Le pays des sans-loi

Remember the old Godzilla movies where every monster would show up and either fight with or against Godzilla? This western has the same idea. In this movie, Pat Garrett, Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp go up against Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Was Wild Bill Hickcock and Doc Holliday busy that day? Standard Western except that the humor is strangely lacking in this movie. Malcom Atterbury as Buffalo Bill is supposed to be the comic sidekick but he doesn't provide a whole lot of laughs. I am most likely reading way too much into this but when George Montgomery's Pat Garrett is giving his big speech to the town leaders about how it is their duty to stop Butch Cassidy because he will eventually destroy their town, I kept thinking about the arguments used for the Vietnam buildup, which happened a few years after this movie was made. I doubt director Fred Sears planned the similarity but if he did it was very subtle and clever. Hard to believe that Russell Johnson (the Professor on Gilligan's Island!) was the ruthless Sundance Kid. Fans of B-westerns should enjoy this movie.

Pat Garrett (George Montgomery) arrives in Abilene where he catches five of Butch Cassidy's gang. He calls in Wyatt Earp (Buster Crabbe) and Bat Masterson (Gregory Walcott) and they learn there is a half million dollar shipment of money arriving by train and Cassidy (Neville Brand) is amassing enough men to take it.

George Montgomery as Pat Garrett heads a good cast including Buster Crabbe as Wyatt Earp and manages to stop a raid by Butch Cassidy and co., but not before there's plenty of trouble - most of the trouble comes from Morris Ankrum as the meddling Mayor who throws spanner in the works for Garrett and his crew in stopping the raid. It makes for good drama - the plot is fast moving and flows with not a dull moment. It's an entertaining B which leads to an energetic bout of gun play. There's some good dialogue, too. Karin Booth adds some much needed glamour amidst the gunsmoke.

It's a veritable feast of Wild West heroes and villains, a fanciful tale where the likes of Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill Cody convene in a sprouting Abilene to do battle with the scuzzy likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The locals are restless, though, because the presence of the tough lawmen makes them uneasy, they fear that town will soon be over run with blood…

Directed by Fred F. Sears and starring George Montgomery, Neville Brand, Buster Crabbe and Karin Booth, it's a compact Oater that spends a good portion of the film introducing the key players, which inevitably sets up the finale. Which thankfully is well worth the wait as it features a mother of a shoot-out, splendidly played out amongst burning barricades and bullets galore. A black and white production that clocks in at a brisk running time of an hour and ten minutes, it is a pic that never has chance to outstay its welcome, whilst being in the company of Brand and Montgomery is enjoyable for the duration. Not essential viewing for Western buffs, but a fun time assured regardless. 6.5/10

Routine, by-the-numbers western about Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill and Bat Masterson joining forces--which, in reality, never happened--to fight off Butch Cassidy and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang in their attack on Abilene, Texas, to rob a bank--which, in reality, never happened either. But even if there weren't the overabundance of historical inaccuracies in this film, it still wouldn't be very good. It's a very low-budget affair and its cheapness shows in every frame, from the cardboard sets to the poorly lit and badly photographed exterior scenes. The action scenes are few and far between and not done very well when they do occur; the setpiece near the end, when the bandits attack the town, is predictable, poorly staged and about as exciting as watching paint dry. It's got a decent supporting cast-- Morris Ankrum, Buster Crabbe, Malcolm Atterbury, Richard Devon--but star George Montgomery just seems to be going through the motions and Neville Brand is sorely miscast as head bad guy Butch Cassidy. Fred F. Sears was a mediocre director at best, and he doesn't rise above his reputation with this film.

The "novelty" of having a group of real-life figures working together may be enough of a reason to watch this dull, listless oater for some people, but that's pretty much all--if anything--it has going for it.

Talk about wish fulfillment! Badman's Country appeared on screen at just about the time when B westerns were disappearing owing to TV, which had already lionized Wyatt Earp (Hugh O'Brian) and Bat Masterson (Alan Dinehart and, later, Gene Barry) and would shortly do so for Pat Garrett (Barry Sullivan). Here, all three (played by different performers, of course) are collected together (along with an aging Buffalo Bill, who apparently deserted his Wild West show to join in this gunfight) to find Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and The Wild Bunch. The simple fact that none of this is in any way historical (other than the characters' names) hardly dims the modest fun of a solid B western with a grand slam shoot-out finale. Incidentally, Neville Brand, who plays Butch here, also did the role as the lead in The Three Outlaws, which I'll bet you anything William Goldman saw before he wrote his famous 1969 movie on the subject! Buster Crabbe, in one of his final roles, makes for an intriguing Wyatt Earp. This might be considered something of an apotheosis of all the B western scenarios coming together for the low-budget predecessor to How the West Was Won. Great fun, of a certain sort, and never a dull moment.