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"Day of the Bad Man" was one of a series of westerns made by Fred MacMurray in the 50s just prior to his embarking upon a series of Disney films and his long running TV series "My Three Sons". The comparisons to "High Noon" (1952) will be inevitable.

Convicted killer Rudy Hayes (Christopher Dark) languishes in jail awaiting sentencing for murder. Into town ride his two sweaty and unshaven brothers Charlie (Robert Middleton) and Howie (Skip Homier). They hook up with Rudy's girl friend Cora (Marie Windsor)and Hayes cousins Jake (Lee Van Cleef) and Monte (Chris Alcaide). Opposing them are square jawed righteous Judge Jim Scott (MacMurray) and the pompous Sheriff Wiley (John Ericson).

A sub-plot involves a love triangle consisting of Scott, Wiley and the lovely Myra Owens (Joan Weldon).

The Hayes try to intimidate the towns folk into pressuring the Judge to impose a lighter sentence of banishment rather than hanging on Rudy. Of course MacMurray will not be intimidated and does the right thing according to law. This ultimately leads to the inevitable showdown with MacMurray forced to face the baddies alone. (Sound familiar?).

MacMurray is stern faced and serious as the Judge. Middleton is excellent as the sneering chief villain, a part he perfected. Homier does his hot-headed kid routine yet again. Van Cleef has little to do except sneer. Weldon plays the virginal good girl in typical 50s one dimensional style. Windsor almost steals the film as bad girl Cora.

Rounding out the cast are Universal's usual cast of familiar faces. Edgar Buchanan plays Sam, MacMurray's friend and ally, Don Haggerty, the Deputy Sheriff, and Robert Foulk, Ann Doran, Eduard Franz, Eddy Waller, I. Stanford Jolley, Kenneth MacDonald, Hank Patterson and Tom London as various towns folk. And watch for a very young Paul Peterson as one of the kids on the street.

An average western saved by its superior cast.

Prior to sentencing a murderer to the gallows, the judge, the sheriff, and the townsfolk, find themselves being intimidated by the killer's violent family. Putting asides comparisons with the similarly themed (and superior) 'High Noon' (1952), 'Day of the Bad Man' is a reasonably good western and the issue of threat to 'justice' rather than to single man makes it somewhat deeper than the Gary Cooper classic. Fred MacMurray is quite good as Judge Jim Scott (although the earnest hero who 'reluctantly straps on the gun again' had become a bit of a cliché by the late 1950s). As patriarch of the Hayes clan, a vicious family of black-hats willing to commit any violence to save one of their own from the gallows, Robert Middleton is suitably menacing as are son Howie (Skip Homeier) and cousin Jake (squinty-eyed great Lee van Cleef). Edgar Buchannan (Petticoat Junction's Uncle Joe) is along on side-kick duty and John Ericson plays the 'all show, no substance' sheriff. The storyline is predictable, with only a lazily-handled 'lover's triangle', which puts the judge and the sheriff at odds, adding any novelty to the plot. The ending seems to draw criticism as being contrived, implausible, and serving only to set up the final confrontation but I suspect that Judge Scott's actions are part of a deliberate plan to end the story 'then and there', with either his death or the deaths of the Hayes crew, to avoid the lifelong fear of revenge on himself or on the craven townies. The cinematography is great, notably the opening shot of the noose and the approaching riders.

Directed by Harry Keller. Starring Fred MacMurray, Robert Middleton, John Ericson, Joan Weldon, Skip Homeier, Marie Windsor, Edgar Buchanan, Eduard Franz, Peggy Converse, Lee Van Cleef, Robert Foulk.

The unscrupulous kin of a convicted murderer show up to pressure the impassive judge (MacMurray) for leniency in sentencing; one of them is Van Cleef, so there's no doubt that they're bad news. Serviceable Western with a goofy title miffs its dramatic potential; decent performances and a few promising scenes/interactions (including a sub-plot where the judge's lady love (Weldon) is having an affair with sheriff Ericson), but it doesn't add up to much. Film lacks tension on its way to the protagonist's decision and it all but fizzles out during the underwhelming climax. Working with a low budget, journeyman director Keller fails to bring much style or suspense to the proceedings, but it's still slightly better than its all-but-forgotten status would suggest.

53/100

Harry Keller, better known for comedies than Westerns, has the good luck of having Fred MacMurray in the cast, a city judge doing his utmost to make sure that the killer of a local resident is brought before the court and probably hanged.

All conditions seem in place to ensure that that happens, but things begin to slip: his fiancée Joan Walden falls in love with the handsome sheriff and his wedding is on the skids; the lady whose husband Rudy Hayes killed first wanted him dead, then changes her mind in tune with most of the town and just wants him banished; and, HIGH NOON-like, top villain Bob Middleton and his evil bros, including Lee Van Cleef, converge into town to ensure that Rudy does not pay with his life for the commission of murder.

Only good ol' Edgar Buchanan stands by poor Fred, who thankfully knows the arts of fisticuffs and manages to put some of the baddies to brief sleep... but soon all is stacked up against him. And then, miraculously, a shootout turns things around and even Walden comes running to him for a happy ending, the handsome sheriff thankfully discarded and forgotten.

And on that naif note the law and Fred win the day. 6/10.

This routine horse opera from Universal stars Fred MacMurray at the height of his success. He plays Judge Jim Scott, the incorruptible small town hero who has to sentence a killer - and contend with the pressures exerted by the guilty man's family.

Filmed in Universal's trademark bright, clear Eastmancolor, the film has an attractive look, even if the characterisation is crude. The bad guys go unshaven, and Lee Van Cleef even wears a black hat.

Rudy Hayes killed a man in cold blood, and at eleven o'clock on this fateful morning, Judge Scott will carry out his sworn duty and sentence the murderer to death by hanging. Charlie Hayes (Robert Middleton) and the hot-headed Howie (Skip Homeier) have come into town as representatives of the all-bad Hayes clan, to see if they can exert some crooked influence, and save Rudy's neck.

Such sub-plot as exists centres on Judge Scott's fiancee, Myra, who has fallen in love with another man - no other than Barney Wiley, the town's good-looking new sherriff (John Ericson).

Even in the Wild West, it is stretching things a little to have a circuit judge engaging in a knife-fight before sitting, and drawing his pistol in the courtroom. The attempts of the Hayes boys to pervert the course of justice are ham-fisted and frankly unbelievable, as is the spurious whinnying of a horse which alerts Judge Jim to danger - twice!

The early passages of the film are good, showing the judge operating in and with the community as a respected citizen, until in mimicry of 'High Noon' the good people of the town desert the judge when the going gets tough. Edgar Buchanan, stalwart of a thousand westerns, is competent as Sam, the judge's loyal sidekick. Myra (Joan Weldon) and Barney are so lightly-drawn as characters that the actors can be forgiven for failing to impress. No doubt Marie Windsor had fun playing the bad girl Cora, but both the Hayes kinsmen, Monte and Jake, are dreadfully under-used.

Predictable, static and utterly unsubtle, perhaps this film, and those like it, do no more than mirror the values of the society which gave rise to them - the predictable, static and utterly unsubtle America of the Eisenhower era.