La loi de la prairie

Tribute to a Bad Man is directed by Robert Wise and adapted to screenplay by Michael Blankfort from the short story Hanging's for the Lucky written by Jack Schaefer. A CinemaScope/Eastman Color production, it stars James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally and Irene Papas. Music is by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by Robert Surtees.

Jeremy Rodock (Cagney) is a no nonsense rancher whose ruthless hold on his considerable spread of land includes hanging rustlers without trial or sentence. When young Steve Millar (Dubbins) helps Rodock in a time of need, he is offered work on the ranch. But when his Greek mistress Jocasta Constantine (Papas) attracts interest from Steve and wrangler McNulty (McNally), it forces Rodock into even darker shades of his character.

Following on from the wonderful Run for Cover the previous year, Cagney returned to the Western arena for the last time for Tribute to a Bad Man, and what a fitting picture on which to leave the West.

The film encountered problems in early production when Spencer Tracy had a sulk and walked off of the picture. So in came Cagney. Steve Millar was being played by Robert Francis, but the actor was tragically killed in a plane crash, so in stepped Dubbins. Wise's film is essentially a coming of age frontier Western, though it concerns two male characters coming of age at different places in their life. Millar is the young pup whose come West to seek employment and meaning in his life, Rodock is hard-bitten, grizzled and can't see further than his own pig-headed beliefs. Rodock will either have to change his ways, wake up and smell the coffee, or risk losing everything.

Will Rodock come through? Can an old dog be taught new psychological tricks? When he once again deals out his own brand of justice he has surely gone too far this time? It also opens up an old rivalry wound that will ultimately define all involved. What is in store for Millar? Once his eyes have been opened and he sees that cowboy life can actually be harsh, as can his young emotions. Then there is the beautiful Jocasta, a woman ashamed of her past life back in Cheyenne, forever grateful to Rodock for taking her away from that life. The age difference between the two is considerable, but their relationship is based on trust, loyalty and realism. That is until the equilibrium is upset…

Technically it's a sumptuous production, where even if the thematics of the story doesn't sound like your thing, it's a film worth spending time with just to see Surtees' Scope photography and hear Rózsa's score. The former brings the striking Colorado Rockies to life with some breath taking distinction, while the latter provides music that positively swells then swirls around the magnificent back drop. With Cagney on mesmerising form, Papas and Dubbins not letting their inexperience affect the picture (Cagney took both under his wing), and Wise stringing it together as a knowing character based tapestry, it rounds out as a darn great and beautiful Oater. 8/10

This superb western has been almost totally forgotten despite its excellent credentials. Robert Wise was the director, Miklos Rozsa did the score, it was photographed, beautifully and in Cinemascope, by Robert Surtees and the star was James Cagney at his scenery-chewing best. He plays a powerful and potentially cruel rancher who befriends a young greenhorn, (newcomer Don Dubbins). who has saved Cagney's life after he's been ambushed. Others in the fine cast include Stephen McNally, Vic Morrow and the Greek actress Irene Papas. The story may not be particularly original but the handling is exemplary and anything with Cagney in it is usually worth seeking out.

Stepping into the place of Spencer Tracy, James Cagney plays Jeremy Rodock in Tribute to a Bad Man. It's the story of a man in the wilds of the west where there is no law and he has to make his own to hold his own.

Of course in that kind of rugged country your character is also changed by the responsibility you have. You make a lot of enemies.

Don Dubbins is a young drifter who comes into the valley that Rodock and his spread dominate and finds a badly wounded Rodock. He administers some first aid and gets him back to his ranch. Cagney because he owes him his life, takes Dubbins in.

Cagney's got a live in mistress in Irene Papas and Dubbins goes kind of sweet on her. She's also got another admirer in one of the other ranch hands, Stephen McNally. If you think the plot is beginning to resemble Jubal which came out the same year, you're right.

Tribute to a Bad Man is the last of three Cagney westerns, The Oklahoma Kid and Run For Cover are the other two. I've never felt Cagney's urban persona is quite home on the range, but he does deliver a very good performance.

Best in the film however by far is Vic Morrow. He's the son of a rival rancher who Cagney catches stealing his horses. I can't say, but watch what he does to 'punish' him and then lets up. But Morrow's speech letting him know he's got a permanent enemy is the highlight of the film.

Without Cagney the film would be less than memorable though.

This is a very good and very unusual film because I really didn't predict where the film would go--despite first appearances. A young Easterner comes upon Jimmy Cagney as he's being "bushwhacked"--in other words, he's been trapped by horse thieves and they are trying to shoot him. The actor's name who played the Easterner escapes me and I really don't care who he was--the film WAS a Cagney film after all. And once Cagney has been extricated from this ordeal, he and the young man become friends, of sorts.

Later, the young man decides to stay and work for Cagney at his horse ranch. However, much his new duties involve chasing down rustlers. Unfortunately, Cagney sees himself as the law and hangs the crooks without a trial. This really disturbs the young guy and Cagney's girlfriend, Irene Pappas. As a result of Cagney's brutality, both the girl and young man are prepared to leave for good. Here is where the film gets good and really heats up. Fortunately, the film does NOT take the easy way out and give us the conclusion we'd expect--ending on a very positive note.

Of the films of the later part of Cagney's career (after WHITE HEAT), this is among the very best. Worth while even if you are not a fan of the genre or Cagney--it's a very unique and watchable flick.

While riding his horse through the Wyoming, the Pennsylvania's youngster Steve Miller (Don Dubbins) saves the tough rancher Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney) from two horse thieves. Rodock offers a job of horse trainer to Steve and brings him to his ranch. Steve meets Jocasta Constantine (Irene papas), a young woman with a dubious past that lives with Rodock and soon he falls in unrequited love for her. Further, he learns that Rodock has a code where horse thieves are hanged by him without any trial.

Jocasta unsuccessfully tries to convince Steve to return to his family in Pennsylvania. Further, she asks Rodock to stop hanging thieves. When Rodock's foreman McNulty (Stephen McNally) flirts with Jocasta, he is fired by Rodock and plots a vengeance with Rodock's enemy, his neighbor Lars Peterson (Vic Morrow). Now the old rancher has to decide whether he will insist on his code of justice and lose Jocasta or whether he will change his behavior.

"Tribute to a Bad Man" is a western with James Cagney in the role of a vigilante in a place with no law. This feature introduces Irene Papas in the role of a woman with dubious past but also with strong personality and self-respect. Don Dubbins is the character that will change James Cagney's one with his naiveness and sense of justice. The result is a great and unknown romantic and dramatic western. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Honra à um Homem Mau" ("Honor to a Bad Man")