse. While deep
in the desert's wasteland, by an oasis, the
posse finds
several
skeletons near the watering hole, and Cluff
and Garth
find evidence nearby of a rich silver deposit. The
prospect of becoming
rich makes most of the men think only of possessing
the riches. The men
sleep by the silver deposit, but in the morning the
horses and Eaton
are missing. The sheriff soon realizes they are
trapped by the Apaches
and his men are being picked off
one at a time through spats among themselves and
from the Apaches. The sheriff kills Apache
Jack when he comes
out from behind the rocks to examine the graves of the
dead posse, when
thinking he killed off the posse, and then the sheriff
with Mulford
battles a group of Indians until only the sheriff is
left alive.
Afterwards the sheriff is rescued by the passing
cavalry, and can only
tell them the posse is all dead when asked where is
his posse. REVIEWED ON 10/25/2010 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |