LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

krocheav When I noticed this movie advertised on ABC TV, I looked up the story, checked the cast, noted it was an RKO IB Technicolor production, and thought this just has to be seen. It sounded like I was headed for an above average western that I'd somehow missed over the years. Fifteen Min's in, I began to realize why I'd not come across it before (or had forgotten I had!)It could offer some fun for the undiscerning or easily pleased, but both reviews by Robert Maxwell, and Plankton Rules (both IMDb) have summed it up perfectly (I should have listened to their warnings). With all the great and good classic productions out there, why waste time on sub standard writing like this! The cast is fine (especially Robert Ryan) Clair Trevor was easy on the eye in gloriously colorful dress, but direction and script fully lets them down. The overused, and under talented Barton Maclane simply became a bit of a put-off in these clichéd roles. Leonard Maltin calls it 'offbeat', but it tends to tread a rather conventional trail...and rather poorly. I like an 'off-beat' story, they can often give us a reason to think along different lines, a bit like James Clavell's early racially aware western: "Walk Like a Dragon" from 1960. I suppose for 'Best Of The Bad Men' I should have been more conscious of the date ~ by the early 50's the once great RKO had been eroded into the doldrums by it's fanatical owner, and was just a few years away from total collapse. The combination of a 'B' western writer, and a largely Television based director, in this case, did not help either. Worst of the badmen ~ stay away if your looking for facts, believability or logic.......KenR

dbdumonteil That was Jack Buetel 's first part since the infamous "outlaw" and he is a bit too old for the part of an ingenuous young man in love with star Claire Trevor.Robert Ryan portrays a good man,generous and loyal ,who wants to give a second chance to renegades ,but he thwarts a hateful corrupt detective 's plans,is arrested and sentenced to death after a travesty of a trial:his enemy's wife ,who hates her husband ,helps him to escape and he becomes an outlaw,joining the men he wanted to rehabilitate.This is an action-packed western ,with chases,treason and a love affair,short and compact:there's never a dull moment. The badmen did really their best.

Robert J. Maxwell I realize some people have found this above average but I thought it was strictly pedestrian in all respects except its interesting cast: Robert Ryan, Claire Trevor, Walter Brennan, Robert Preston, Lawrence Tierney, Barton MacLane and the rest.Ryan is an admirable actor. He has considerable range, from sympathetic to evil, maybe better at "evil." As a bad guy he seems almost able to make his eyes gleam with intent, his muscles bunched, ready to spring. See him in "Crossfire" for a good example. For "sympathetic," try "The Wild Bunch." The villain in this Western is Preston, first as a rabid bounty hunter who gets Ryan cashiered from the post-war US Army, then as a zealous businessman who is out to get Ryan and the outlaw gang with which Ryan has a brittle relationship. The gang includes the James brothers and the Daltons.But nothing much develops that engages the viewer. Bands of horsemen gallop along dusty roads in pursuit of a lone rider. A stagecoach rattles and bumps along. A bullet must be painfully removed from a shoulder with a knife heated over an oil lamp. Walter Brennan, showing little in the way of his usual humor, holds two guns on an angry gang. Aside from the familiar shots, the story is full of implausibilities. Why would Trevor in full Western female panoply, complete with tall, flowered hat, stay so close to the gang during a hold up that she catches one of the bullets being exchanged.The climactic shoot out, a necessary catharsis, was over in the blink of an eye with little suspense or drama.And then there's the real history of the James gang. It kept nudging into my consciousness. They were really mean SOBs in life. The James family was of modest means, not poor, and owned several slaves. During the war, under the guise of guerrilla action, they committed all sorts of crimes and continued to do so after the war ended. They weren't motivated by pro-Confederate sentiments or revenge. They just wanted the money -- which they didn't give to the poor. They were thoroughly hateful, and Ryan's throwing in with them for personal reasons tainted his supposed virtue.It's the kind of movie you can watch without being challenged in any way, while your mind drifts and you worry about not having paid the gas bill yet.

whpratt1 This film is not like your typical Western from the past, it has a very interesting story about the Quantrill Raiders from the South after the Civil war in the states. These Quantrill Raiders were still fighting the Civil War when it was over quite awhile ago, they meet up with Robert Ryan, (Jeff Clanton) a soldier in the Northern Army and he knows most of these Raiders and tries to help them get clemency from their war crimes. The Jesse James gang has joined up with the raiders and Lawrence Tierney, "Dillenger", plays the role of Jesse James. Robert Preston, (Matthew Flower) plays a carpetbagger who runs a Detective Agency and is out to kill Jeff Clanton, who is a lover of his wife, Claire Trevor,(Lily); and knows that Matt Flower is a crooked man out to make himself a fortune on capturing men who are Wanted and cash in on their reward money. Walter Brennan, (Doc Butcher) gives a great supporting role and lots of laughter. Great Western, enjoy.