Rating: 
Summary: "I'd still give her the odds."
Review: "Bad Company" is a western set in the 1860s. When soldiers arrive at the Dixon family home to collect son Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) as a new conscript, his family arrange to smuggle him out of the civil war zone to safety. The family has already lost one son to the civil war, and they don't want to lose another, so the naive, straight laced, callow Drew leaves home. He almost immediately runs into trouble, and soon bands together with a group of young ruffians, headed by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges). Drew bands together with these other young men mainly due to necessity and the fact they also have the same goal--more or less. But meeting Rumsey and his gang is just the beginning of Drew's misadventures.
Unfortunately "Bad Company", like so many other films from the 70s, is dated. It's not gritty enough to be realistic, and interesting dilemmas and scenes that occur in the film are interspersed with bonhomie that detracts from the film's message. Oddly enough there are also a few scenes of somewhat gratuitous violence to animals, and this is presented in rather graphic detail--the close up of a shot rabbit, for instance. The young Jeff Bridges is interesting to watch--a talent in embryo--but his presence is insufficient to spark great interest in the film--displacedhuman.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Company
Review: Jeez, how many movies have been named `Bad Company?' Well, this is the best I've seen...I got this one off of e-bay for cheap -had been curious to see it, but unable to find it to rent anywhere. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. The only actor I'd ever heard of was Jeff Bridges. This is a nice little movie...well, not nice, per say, but well done. Good script about a young man named Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) who leaves home with a hundred dollars in his shoe to avoid being drafted into the Civil War after his elder brother is killed. He heads out west into the territories, expecting to make a living mining silver, and is promptly mugged by Jeff Bridges, a mostly likable young orphan who has taken a gaggle of other urchins under his wing. Because of an eminent misunderstanding, Drew has to throw in with Jake and his gang, and after conning them into thinking he robbed a dry goods store with his fists, he funds their migration West. This is an alternately funny and disturbing little movie with some lesser known, but good actors (John Savage of The Deer Hunter, Geoffery Lewis of many Clint Eastwood movies, etc) and believable writing. I don't know how it got a PG rating, though -a small child has the top of his head blown off, the boys take turns with a man's prostitute wife (the implications alone are enough to warrant at least a PG-13, but I guess they didn't have that back then), and there's a good dose of violence. But its all told very well. Less Hollywood and more accurate, in the vein of The Long Riders. A subtle, small film that follows these kids across the plains as they tangle with bandits, the law, and ultimately each other's loyalties and truths. Ending was a little bit nebulous, but this is a slow paced, meandering kind of film (still holds the attention, though -when Jake and Drew face down the baddies over Drew's watch towards the end - nice! Good gunfight!). A great study of character and the less popular, more gritty Old West. I honestly don't know how it ever got made, but I'm glad it did.
Rating:
Summary: Good Company
Review: Jeez, how many movies have been named `Bad Company?' Well, this is the best I've seen... I got this one off of e-bay for cheap -had been curious to see it, but unable to find it to rent anywhere. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. The only actor I'd ever heard of was Jeff Bridges. This is a nice little movie...well, not nice, per say, but well done. Good script about a young man named Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) who leaves home with a hundred dollars in his shoe to avoid being drafted into the Civil War after his elder brother is killed. He heads out west into the territories, expecting to make a living mining silver, and is promptly mugged by Jeff Bridges, a mostly likable young orphan who has taken a gaggle of other urchins under his wing. Because of an eminent misunderstanding, Drew has to throw in with Jake and his gang, and after conning them into thinking he robbed a dry goods store with his fists, he funds their migration West. This is an alternately funny and disturbing little movie with some lesser known, but good actors (John Savage of The Deer Hunter, Geoffery Lewis of many Clint Eastwood movies, etc) and believable writing. I don't know how it got a PG rating, though -a small child has the top of his head blown off, the boys take turns with a man's prostitute wife (the implications alone are enough to warrant at least a PG-13, but I guess they didn't have that back then), and there's a good dose of violence. But its all told very well. Less Hollywood and more accurate, in the vein of The Long Riders. A subtle, small film that follows these kids across the plains as they tangle with bandits, the law, and ultimately each other's loyalties and truths. Ending was a little bit nebulous, but this is a slow paced, meandering kind of film (still holds the attention, though -when Jake and Drew face down the baddies over Drew's watch towards the end - nice! Good gunfight!). A great study of character and the less popular, more gritty Old West. I honestly don't know how it ever got made, but I'm glad it did.
Rating: 
Summary: The best movie you've never seen
Review: Jeff Bridges made two great, underappreciated movies in 1972 - the John Huston directed FAT CITY and BAD COMPANY. Audience indifference to FAT CITY has always baffled me. As of today I have a new conundrum to puzzle over. BAD COMPANY is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.
It's 1863 and the Union army is rounding up draft dodgers. Young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), with parental blessings, prayers and one hundred dollars in traveling money, lights out for the territories beyond the reach of the US Army. His journey stalls out as soon as he reaches `St. Jo''. The army is there in force and transportation west is scarce. It's only a matter of time before he's discovered, and the penalty this time might result in his death.
Drew stumbles upon a group of homeless young ruffians, nominally led by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges), and in short order he joins them. On mule and horse the six young men bid farewell to the United States and head west for Virginia City. As Drew tells us in a voice-over narration, "I've fallen in with some rough types, but it seems to be the only way I can get to the west and make my parents proud."
BAD COMPANY looks beautiful. Most of the action takes place out of doors, on the golden prairie `neath a cerulean blue sky. Even the few indoor shots don't look like typical studio sets - when Jake and Drew have a little set-to in a house the props have weight to them, and chairs and tables don't collapse when fallen upon. The editing and acting add to the naturalistic feeling. Director Robert Benton allows scenes to play themselves through, and he allows the actors time and room to find the meaning of scenes. It helps tremendously that Bridges is cast in the lead role - even at this early stage of his career his charisma and instincts are in full play.
The plot is a bit of a shaggy dog and it takes a few unexpected twists and turns, but things never feel forced. For instance, after a couple days on the road the boys come across a farmer and his wife heading east. The farmer gave up and is heading back home, done in by twisters and cattle men and "pure d-rotten soil." The scene might have ended there, it was a natural end point, but Benton extends it and has the farmer make a rather surprising offer to the boys involving his wife. It's a decision that could have ruined the scene and maimed the movie if done wrong. It is handled so smoothly, though, that it's utterly convincing.
BAD COMPANY is a great movie that deserves better than the anonymity it's been languishing in for the last three decades or so. WARNING: BAD COMPANY is rated PG but there are some scenes in it that might make it unsuitable for younger viewers. A wild rabbit is shot and killed in one scene, a man is hanged in another unedited scene. Also, there's quite a bit of bad language coming out of young mouths, including racial epithets.
Rating:
Summary: The best movie you've never seen
Review: Jeff Bridges made two great, underappreciated movies in 1972 - the John Huston directed FAT CITY and BAD COMPANY. Audience indifference to FAT CITY has always baffled me. As of today I have a new conundrum to puzzle over. BAD COMPANY is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.
It's 1863 and the Union army is rounding up draft dodgers. Young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), with parental blessings, prayers and one hundred dollars in traveling money, lights out for the territories beyond the reach of the US Army. His journey stalls out as soon as he reaches 'St. Jo''. The army is there in force and transportation west is scarce. It's only a matter of time before he's discovered, and the penalty this time might result in his death.
Drew stumbles upon a group of homeless young ruffians, nominally led by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges), and in short order he joins them. On mule and horse the six young men bid farewell to the United States and head west for Virginia City. As Drew tells us in a voice-over narration, "I've fallen in with some rough types, but it seems to be the only way I can get to the west and make my parents proud."
BAD COMPANY looks beautiful. Most of the action takes place out of doors, on the golden prairie 'neath a cerulean blue sky. Even the few indoor shots don't look like typical studio sets - when Jake and Drew have a little set-to in a house the props have weight to them, and chairs and tables don't collapse when fallen upon. The editing and acting add to the naturalistic feeling. Director Robert Benton allows scenes to play themselves through, and he allows the actors time and room to find the meaning of scenes. It helps tremendously that Bridges is cast in the lead role - even at this early stage of his career his charisma and instincts are in full play.
The plot is a bit of a shaggy dog and it takes a few unexpected twists and turns, but things never feel forced. For instance, after a couple days on the road the boys come across a farmer and his wife heading east. The farmer gave up and is heading back home, done in by twisters and cattle men and "pure d-rotten soil." The scene might have ended there, it was a natural end point, but Benton extends it and has the farmer make a rather surprising offer to the boys involving his wife. It's a decision that could have ruined the scene and maimed the movie if done wrong. It is handled so smoothly, though, that it's utterly convincing.
BAD COMPANY is a great movie that deserves better than the anonymity it's been languishing in for the last three decades or so. WARNING: BAD COMPANY is rated PG but there are some scenes in it that might make it unsuitable for younger viewers. A wild rabbit is shot and killed in one scene, a man is hanged in another unedited scene. Also, there's quite a bit of bad language coming out of young mouths, including racial epithets.
Rating: 
Summary: Elegant, "tough times on the frontier" western
Review: No, this isn't an action-comedy with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. This is a little-known Western from the early 1970s that deserves a revival of interest. It's gritty, realistic, often funny, well-acted, and unlike most people's expectations of what the Western should be. Fans of the genre, as well as those to claim not to like Westerns at all, should give it a try. "Bad Company" shows how the American Western was changing in the early 70s. The influence of the Italian Westerns of the 60s caused American directors to take a fresh look at the genre, and by the time of "Bad Company" some excellent directors were finding a new, unique voice in the old world of the horse operas. Robert Benton, who co-wrote "Bonnie and Clyde" and would later helm "Kramer vs. Kramer," makes his directorial debut here and does a teriffic, low-key job. The film shows the irony of "go west, young man" through its story of a band of young toughs who venture into the promise of the frontier only to find deprivation, cruelty, and death. It's a grim and realistic premise, devoid of old-fashioned Western heroics, but the movie has a certain lightness and joy as well. The recent smash hit "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" had a definite influence on the relationship between the leads here, Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown. Bridges is superb and convincing in his part, and David Huddleston has great presence in his unusual villain role. The photography is glowing and romantic despite the gritty story, but it works wonderfully at evoking the time period. A highly recommended film for people who want something a bit different with their Western.
Rating:
Summary: An artful, reflective, unusual western
Review: One of the best anti-heroic westerns I've seen... A young, brash Jeff Bridges stars as Jake Rumsey, the putative leader of a disorganized "gang" of adolescent boys, set adrift amid the lawlessness of the Civil War-era West. The boys teeter between adulthood and adolescence, abject fear and murderous amorality, and as they wander through the bleak, vacant prairie, they have no signposts -- figurative or literal -- to guide them. Although the subject matter is pretty raw, the film is surprisingly circumspect (visually, at least), and the violence and pain it portrays is all given a complete context, and full emotional depth. It's a surprising film, with a deceptively simple structure weighed against a deeply pessimistic view of human nature. It's also one of those superior westerns that feels absolutely, completely convincing. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An artful, reflective, unusual western
Review: One of the best anti-heroic westerns I've seen... A young, brash Jeff Bridges stars as Jake Rumsey, the putative leader of a disorganized "gang" of adolescent boys, set adrift amid the lawlessness of the Civil War-era West. The boys teeter between adulthood and adolescence, abject fear and murderous amorality, and as they wander through the bleak, vacant prairie, they have no signposts -- figurative or literal -- to guide them. Although the subject matter is pretty raw, the film is surprisingly circumspect (visually, at least), and the violence and pain it portrays is all given a complete context, and full emotional depth. It's a surprising film, with a deceptively simple structure weighed against a deeply pessimistic view of human nature. It's also one of those superior westerns that feels absolutely, completely convincing. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The way the west was....
Review: Picturesque yet grotesque, heart-warming yet so bitingly real, 'Bad Company' depicts a Western landscape which had really only been trod upon before in the Spaghetti westerns of the mid to late Sixties. This is as much a poignant exhibition of friendship under duress as it is a shotgun shell in the face of America regarding her sordid conditions in the last century. Brown comes to us as a hero flawed solely by his uprightness and his plight is severe enough for the viewer to sense suspense right away. The picture opens with a caged wagon of rounded-up pre-facto deserters of the Union Army before showing the brutality of the press gang tactics used by the Yankees in dramatic operation. By the time Brown escapes and meets Bridges, his life has become precious to us; and yet soon we are introduced to Bridges and his band of adolescent and pre-pubescent outlaws and adopt them as protagonists just as readily. 'Bad Company' is a tale of sharp realism, involving every dirty piece of laundry the Old West had inherent to it. There's shooting, mugging, prostitution, hanging, robbery, bush-whacking and the justly shocking sequence when, after a botched attempt to steal food, the youngest member of the gang (about 10 yrs old) gets shot in the head with a ten gauge. The film is very well presented by director Benton who wastes no time in using the rural backdrop as a hunting and hunted ground for the roaming youngsters. The viewer is forced to feel the misery of the wet, the adrenalin surges of the chase scenes, the fear of sleeping in the open and every other emotion conjurable in the boys' predicament. There is not one bit of embellishment here or effort made to ensure a happy ending and that's the way it should be. This is truly a landmark movie in American cinema and it predates the likes of Eastwood's first American attempt at dark Westerns in 'High Plains Drifter' by a year or so. Any humour, pathos or thrills are generated wholly by natural, realistic causation in 'Bad Company'. More importantly, the symbolism of the gentile young man corrupted by the conditions of the country he had wanted to succeed in comes to the viewer's senses in so unexpected a manner that it borderlines the subliminal. 'Bad Company' doesn't show how the West was won but, rather, just how it was and that is a difference which is immeasurably better than watching anything Gary Cooper, Gene Autry or John Wayne-oriented to make sense of the phenomenon.
Rating:
Summary: My favourite Western ever
Review: This film makes you believe that this is how it was as the characters slide into outlawhood. It's just a great shame the sound on the disk is so terrible.
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