The Bad Man (1941)

Lopez is a bandit who has stolen the herd at Gil's ranch, so Hardy is about to foreclose. But Lucia has come back from New York and Gil is happy until he meets her husband, Morgan. Saying ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Porter Emerson Browne (play), Wells Root (screenplay)

Stars:

Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Wallace Beery	...	Pancho Lopez
Lionel Barrymore	...	Uncle Henry Jones
Laraine Day	...	Lucia Pell
Ronald Reagan	...	Gilbert 'Gil' Jones
Henry Travers	...	Mr. Jasper Hardy
Chris-Pin Martin	...	Pedro
Tom Conway	...	Morgan Pell
Chill Wills	...	'Red' Giddings
Nydia Westman	...	Angela Hardy
Charles Stevens	...	Venustiano

Storyline

Lopez is a bandit who has stolen the herd at Gil's ranch, so Hardy is about to foreclose. But Lucia has come back from New York and Gil is happy until he meets her husband, Morgan. Saying that they are friends, Morgan wants to buy the ranch before Hardy forecloses, and Gil will sell, but Lopez shows up with all his men and holds them all captive. Lopez has his own law, carried out with a 44 - and he plans to settle everything according to his vision of life.

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Plot Keywords:

bandit | remake | gunshot wound | murder | cowardice | 

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Taglines:

REWARD! for the capture of Pancho Lopez DEAD OR ALIVE!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bandido Romântico

Filming Locations:

Lupton, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Henry O'Neill' was listed as a cast member in a production chart, but he did not appear in the film.

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Connections

Remake of The Bad Man (1930)

User Reviews

Pretty bad

I don't know if I'll ever see another Wallace Beery picture as bad as this one. I hope not, but I'm sure he made some other dogs. Usually Beery can be counted on to bring the laughs, and do something memorable with his character.

Beery's is not the worst performance in this piece (that distinction belongs to Lionel Barrymore, obviously loathe to be in this production and cantankerously chewing the scenery with noisy and irritating aplomb like nowhere else on his filmography) but he offers little more than updating his Pancho Villa schtick from Viva Villa. Not much originality or send-up in his performance and he doesn't even appear until around the 30 minute mark. He does look cartoonishly amusing galloping away with the Mexican Federales in hot pursuit though.

This really isn't a funny comedy or a watchable western. At 70 minutes it feels overlong. Everyone stands in one spot and talks endlessly, Ronald Reagan does the hero bit with his usual one dimensional panache, Barrymore won't shut up, and the oppressive sepia tone this was shot in kind of makes you queasy by the end. Chill Wills at least is his usual lovable self as Reagan's sidekick.

Definitely not a Beery classic