The Badlanders (1958)

Recently released from prison, Alan Ladd and Ernest Borgnine head to the town where each was done wrong years before. Borgnine wants to go straight but Ladd has plans to rob a gold mine and asks Borgnine to join him. Delmer Daves directs this enjoyable western remake of The Asphalt Jungle. Alan Ladd is good in what is probably my favorite film of his post-Shane. He has nice chemistry with pretty Claire Kelly. Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado steal the movie playing very sympathetic likable characters. I was rooting for them to get a happy ending. Nice support from Nehemiah Persoff, Kent Smith, Robert Emhardt, and Adam Williams. Not one of the more appreciated films from Daves or the stars but it should be. I think if it weren't for it being in the shadow of the classic film noir it's a remake of, it would be more well-known.

Opening in Yuma prison this western gets off to a gritty start as we see a prisoner being flogged; he isn't one of our protagonists though; they are Peter 'The Dutchman' Van Hoek, a mining engineer framed for a robbery at the mine he worked in and John 'Mac' McBain, the conned out of the land the mine was built on. They are not friends though and Mac wants nothing to do with The Dutchman when he gets out of prison.Once out The Dutchman goes back to the mine via a disused shaft and goes to a disused section; here he heads straight to a large gold seam that he had discovered before but hadn't told the manager as he didn't trust him to reward him as promised. He takes a sample and goes to a rival mine owner and proposes that he will deliver the gold ore for smelting for $100,000; he estimates it is worth over twice that so both would be getting a good deal. To do it he must get help; Mac and an explosives expert... they must also time it perfectly so that they blast at the exact moment the miners in the active part of the mine blast so nobody notices the explosion.This western is essentially a classic heist movie the only difference is that rather than robbing a bank they are robbing ore from a mine. Alan Ladd and the recently deceased Ernest Borgnine do fine jobs as The Dutchman and Mac respectively. As with most westerns there is some female interest for the protagonists; Katy Jurado plays a Mexican woman who is rescued by Mac when set upon by thugs; this helps establish that his character is a good man at heart. The scenes in the mine are suitably claustrophobic and the outdoor scenes take full advantage of the Arizona landscape with stunning scenery and lots of towering cacti. The villains are suitably conniving making it satisfying when their plans are thwarted in the middle of a Mexican carnival. I'd certainly recommend this for fans of the western genre; especially if they are looking for something a little different.

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.

Allen Ladd and Ernest Bourgine did outstanding work in this horse opera. The plot, the acting, the sets, all work well. This is one of Ladds better films, Bourgnine always adds to a film, Katy Jerado of "High Noon" fame is just great, and the rest of the cast work well. It is just a little gem of a film.The one distraction is a no longer so often heard stock soundtrack of less than "A" feature quality. Maybe they were newer when the film was released, and maybe they have been given a rest so newer viewers will not recognize them, but I have heard these sound cuts far too often in many a 1960's western, TV show, horror film, documentary, and what not. I wonder how much better it would have been with a Dimitri Tiomkin, a Lionel Neuman, a Bernard Herrmann, or John Williams soundtrack. If they ever restore this, and it is worth restoring, I would have a new soundtrack done for it.Still, this is a good film, a great western, and worth a watch. It is out of print right now but you can catch it on cable or get a used VHS print on E bay. Superior horse opera!