Bad Bascomb (1946)

Wallace Beery is Bad Bascomb, leader of a feared outlaw gang no federal marshal can tame.

But federal agent John Fulton heads West to try, and gets off to a good start when he ambushes the Bascomb gang as they try to rob a bank in Timber City.

Bascomb, sidekick Bart Yancy and several of the men get away. With a posse hot on their heels, Bascomb and Yancy decide to join a Mormon wagon train heading to Utah.

Bascomb is assigned to help a gruff grandmom named Abbey, who has an adorable daughter named Emmy (Margaret O’Brien), who takes an immediate liking to the one-time outlaw.

While Abbey is working Bascomb to death, Yancy feigns a back injury to do as little work as possible. But he’s eager to get away from the Mormons and return to a life of thievery … until he finds out there’s gold hidden in them there wagons.

Will Bascomb betray the friendship of the Mormons and help rob the wagon train? Will he turn his back on the young girl who loves him?

Wallace Beery as Bad Bascomb, an outlaw posing as a Mormon in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Margaret O’Brien as Emmy, the young girl who worms her way into Bad Bascomb’s cold heart in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Review:

Beery is at his blustery best in a delightful film with some truly memorable scenes.

Like Bascomb singing out messages to Yancy as part of the Mormon choir … and like Yancy sending night owl calls to Bascomb as a signal that it’s time to rob the train, only to discover Bascomb can’t move because Emmy, sick with a fever, is clutching tightly onto one of his fingers.

Marshall Thompson is Jimmy Holden, a young man Bascomb takes under his wings, but who really isn’t interested in a lawless life. Frances Rafferty plays the young Mormon girl he falls in love with.

J. Carroll Naish as Bart Yancy, Bad Bascomb’s badder sidekick in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Marjorie Main as Abbey Hanks, catching Bascomb in another woman’s wagon in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Directed by:
S. Sylvan Simon

Cast:
Wallace Beery … Bad Bascomb
Margaret O’Brien … Emmy
Marjorie Main … Abbey Hanks
J. Carroll Naish … Bart Yancy
Frances Rafferty … Dora McCabe
Marshall Thompson … Jimmy Holden
Russell Simpson … Elijah Walker
Warner Anderson … Luther Mason
Donald Curtis … John Fulton
Connie Gilchrist … Annie Freemont
Sara Haden … Tillie Lovejoy
Jane Green … Hannah McCabe
Henry O’Neill … Gov. Winton
Frank Darien … Elder Moab McCabe

Runtime: 112 min.

Marshall Thompson as Jimmy Holden, the young man Bad Bascomb takes under his wings in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Frances Rafferty as Dora McCabe, the young Mormon girl Jimmy Holden falls for in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Memorable lines:

Bad Bascomb, hearing 10 federal agents are on his trail: “Aw, shucks, that ain’t enough to give a man a lather.”

Emmy, catching Bascomb sneaking a piece of meat from the caravan’s food supply: “Thou shalt not steal. That’s the eighth commandment.”
Bascomb: “Though shalt not snitch. That’s the ninth commandment.”

Bascomb, after Abbey has explained all the chores he’ll be expected to complete as her “man”: “When do I sleep?”
Abbey Hanks: “When we get to Utah.”

Emmy, about her grandma Abbey: “I bet you could sweet talk her if you knew how.”
Bascomb: “In her, it would curdle.”

Bascomb to Emmy: “Measles couldn’t light on you, you’re too squiggly.”

Donald Curtis as John Fulton, the lawman on Bad Bascomb’s trail in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Russell Simpson as Brother Elijah Walker, welcoming Bascomb and Bart to the wagon train in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Renie Riano as Lucy Lovejoy and Sara Haden as her sister Tillie in Bad Bascomb (1946)

Margaret O’Brien as Emmy, describing a necktie party to Bad Bascomb (Wallace Beery) in Bad Bascomb (1946)