Waste of time

Excellent, a Must See

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

By all accounts, Wallace Beery was a coarse and miserable A-hole off camera. It's no surprise the man lacked refinement, just look at him, but I hope he wasn't quite the jerk biographers have painted him since his death in 1949. I've always enjoyed watching Wallace Beery movies, if his personality was something less than desirable in real life you'd never know it from many of his films, where the man is just simply...lovable. And if it was only that way on screen, then that's all that really matters I guess. Beery played a persona that made him a good living, and he always delivered the goods once the cameras rolled.In Bad Bascomb, Beery is hilarious. He spits as many mouthfuls of funny dialogue as he spits his food. He also shows himself to have been a far better actor than he's remembered for as he emotes menace, sweetness, redemption and morosity with his craggy mug as good as any actor of his day. I defy anyone to dislike Beery in this film.The movie itself is at times unbalanced...moves between a children's film and a more conventional western, with all its back shooting nastiness, a little unseamlessly. But it was all shot outdoors on location and as Wagon Train movies go, this one has a fairly authentic look to it.Maybe not a great western, but it's great fun to watch Beery and Margaret O'Brien play off each other. The kind of sweetness reminiscent of Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood in Miracle in the 34th Street. One of Beery's must see roles. Well worth your time if you come across it on TCM.

Sure, this is just another horse opera, but who cares?Wallace Beery is more entertaining just being Wallace Beery than most actors are with sparkling dialogue and auteur direction.Magararet O'Brien: Shirley Temple she ain't! When people talk about child stars, they usually mention Jackie Coogan and Jackie Cooper; Mickey Rooney and Dickie Moore; Baby Peggy and Hailie Mills. Give me Margaret O'Brien any day.Marjorie Main could lick her weight in Marie Dresslers, any day.Pure entertainment!

Pure 1946. Wallace Beery and Margaret O'Brien try to steal from the film from each other. It's a hoot. Great entertainment.

This was a good movie without any of the present day special effects. No swearing, no nudity and no sex. Just plain old good acting. Unfortunately, you have to be a fan of the older movies to really appreciate the quality of this movie and the actors of the era. J. Carrol Nash played the same type of villain as he did in Beau Geste, with Gary Cooper.