To coin a new term, "Bad Company" is a "Western Noir". It is ultra-realistic: no good guys in white hats, no Tin Pan Alley scores, no happy ending.The story line probably reflects the true Old West better than the roseate "singing cowboy" fare of the 1930's-1940's.
The underlying theme of the film is the quirky friendship that springs up between two antipodal young men: Drew Dixon (played by the late Barry Brown) and Jake Rumsey (played by Jeff Bridges).
The film opens in a small Ohio town, where a group of grim-faced Yankee soldiers are dragooning reluctant young men into the Union Army during the Civil War.
Dixon, a pious, idealistic naif, escapes from the compulsory conscription and meets up with a rougher youth, Jake Rumsey,who,feigning friendship for Dixon, lures him into an alley, saps him, and steals his money.
At a church lady's home (where he has sought aid), Dixon recognizes Rumsey who has entered the home, burgling and stuffing his mouth with stolen food.
Though frailer than Rumsey, Dixon wildly attacks him with the savagery of a cornered wolverine; the ensuing damage he causes, though, necessitates Dixon's fleeing with Rumsey and joining up with his gang. Rumsey's gang (a ragtag collection of scruffy runaways) survive by strong-arming women and children, and Drew Dixon (despite his virtuousness) is not above lying to ingratiate himself with the gang. Excepting the well-bred Drew, none of the boys has any redeeming qualities, exemplified by much vulgar and profane language, some racial slurs, the torture of a cat, and the actual killing and skinning of a rabbit.
On the strength of Dixon's desire to become a silver miner in Virginia City, Nevada, the group heads west across a vast, desolate prairie, and engage in unedifying behavior: they rob, steal, curse, avail themselves of a prostitute (excepting Drew, who declares, testily, that "he's saving himself for marriage.")
However, the predators fall prey to gunslingers older and more vicious than they, and the group begins to fall apart, through defections, and a harrowing scene where the youngest (about 10 years old) is shot dead by a sod buster for stealing a pie.
Ultimately, the group is reduced to two (Jake and Drew) who have a repeat encounter with their former attackers, but this time, the tables are turned, and the two young men annihilate the older men in a particularly sanguinary spree.
But, a remarkable transformation has taken place: the erstwhile straight-laced, sanctimonious Drew Dixon has done a large share of the killing; he has now tasted blood - and enjoyed it.
After further misadventures, the transformation is complete: Drew Dixon is a cold-eyed, cynical outlaw; an individual not so dissimilar from the admittedly criminal Jake Rumsey.
Despite the overlying pessimistic tone of the film, "Bad Company" is a cinematic tour de force. The interior scenes (suggestive of the sets of Victorian melodramas), the vast panorama of fields stretching endlessly across the horizon, the mindless yet expedient brutality of the less-than-hospitable denizens of the Old West combine perfectly to form a picture, which, while not pretty, is nevertheless more vivid, and doubtlessly much truer than those accounts which are pallid, romanticized, and limned in pastel colors.
Barry Brown (in his first starring role) gave an excellent performance; disciplined, professional, yet full of the underlying passionate emotion (particularly, during the fight scene) which characterized all of his acting. (Brown, who was once described by a producer as "the only American actor you can believe ever read a book" was an extremely handsome, intellectually brilliant, yet deeply troubled young man; sadly underrated as a serious actor, he died tragically at the age of 27.)
Jeff Bridges (as Jake Rumsey) painted a convincing portrait of a genial, oafish, amoral individual. Although Rumsey pined for his mother back in Pennsylvania (some criminals are sentimental about their mothers), he nevertheless chose the lazy expedient of criminality, over the honest endeavor of hard work.
In this film, good did not triumph over evil, and finally, Drew Dixon became ethically just like his counterpart, Jake Rumsey - the same side of a trick coin.
For the viewer who wants to see a hard, gritty, no-punches-pulled Western, "Bad Company" is the movie to see; for those who like "sweetness-and-light" Western fare - I suggest reruns of "Gunsmoke" instead.
The underlying theme of the film is the quirky friendship that springs up between two antipodal young men: Drew Dixon (played by the late Barry Brown) and Jake Rumsey (played by Jeff Bridges).
The film opens in a small Ohio town, where a group of grim-faced Yankee soldiers are dragooning reluctant young men into the Union Army during the Civil War.
Dixon, a pious, idealistic naif, escapes from the compulsory conscription and meets up with a rougher youth, Jake Rumsey,who,feigning friendship for Dixon, lures him into an alley, saps him, and steals his money.
At a church lady's home (where he has sought aid), Dixon recognizes Rumsey who has entered the home, burgling and stuffing his mouth with stolen food.
Though frailer than Rumsey, Dixon wildly attacks him with the savagery of a cornered wolverine; the ensuing damage he causes, though, necessitates Dixon's fleeing with Rumsey and joining up with his gang. Rumsey's gang (a ragtag collection of scruffy runaways) survive by strong-arming women and children, and Drew Dixon (despite his virtuousness) is not above lying to ingratiate himself with the gang. Excepting the well-bred Drew, none of the boys has any redeeming qualities, exemplified by much vulgar and profane language, some racial slurs, the torture of a cat, and the actual killing and skinning of a rabbit.
On the strength of Dixon's desire to become a silver miner in Virginia City, Nevada, the group heads west across a vast, desolate prairie, and engage in unedifying behavior: they rob, steal, curse, avail themselves of a prostitute (excepting Drew, who declares, testily, that "he's saving himself for marriage.")
However, the predators fall prey to gunslingers older and more vicious than they, and the group begins to fall apart, through defections, and a harrowing scene where the youngest (about 10 years old) is shot dead by a sod buster for stealing a pie.
Ultimately, the group is reduced to two (Jake and Drew) who have a repeat encounter with their former attackers, but this time, the tables are turned, and the two young men annihilate the older men in a particularly sanguinary spree.
But, a remarkable transformation has taken place: the erstwhile straight-laced, sanctimonious Drew Dixon has done a large share of the killing; he has now tasted blood - and enjoyed it.
After further misadventures, the transformation is complete: Drew Dixon is a cold-eyed, cynical outlaw; an individual not so dissimilar from the admittedly criminal Jake Rumsey.
Despite the overlying pessimistic tone of the film, "Bad Company" is a cinematic tour de force. The interior scenes (suggestive of the sets of Victorian melodramas), the vast panorama of fields stretching endlessly across the horizon, the mindless yet expedient brutality of the less-than-hospitable denizens of the Old West combine perfectly to form a picture, which, while not pretty, is nevertheless more vivid, and doubtlessly much truer than those accounts which are pallid, romanticized, and limned in pastel colors.
Barry Brown (in his first starring role) gave an excellent performance; disciplined, professional, yet full of the underlying passionate emotion (particularly, during the fight scene) which characterized all of his acting. (Brown, who was once described by a producer as "the only American actor you can believe ever read a book" was an extremely handsome, intellectually brilliant, yet deeply troubled young man; sadly underrated as a serious actor, he died tragically at the age of 27.)
Jeff Bridges (as Jake Rumsey) painted a convincing portrait of a genial, oafish, amoral individual. Although Rumsey pined for his mother back in Pennsylvania (some criminals are sentimental about their mothers), he nevertheless chose the lazy expedient of criminality, over the honest endeavor of hard work.
In this film, good did not triumph over evil, and finally, Drew Dixon became ethically just like his counterpart, Jake Rumsey - the same side of a trick coin.
For the viewer who wants to see a hard, gritty, no-punches-pulled Western, "Bad Company" is the movie to see; for those who like "sweetness-and-light" Western fare - I suggest reruns of "Gunsmoke" instead.