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6.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Bad Man remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is The Bad Man worth your time today? Honestly, only if you really love the history of early sound films or if you’re a completionist for Walter Huston. Most people will probably find it way too slow and static.
It’s definitely not Fast and Furious. Not by a long shot. 🌵
The whole thing feels like a play because, well, it was a play. You can almost see the edge of the stage sometimes. Most of the scenes take place in one living room on a ranch near the border.
Walter Huston plays Pancho Lopez, a bandit who is supposedly very dangerous but mostly just seems to enjoy talking. He’s wearing a lot of dark makeup and doing a thick accent that feels very '1930s Hollywood.' It’s a bit much at first, but he has this twinkle in his eye that makes it work.
He’s much more interesting than the actual hero, Gilbert Jones, played by James Rennie. Gilbert is kind of a wet blanket. He’s about to lose his ranch because he’s broke, which was probably a very relatable plot point back then.
Myrna Loy shows up as the love interest. She’s very young here and hasn't quite found that cool, sharp personality she had later in her career. She mostly just looks worried and stands in the corner of the frame.
The audio is a bit rough. You can hear the hiss of the early recording equipment. It gives the movie this ghostly feeling, like you're eavesdropping on a conversation from a hundred years ago.
There’s a lot of standing around. Because the microphones were hidden in things like vases or lamps back then, the actors don't move much. They sort of huddle together near the furniture. It makes the 'action' scenes feel very stiff.
I noticed one guy in the background who just keeps adjusting his hat. He does it like four times in one scene. I think he didn't know what to do with his hands while the main characters were talking about mortgages.
If you want something with more movement from the same era, you might prefer 3 Gold Coins. This one is more for people who like dialogue-heavy stories.
The plot is pretty simple. Pancho Lopez arrives and decides he likes Gilbert because Gilbert once did him a favor. So, Pancho decides to 'help' by being a criminal, which creates a weird moral situation that the movie doesn't really know how to handle.
There’s a scene where Pancho is eating and talking with his mouth full. It’s a small detail, but it made him feel more like a real person than the 'stiff' Americans on the ranch. Huston really carries the whole movie on his back. 🤠
The villains are very obvious. You can tell they are bad because they wear dark suits and sneer a lot. There isn't much mystery here.
It’s a bit like watching The Old Homestead in terms of how much it relies on old-fashioned tropes. The 'Mexican Bandit' trope is definitely dated and might make some viewers uncomfortable today.
But if you look at it as a piece of theater history, it’s fascinating. The way Huston moves and uses his hands is very theatrical. He’s playing to the back row, even though the camera is right there.
The ending happens very fast. It’s like they realized they were running out of film and just decided to wrap everything up in two minutes. One minute they are in trouble, the next minute everything is solved because Pancho says so.
Don't expect a masterpiece. It’s a curiosity. A dusty, slightly boring, but occasionally charming curiosity.
If you enjoy this kind of thing, you might also like Luck and Pluck. But really, only watch The Bad Man if you have a high tolerance for people talking in rooms. 🌵
I think I fell asleep for about five minutes in the middle and didn't miss a single plot point. That should tell you everything you need to know about the pacing.
IMDb 6.7
1916
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