After reading all the heavy reviews of this movie, I have to respond. Hey, chill out and don't be so serious, people! I had never seen it before, let alone even heard of it. So when I tuned into it one night on Turner Classics, at first I wasn't too sure what to think. But it didn't take long before I began to really like it. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than a corny, light-hearted spoof. Lionel Barrymore is great as always, and so is Wallace Beery. I really liked the fact that there is no musical soundtrack, and it's kind of a piece of theatre with long takes of dialogue and interaction between the goofy characters. All the other members of the cast like Ronald Reagan and Henry Travers simply revolve around the masterful characterizations of Barrymore and Beery. Yes, Beery has the worst Mexican accent of all time----he's doing it deliberately for laughs. And nobody can play a crusty old curmudgeon better than Lionel Barrymore, the world's greatest scene stealer. These two legendary talents have a great rapport. Don't even remotely attempt to take this movie seriously in any way, just enjoy it for what it is and appreciate the amazing talents of two of the greatest actors in movie history. Who couldn't help but laugh at the final scene of Beery galloping through the desert on his horse, pulling Barrymore in his wheelchair? Great comedic acting and a really original, funny script.
Review of The Bad Man
