As a western remake of "The Asphalt Jungle," THE BADLANDERS falls far short of the mark. Nowhere is the suspense that John Huston got out of his concrete jungle evident here. Instead, director Delmer Daves manages to keep the tale fairly taut amid western locales with the usual assortment of good and bad motives for his leading players.
Ladd gives his usual self-assured portrayal as a man unjustly serving time in prison, but it's Ernest Borgnine who has the strongest role and makes the most of it. Furthermore, his teaming with Katy Jurado (his then wife in real life) makes for some of the story's best scenes.
Filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor, with good use of all the location photography, it's really little more than a standard western with some good action scenes and a capable cast, including Kent Smith as a silky smooth villain and Anthony Caruso in another one of his tough guy roles. The female interest is scarce and hardly worth mentioning.
With a stronger background score, this might have been a much more intriguing film. As it is, it passes the time pleasantly enough but don't expect nail biting suspense, as in the Huston film, even though it involves a gold robbery heist.
Ladd gives his usual self-assured portrayal as a man unjustly serving time in prison, but it's Ernest Borgnine who has the strongest role and makes the most of it. Furthermore, his teaming with Katy Jurado (his then wife in real life) makes for some of the story's best scenes.
Filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor, with good use of all the location photography, it's really little more than a standard western with some good action scenes and a capable cast, including Kent Smith as a silky smooth villain and Anthony Caruso in another one of his tough guy roles. The female interest is scarce and hardly worth mentioning.
With a stronger background score, this might have been a much more intriguing film. As it is, it passes the time pleasantly enough but don't expect nail biting suspense, as in the Huston film, even though it involves a gold robbery heist.