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"Day of the Badman" is a decent film and it stars Fred MacMurray...which isn't bad. But it's also a completely unnecessary film as the plot is essentially a reworking of "High Noon"....so why not just watch "High Noon"?!

When the film begins, you learn that a man was convicted of murder and is awaiting sentencing. However, his family comes to town and begins an intimidation program aimed at getting the guy only a slap on the wrist instead of a proper hanging. Over time, the good townsfolk turn out to be yellow and would rather let the killer go than face the wrath of his scum-bag kin. The only one standing in the way is the Judge (MacMurray).

The only real difference between this and "High Noon" is the subplot about the Judge's girl making time with the Sheriff. This clearly isn't enough reason to merit making the film but is mildly interesting. Competently made but lacking originality.

At 11 o'clock Judge Jim Scott has to hand down a sentence on Rudy Hayes, a man being held in the town jail on the charge of murder-- having been found guilty by a jury of his peers.

It looks to be a tough job for Judge Scott, played by Fred MacMurray with his pants tucked almost under his armpits. The job gets made tougher when four members of the Hayes family ride into town and begin threatening everyone in sight.

As if that isn't enough for Judge Scott to contend with, his best girl Myra, whom he has been dating for six years, is involved in an affair behind his back with the young sheriff of the town.

There are fistfights aplenty along with plenty of gunfire and quite a few character revelations as the story proceeds.

I thought it was a better than the average western. Although it does end somewhat abruptly, there are no major loose ends left hanging.

7 stars

The parallels between Day Of The Badman and High Noon are way too obvious to be ignored. However one big important distinct difference is there. Gary Cooper was the former marshal of Hadleyburg and had no responsibilities. Coop comes back to answer a personal challenge from the four outlaws on their way to deal with him.

Fred MacMurray is a judge and a guilty verdict has been rendered on Christopher Dark and the usual punishment is hanging. But a whole mess of his swaggering relatives led by Robert Middleton have come to town and so intimidate the citizenry. Individually and collectively thy appeal to MacMurray for a lesser sentence.

Go throughout the cast and you'll see equivalent roles for the various characters in High Noon. One additional role is that of Marie Windsor who is her usual vicious vixen and girlfriend of Dark.

Even the widow of the man Dark killed, Peggy Converse is intimidated enough to change her mind and plead for a lesser sentence. John Ericson stands out as the sheriff ho hasn't got the character for the job.

In the late 50s Fred MacMurray made a series of westerns and he does well as the upright judge. Remember he's not a gunman like Cooper and in a sense that makes him braver than Coop. Day Of The Badman is clearly the best of MacMurray's late 50s westerns.

In the end he even has one more friend than Coop did.

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

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.