SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Leslie Howard Adams One would think that if a reviewer that knows the name and face of an actor in a film (when he is seen), then such reviewers would not go to great lengths in adding little tidbits about that actor, in their review, when that actor...John Payne...is not in the film. John Payne did not play "Apache Jack" in this film. That role was played by a one-and-done actor named Jack Payne. Perhaps those reviewers that pointed out the fabrication John Payne is in this film would go back and edit their reviews. But, the chances are very high that, rather than delete/correct their reviews, they will just mark this with a 'don't like'. Be my guest.

robertguttman "Bad Lands" is one of those rare movies that features no big-name actors in the cast ("The Mask of Demetrius" comes to mind as another example). That is not to say that the cast is composed of unknown actors or amateurs. Instead, the entire cast is made up of actors with well-known faces that appeared in hundreds of films, though usually in supporting roles. However, it is probably just as well that no well-known star, such as John Wayne or Randolph Scott, was placed at the head of this cast, because their presence would only have served to overbalance things, and ruin the ensemble nature of the story.Yes, it is granted that "Bad Lands" is a western redo of John Ford's famous 1934 film, "The Lost Patrol". The basic plot of "The Lost Patrol", which is so well known that it scarcely needs mention, seems to have been a favorite source for story-lines in Hollywood in those days, and particularly during the early days of World War II, when it was recycled in such films as "Bataan" and "Sahara". And yes, it is granted that "Bad Lands" was produced as a relatively low-budget B-picture, and was further handicapped by being limited to a running time of only a little over an hour. Nevertheless, it is definitely a very superior B-picture, and one of the better re- hashes of the now-cliché "The Lost Patrol" story, which was not yet regarded as so much of a cliché in 1939.Like a lot of movies produced during the 1930s, "Bad Lands" would never be remade today in the same form because it would be regarded as far too politically incorrect. The "Native Americans" are depicted unequivocally as bad guys, and the only "Latino" in the cast is depicted as being off his head (although the fact that his wife had recently been raped and murdered by the bad guy does provide a plausible excuse for his madness). It is also interesting to note that there are no women in the cast, a comparative rarity even in those days, and something the producers would never be permitted to get away with today. In addition, not one of the cast is African American, something else the producers would never be permitted to get away with today.Although "Bad Lands" is ostensibly an ensemble production, the leader of the cast is played by Robert Barrat, a veteran actor who portrayed a side variety of different types of characters in hundreds of films from the 1910s to the 1960s. Ironically, perhaps his best-remembered performance was in the titular title-role of the well-known 1936 movie version of "The Last of the Mohicans", in which he portrayed a "Native-American". "Bad Lands" may not be the best or most famous of Western movies, but is better than most, and is still worth a look. This may have been a "B" picture, but it definitely rates as a "B-Plus".

bkoganbing RKO Studios in 1939 made a real honey of a B western in a remake of their earlier classic, The Lost Patrol. This one could easily have been entitled The Lost Posse.Leading the posse going out into the Bad Lands in pursuit of a fugitive who is also a mixed race white and Indian is sheriff Robert Barrat who normally did not play roles as decent as he is here. He's got a collection of emergency deputies who are not some of the best of God's creations.The posse after some days in the Arizona desert finally gets to a water hole and they rest up for a spell. They probably needed, surely their horses did. But the Apache Indians gather and soon begin picking off the posse members one at a time. Tension mounts with the men of the posse and we learn quite a bit about the character of the members.Oh and one other thing. One of the reasons out intrepid band lingers is that while at the oasis, two of them who are normally prospectors, Andy Clyde and Francis Ford, discover a rich vein of silver. That brings the greed out on top of everything else. That's a twist that wasn't in The Lost Patrol.Besides those mentioned such folks as Noah Beery, Jr., Paul Hurst, Addison Richards, Douglas Walton, Francis McDonald, and Robert Coote are in the cast. This may be a B western, but it's not one for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade. The reason the posse is chasing their culprit is that he's guilty of rape, not a subject normally covered by Roy Rogers or Gene Autry in their films.The film is directed by B western movie veteran Lew Landers and moves at a nice brisk pace. Bad Lands may not have any marquee movie names, but it does have a great story and a more than competent cast.

guidon7 I watched Bad Lands on TCM during the wee hours this morning and was favorably impressed with this remake of 1934's The Lost Patrol, so like it in many ways, however this time in a Wild West setting.I found it enjoyable to watch many 30's & 40's villains play against type as heroes instead of their usual nasties. On the other hand Noah Beery, Jr. to my knowledge, played a bad guy for the only time in his film career. Noah was not the son of actor Wallace Beery, but of noted silent screen villain Noah Beery, Sr., Wallace's brother.Anyone notice that actor Douglas Walton played in both Lost Patrol and Bad Lands? In Patrol he was the first of Sgt. Victor McLaglen's troopers to die, while somehow in Bad Lands he managed to be the last of Sheriff Robert Barrat's posse to bite the dust. One might say this to have been poetic justice, I suppose.Oh yes, I wish to mention 6-footer John Payne,outrageously miscast as the Indian, Apache Jack. Let's face it: Geronimo he was not.