Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of those films that you put on not expecting much and are nothing but impressed by what you see. In short it's the story of a group of young men setting off to try their hand at a life of crime. It turns out to be a harsh lesson in just how tough the old west could be. Shot in muted colours this is an impressively filmed western which evokes the real character of the period. The cast is led by a young Jeff Bridges who is hugely charismatic in this role. He is ably supported by Barry Brown as the fundamentally decent young man not suited to the role of an outlaw.Although fairly slow to get going, this film has a number of memorable episodes and the tone of the film changes between light and dark at regular intervals making the sporadic violence all the more shocking and unpredictable. This fits in nicely with how life must have been during this period. I am surprised this film hasn't got a much higher profile as it is one of the more memorable westerns I have seen. Well worth watching for western fans.

A young man dodging the Civil War draft falls in with a group of runaways heading west. This is a Western in name only. It has little of the elements that one associates with the genre. Making his directorial debut, future Oscar winner Benton does little to enliven this comedy-drama. The script is too rambling to hold one's interest. The characters are not compelling enough to care what happens to them. The attempts at humor are somewhat forced. The shift between comedy and brutal violence is jarring. Bridges does OK in what was his first starring role. It is sad watching Brown, a talented actor who committed suicide six year later at the age of 27.

Like many westerns released in the 1970s, "Bad Company" completely throws away the rule-book, director Robert Benton hitting us with a free-spirited flick that borrows less from the western genre than it does from road movies and the various coming of age tales, populated by young ruffians and rascals, of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.The film opens with young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), an upstanding kid with a prestigious upbringing, leaving home. The Civil War is raging and he's on the run from Union gangs. They want to draft him into the army, he has other plans. And so with his family's blessings, Drew skips town, promising to "always keep to the straight and narrow". Unfortunately he soon hooks up with Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges) and his band of outcasts and delinquents. Turns out they're also dodging conscription.Benton's film then develops along episodic lines, its tone ranging from the quirky, to the light-hearted, to the melancholic to the shockingly violent. Some of Benton's episodes involve the boys stealing, killing, skinning chickens or bartering with prostitutes, but for the most part each episode serves the same function: to show the eradication of the moral compass. Neither boys nor men, our heroes increasingly adopt manners that not only comport with their immature sense of masculinity, but push them further into corruption. Indeed, part of the fun of the film is our continual uncertainty as to exactly how far our cast has fallen.Like most westerns released during this period (see "The Culpepper Cattle Company" and "Hombre"), "Bad Company" is attuned to the Vietnam war. The word "company" itself has militaristic connotations, and the film's awash with scenes involving draft dodging, kids being corrupted by violence, hardened by the wild, abandoned by society or derailed from paths of righteousness and civility.Aesthetically the film looks gorgeous, filmed in naturalistic earth tones by Gordon Willis, the acclaimed cinematographer of "The Godfather". The score by Harvey Schmidt manages to be both jaunty and haunting. Young Jeff Bridges turns in an infectious performance.8.5/10 – Makes a good companion piece to "Wild Bill", another underrated Jeff Bridges western. Worth one viewing.

A gang of little thieves meanders West to dodge the Civil War draft. On the way they lose their innocence, their dignity and most of their lives.Stars Jeff Bridges as a rural Artful Dodger, Barry Brown his Oliver Twist, and David Huddleston as Fagin. Features harsh dialog, decently drawn characters, the always excellent Gordon Willis behind the camera, and a jackrabbit shot to death with large-caliber revolvers.Like its early-70s revisionist brethren, BAD COMPANY immerses the viewer in an unglamorous Old West - there is some cursing, sudden brutality, and dirty clothing. Any of your companions could rob you, kill you or die any time. You will meet oddball characters on the trail. You will not take a bath for weeks. A jar of stolen peaches is your reward for a hard day's looking over both shoulders. That, or a load of buckshot in the back of the head. Unlike better works of the genre and period, here there is no paean to friendship lost, no elegy to changing times, no growth from boy to man, no story even. It's just a slice of life. This can be fine, this no-journey journey thing, but in BAD COMPANY point A is so close to point B, you will not have time to gain any insights. You will not learn any lessons, except perhaps a fatalistic impulse to steer clear of other people. So ultimately this movie, though competent in every element, is little more than a bummer.Too bad about Barry Brown - he shot himself in Silverlake before Silverlake, or he, was really fashionable. Too many movies like this and one gets a little depressed, I guess.