L'ange et le bandit

After the Civil War, the western territories becomes lawless lands. The federal government sends men tasked with tracking down notorious bandit Zeb Bascomb (Wallace Beery). They ambush Bascomb and his men, but he escapes with his right hand man Bart Yancy. The duo encounters a Mormon wagon train and lie their way to joining them where Bascomb befriends young orphan Emmy (Margaret O'Brien).

Margaret O'Brien is doing her usual adorable self and Wallace Beery is doing Wallace Beery. The comedic duo has easy chemistry. The plot does get in the way a little. Emmy goes one step too far and the movie hits a bit of a bump. Nevertheless, this is a fine fun western.

Wallace Beery plays Bad Bascomb, the cuddliest outlaw in the West! He's a bank robber, a cattle rustler, and he's (oh my!) left-handed! But once he joins up with a wagon-caravan of Mormons--in order to escape the law--B.B. becomes humanized, a scoundrel with a squishy heart. This is a cute western with a warm theme, the best sequences involving Beery with teary Margaret O'Brien (they meet while he's stealing chicken). Marjorie Main is always fun to have around playing Bascomb's Mormon-intended. Strictly a formula film, sentimental and "nice", although some of the action scenes are sloppily-directed and there's some curious overdubbing (when O'Brien says to Beery, "Are you gonna marry her?", Beery answers, "You really are ill!" but his lips say "sick"). Still, quite enjoyable and with some very funny lines. *** from ****

Sure, this is just another horse opera, but who cares?

Wallace Beery is more entertaining just being Wallace Beery than most actors are with sparkling dialogue and auteur direction.

Magararet O'Brien: Shirley Temple she ain't! When people talk about child stars, they usually mention Jackie Coogan and Jackie Cooper; Mickey Rooney and Dickie Moore; Baby Peggy and Hailie Mills. Give me Margaret O'Brien any day.

Marjorie Main could lick her weight in Marie Dresslers, any day.

Pure entertainment!

Director S. Syvan Simon's 1946 film "Bad Bascomb" is truly amazing. As a western it is awful, almost as bad as the cheapest of the Republic features. Yet for all but the most cynical viewers the film is a real treat simply for the wonderful scenes between nine-year old Margaret O'Brien and 60 year-old Wallace Beery (and nicely complemented by Marjorie Main in a supporting role). These are so well written that they seem to have come from a different writer than the rest of the film. And fortunately their scenes together make up a sizable portion of the total.

O'Brien was simply the cutest child actor in cinema history. And not only did she instinctively know how to act but she worked hard to master accents for her roles and she took direction very well. In "Bad Bascomb" Simon had her turn up the cuteness meter even higher than when she played Lady Jessica opposite Robert Young and Charles Laughton in "The Canterville Ghost". He knew exactly what he was doing because Beery's gruff and blustery performance balances it out quite nicely. Their scenes mostly involve her setting him up to deliver a series of absolutely priceless lines.

The story (which is almost irrelevant) begins with Beery's title character being thwarted when his gang attempts a bank robbery. Bascomb and his sidekick Bart Yancy (J. Carol Nash) escape and attempt to leave the area with a Mormon wagon train heading for Utah. They discover gold hidden on the train and Yancy enlists a band of Indians to attack the wagons. This results in another of those silly ride-around-the-circled-wagons Hollywood Indian attacks and some additional action as Beery rides to a nearby fort so the cavalry can come and save the day.

Like "Angel and The Badman" (made just a year later), the outlaw Beery is gradually won over by the loving girl although in this case it taps into fatherly rather than romantic love.

The day-to-day journey of the wagon train is done very well but the larger scale action sequences are rather lame. Beery has an "obvious" double for the horse riding scenes and almost everything that involves physical movement. Nash's character is a bit discordant, as Yancy has a lot of nice guy moments that simply don't fit with what is supposed to be his true nature. And there is a "Shane" ending that probably should have been reworked. I suspect that the producers were trying to target two very different audiences with this film and ended up hurting its basic unity.

But ultimately these defects don't really matter because of the slick performances of O'Brien, Beery, and Main. It's sentimental and contrived but it works.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I have always loved old movies and most are the kind you can watch over again and again this is one of them! The last time I watched it I caught something new and thought was so cute Emmy (Maragret o'Brien)is dressing in a pretty dress to surprise Zed Bascomb (Wallace Beery)and her grandmother gives her two handkerchiefs and she tells her "Here is one for show and one for blow." I believe actors from this era were true artisan of their craft, something I find lacking in actors today.

For More Fun between Beery and Main I recommend Jackass Mail 1942 & Wyoming 1940. For You Margaret O'Brien fans one movie you must see is Our Vines Have Tender Grapes.