Ronald Reagan is Gil Jones, Lionel Barrymore is Uncle Henry Jones and they’re trying to eke out a living ranching cattle in the southwest. Gil has even sacrificed the love of his girl, Lucia (Laraine Day), to move out West.
She returns for a visit, married to Easterner Morgan Pell, a land speculator. It’s pretty obvious Gil and Lucia are still in love.
Then bandit Pancho Lopez (Wallace Beery) rustles the Jones’ herd, meaning they can’t make their mortgage payment to businessman Jasper Hardy.
Pell offers to come to the rescue, offering to buy the ranch. But then Lopez and his army of bandits show up.
He threatens to show Lucia a good time; he threatens to kill just about everyone else.
As the captives negotiate to escape with their lives, something else becomes obvious.
Pell’s offer to buy the ranch didn’t come from the goodness of his heart; in fact, he might have been trying to swindle Gil and Uncle Henry out of land rich in oil.
Ronald Reagan as Gil Jones, in danger of being hanged by Pancho Lopez in The Bad Man (1941)
Wallace Beery as Pancho Lopez, reacting to a slap in the face from Lucia Pell in The Bad Man (1941)
Review:
The first half of the film is a fast-moving delight, made all the more so by Lionel Barrymore’s cynical Uncle Henry. Then Wallace Beery takes center stage, and the film turns way too talky.
Lots of the talk involves how Pancho Lopez is going to straighten out all of Gil’s problems. You see, he’s discovered that Gil is the gringo who saved his life years earlier.
Once Pancho has accomplished his mission, he and Uncle Henry “ride off into the sunset” in one of the stranger endings you’ll find in a Western.
Laraine Day would later marry baseball manager Leo Durocher and became known as “the first lady of baseball.”
Laraine Day as Lucia Pell, having her teeth inspected by Pancho Lopez in The Bad Man (1941)
Lionel Barrymore as Uncle Henry Jones, showing Pancho Lopez that he’s practically penniless in The Bad Man (1941)
Directed by:
Richard Thorpe
Cast:
Wallace Beery … Pancho Lopez
Lionel Barrymore … Uncle Henry Jones
Laraine Day … Lucia Pell
Ronald Reagan … Gil Jones
Henry Travers … Mr. Jasper Hardy
Tom Conway … Morgan Pell
Chil Wills … Red Giddings
Nydia Westman … Angela Hardy
Chris-Pin Martin … Pedro
Charles Stevens … Venustiano
Runtime: 70 min.
Tom Conway as Morgan Pell, the rich land speculator Lucia has married in The Bad Man (1941)
Chris-Pin Martin as Pedro, Pancho Lopez’s right-hand man, eager to shoot somone in The Bad Man (1941)
Memorable lines:
Uncle Henry Jones: “Trouble, trouble, trouble. I must have been born on the wrong side of the bed … I had to go and buy this Mexican sandlot. Then I fall off my horse, and I’ve been in this confounded chair ever since, with one wheel in the grave. Then Gil takes my last cent and puts it into cows. Then we lose the cows. Then he goes and gets his fool self shot up. Now the mortgage is due and we’re gonna lose the ranch. Ahh, why don’t we burn the house down, kill all the horses, shoot each other and call it a day.”
Gil Jones: “Uncle Henry, you’ve got the disposition of a scorpion.”
Pancho Lopez: “How you like to go to Chihuahua with me?”
Lucia: “I wouldn’t like it.”
Pancho: “Why not?”
Lucia: “Well, in the first place, I’m married.”
Pancho: “Well, we will not take the husband. Just you and me.”
Uncle Henry, indicating Morgan Pell: “He’s got more thousand dollar bills than Pedro has fleas.”
Morgan Pell: “If you kill me, you’ll be hanged.”
Pancho Lopez: “If I’m ever caught, I will be hanged many times.”
Ronald Reagan as Gil Jones, ready to free Lucia Pell from Pancho Lopez’s grip in The Bad Man (1941)
Henry Travers as Jasper Hardy, the banker who wants Jone’s ranch with Venustiano (Charles Stevens) and Red Giddings (Chill Wills) in The Bad Man (1941)
Nydia Westman as Angela Hardy, the banker’s daughter who would love to marry Gil Jones in The Bad Man (1941)
Wallace Berry as Pancho Lopez, Laraine Day as Lucia Pell and Ronald Reagan as Gil Jones in The Bad Man (1941)
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