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Bad CompanyRating:
Release Date: 13 May, 2003 Retail Price: $14.99 OUR Price: $13.49 You SAVE: $1.50! Cast: Complete Cast (10 total) |
Bad Company Reviews
"I'd still give her the odds."
"Bad Company" is a western set in the 1860s. When soldiers arrive at the Dixon family home to collect son Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) as a new conscript, his family arrange to smuggle him out of the civil war zone to safety. The family has already lost one son to the civil war, and they don't want to lose another, so the naive, straight laced, callow Drew leaves home. He almost immediately runs into trouble, and soon bands together with a group of young ruffians, headed by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges). Drew bands together with these other young men mainly due to necessity and the fact they also have the same goal--more or less. But meeting Rumsey and his gang is just the beginning of Drew's misadventures.
Unfortunately "Bad Company", like so many other films from the 70s, is dated. It's not gritty enough to be realistic, and interesting dilemmas and scenes that occur in the film are interspersed with bonhomie that detracts from the film's message. Oddly enough there are also a few scenes of somewhat gratuitous violence to animals, and this is presented in rather graphic detail--the close up of a shot rabbit, for instance. The young Jeff Bridges is interesting to watch--a talent in embryo--but his presence is insufficient to spark great interest in the film--displacedhuman.
The best movie you've never seen
Jeff Bridges made two great, underappreciated movies in 1972 - the John Huston directed FAT CITY and BAD COMPANY. Audience indifference to FAT CITY has always baffled me. As of today I have a new conundrum to puzzle over. BAD COMPANY is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.
It's 1863 and the Union army is rounding up draft dodgers. Young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), with parental blessings, prayers and one hundred dollars in traveling money, lights out for the territories beyond the reach of the US Army. His journey stalls out as soon as he reaches 'St. Jo''. The army is there in force and transportation west is scarce. It's only a matter of time before he's discovered, and the penalty this time might result in his death.
Drew stumbles upon a group of homeless young ruffians, nominally led by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges), and in short order he joins them. On mule and horse the six young men bid farewell to the United States and head west for Virginia City. As Drew tells us in a voice-over narration, "I've fallen in with some rough types, but it seems to be the only way I can get to the west and make my parents proud."
BAD COMPANY looks beautiful. Most of the action takes place out of doors, on the golden prairie 'neath a cerulean blue sky. Even the few indoor shots don't look like typical studio sets - when Jake and Drew have a little set-to in a house the props have weight to them, and chairs and tables don't collapse when fallen upon. The editing and acting add to the naturalistic feeling. Director Robert Benton allows scenes to play themselves through, and he allows the actors time and room to find the meaning of scenes. It helps tremendously that Bridges is cast in the lead role - even at this early stage of his career his charisma and instincts are in full play.
The plot is a bit of a shaggy dog and it takes a few unexpected twists and turns, but things never feel forced. For instance, after a couple days on the road the boys come across a farmer and his wife heading east. The farmer gave up and is heading back home, done in by twisters and cattle men and "pure d-rotten soil." The scene might have ended there, it was a natural end point, but Benton extends it and has the farmer make a rather surprising offer to the boys involving his wife. It's a decision that could have ruined the scene and maimed the movie if done wrong. It is handled so smoothly, though, that it's utterly convincing.
BAD COMPANY is a great movie that deserves better than the anonymity it's been languishing in for the last three decades or so.
WARNING: BAD COMPANY is rated PG but there are some scenes in it that might make it unsuitable for younger viewers. A wild rabbit is shot and killed in one scene, a man is hanged in another unedited scene. Also, there's quite a bit of bad language coming out of young mouths, including racial epithets.
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