Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Michael Blankfort (story) and
Jack Schaefer (short story)

Release Date:

April 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

As it really was! A big, blazing drama of the West!

Plot:

Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers soon as look at them. Fresh out of Pennsylvania...

Plot Keywords:

Cruelty | Lynching | Fistfight | Revenge | Ocarina

Cast

James Cagney	...	Jeremy Rodock
Don Dubbins	...	Steve Millar
Stephen McNally	...	McNulty
Irene Papas	...	Jocasta Constantine
Vic Morrow	...	Lars Peterson
James Griffith	...	Barjak
Onslow Stevens	...	Hearn
James Bell	...	L.A. Peterson
Jeanette Nolan	...	Mrs. L.A. Peterson
Chubby Johnson	...	Baldy
Royal Dano	...	Abe
Lee Van Cleef	...	Fat Jones
Peter Chong	...	Cooky
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Dix	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Roy Engel	...	Second buyer (uncredited)
John Halloran	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Charles Anthony Hughes	...	First buyer (uncredited)
Tom London	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
James McCallion	...	Shorty (uncredited)
Dennis Moore	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Bud Osborne	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Carl Pitti	...	Tom (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt	...	Cowboy (uncredited)
Clint Sharp	...	Red (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Wise

Writing credits
Michael Blankfort		story and
Jack Schaefer		short story

Produced by
Sam Zimbalist	....	producer

Original Music by
Miklós Rózsa		(as Miklos Rozsa)

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ralph E. Winters

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons
Paul Groesse

Set Decoration by
Fred M. MacLean		(as Fred MacLean)
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arvid Griffen	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Wesley C. Miller	....	recording supervisor (as Dr. Wesley C. Miller)

Stunts
Carl Pitti	....	stunts (uncredited)
Danny Sands	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Walter Plunkett	....	costumes: Irene Papas

Editorial Department
Charles K. Hagedon	....	color consultant

Music Department
Eugene Zador	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• atlas Film (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• CBS Television (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere) (pan/scan)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Norway:16 (1956) | West Germany:12 (f) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1998)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Spencer Tracy was cast as Jeremy Roderick, but was replaced by James Cagney.

Quotes:

Jeremy Rodock: You know, I ain't got you figured yet, McNulty. You act like a man with a lot of ideas. But all of them second rate...and not one honorable.

more than anything else, a love story

I don't agree with the title because Cagney is not a bad man at all. He is just a man that in order to manage his business of breeding horses has to take the law in his own hands where there was no law at all. This western probably did not get the box office results it deserved because James Cagney and Irene Papas are not the actors you would expect in this genre. But Cagney has a superb performance in what is above all a love story, where he is a man with a hard character which becomes more human with the influence of his mistress, Irene Papas and Steve Millar(Don Dubbins, the narrator of the story.), who works for him. Irene Papas's acting reminded me a lot of Katy Jurado. Cagney and Papas are very similar to the couple played by Tracy and Jurado in Broken Lance. The efficient direction of Robert Wise, and the two main actors make this an above average film.