Angel and the Bad Man

This is a remake of the classic 1947 John Wayne western about an injured gunslinger who falls in with good company in the form of some Quakers. Full of comedy and broad performances, the original includes some classic bits and a grand performance by Harry Carey Sr. at the end of his career. The people at Hallmark must have been hesitant to greenlight this production, but they manage to produce a pretty good movie as a result and on its own terms.

As with all good remakes, it takes the same material and spins it in a different direction. and the more serious tone of this version does work for the first half, when the contrast between Quirt's life and character is spoken about -- it's handled humorously in the original. Instead, the humor in this version is reserved for the section where Lou Phillips, as Quirt Evans, tries going back to his old life. The attempt to play comedy as Phillips grows more dissatisfied and disgusted with his fellow associates does not, alas, quite work.

It does remain a good character study, and among the supporting cast, a special note should be taken of Winston Rekert who plays the Harry Carey role -- a sheriff who had hoped to hang Quirt with a new rope. His is the toughest act to follow, and he manages it very nicely.

I am giving this a 10 because the voting score is unfairly low. Just to sum up I like movies such as Se7en, Old Boy, Fight Club, and Gypy 83. And this is a good movie.

Right away I was sucked into the atmosphere and cared about Diamond Phillips (Quirt). His acting in this movie is really good. Seriously underrated. Also the supporting actors are very good. The sheriff really sticks out in my mind when I say this. I'm am not writing about the story, you can read the description of the movie for that, but rather I decided to write about the feeling this movie gives people when they watch it. This is a hallmark film, something I am NOT used to watching, however I woke up one Saturday morn' and this was on. I saw Lou's and Luke Perry's name, and thought, "hmmm, if I don't like it in 5min I will watch ninja warrior or something", however I did not change the channel. this movie is not a sex driven, swear wording, extremely vulgar piece, but it reminds you of how a movie can be powerful and fun to watch with a little effort in iteration and translation. It is Enjoyable. I have read from others that Lou did a good job in redoing the classic in his own style, I have to say, though I did not see the original, I do not doubt that this may be better.

I concur with with bkoganbing "The Wayne Family Seal Of Approval". Imitation is often the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyone who is a fan of John Wayne and expecting a better version than his will be disappointed. But, if you are a fan of the Western Genre and of Lou Diamond Phillips, then you will be satisfied with this remake.

Lou Diamond Phillips and Luke Perry do a good job with their parts. Additionally, while Deborah Kara Unger is not as attractive as Gail Russell in the original, she does fit the part of a Quaker more so. She does a decent job in her role.

The standouts of this film are Lou Diamond Phillips, Winston Rekert (The Marshal), and Don Thompson as The Doc. Most of the supporting players are mediocre, but there are a few standouts, particularly, Gary Chalk as Steve Carson and Brendan Wayne as Randy. The other interesting part of this movie is the well done and fitting song sung (presumably) by Jennifer Copping (Maggie).

The sets and the scenery also looked very good.

I'd also recommend the remake of Red River with Bruce Boxleitner. A practical shot-for-shot remake of Wayne's original. Red River is one of my top ten favorites of Wayne's and I enjoyed this TV Remake.

Not only is this a bust, a grandchild of the great Duke Wayne plays the sidekick Randy in the film. By no means is this an endorsement by the Wayne family. If it was you'd be seeing an actual verbal or written endorsement by the licensing agent for John Wayne. And if you think this one is bad, wait until you see the remake of True Grit which is supposed to be in the works. It's almost like the Hollywood writers were all replaced with remake happy zombies.

All you see these days are sequels or bad remakes of past classics. As the other commenter forgot to say it is already free to watch since it was a straight to TV release, that's how bad it was. Not even worthy of the big screen. I have to say this is the worse the Hallmark Channel has ever done.

No one, and I repeat no one, can do a John Wayne movie other than John Wayne. I'll make a suggestion to anyone who thinks they can do a remake of any film done by Duke Wayne. Forget it... you'll lose your shirt. This is not even worth a $.99 download release.

Nobody does it better. I repeat, NOBODY, does it better than The Duke. Don't bother watching this until you can see it for free. John Wayne is The Ultimate Cowboy! Nobody does it better! Nobody ever did it better! Nobody ever will do it better! To try and copy him is a fools errand.

If you wanna watch LaBamba, Lou Diamond Phillips is the perfect choice. If you wanna see teenage cowpunks go bad and shoot up town after town, he can get the job done. If you wanna see teenage punks screw up in high school and make the teacher look like an idiot, he's pretty good at that, too.

Remake a John Wayne film?!?!? NO WAY!