Lee Marvin is Kalig Talbot and Charles Bronson is his younger brother Harge, a man Kalig secretly hates.
That’s because, years earlier, his stepdad faced a choice: Save Kalig’s mom or save the son she was about to give birth to.
Harge Talbot Sr. chose the infant, and Kalig later shot him for it, then told relatives he returned home to find his father dead.
Flash forward many years and both brothers have a grudge against the Shiloh Ranch.
Harge believes it was the Virginian who tipped the law off to a bank robbery he and his gang were planning.
So his men kidnap ranch owner Judge Garth’s daughter Elizabeth, figuring she’ll be the bait to lure the Virginian into a trap.
Harge’s figures he’ll benefit in another way as well. His own wife Eva is about to give birth.
Remembering what happened to his own mother in childbirth, having another woman around couldn’t hurt.
Meanwhile, Kalig decides to kidnap Judge Garth, who sentenced him to jail years earlier.
And he wants a $100,000 ransom if the Shiloh ranch wants the owner back alive.
Charles Bronson as Harge Talbot Jr. in The Meanest Men of the West (1974)
James Drury as The Virginian in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
Review:
Western fans couldn’t be blamed for stubbling across this film and finding the credits appealing.
Sam Fuller as director? Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin as co-stars? Sound intriguing, right?
But in truth, it’s all a muddled mess, cobbled together from two episodes of The Virginian that aired about five years apart and had nothing to do with one another.
So the dialogue doesn’t always make sense. Scenery changes dramatically from one scene to the next. Continuity problems crop up.
In one scene, the Virginian is badly beaten and escapes Harge’s hideout. In the next, he’s talking to a bank manager about Judge Garth’s kidnapping with nary a mark on his face.
Throw in some stock footages from a film about the James brothers — that’s the Northfield Bank being robbed in the opening scene — and the recipe for a rip-off to be marketed as a new film is complete.
For the curious, the two episodes combined here are “It Tolls For Thee” (1962) with Marvin as guest star and “Reckoning” (1967), which features Bronson.
The former was the only episode of The Virginian that Fuller directed; he also wrote the screenplay.
Lee Marvin as Kalig Talbot in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
Lee J. Cobb as Judge Henry Garth in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
Directed by:
Samuel Fuller &
Charles S. Dubin
Cast:
Lee J. Cobb … Judge Henry Garth
Charles Bronson … Harge Talbot Jr.
Lee Marvin … Kalig Talbot
Miriam Colon … Eva Talbot
James Drury … The Virginian
Albert Salmi … Quinn
Don Mitchell … Preble
Sara Lane … Elizabeth Garth
Charles Grodin … Arnie Doud
Brad Weston … Keeler
Ross Hagen … Bassett
Gary Clarke … Steve Hall
Michael Conrad … Harge Talbot Sr.
Warren J. Kemmerling … Sharkey
Jan Stine … Eddie
Lance Kervin … Young Kalig
Betty Beaird … Sarah Ann Talbot
Regis Corid … The doctor
Bonnie Bartlett … Aunt Myrtle
Ron Soble … Mungo
Runtime: 91 min.
aka:
Bad Men of the West
Sara Lane as Elizabeth Garth in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
Mariam Colo as Eva Talbot, Harge’s pregnant wife, in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
Memorable lines:
Yung Kalig Talbot to his dad, upon learning he plans to sacrifice the mom to save his about-to-be born son: “I hate the baby. Yes, I hate the baby. And I hope it dies.”
Eva Talbot to husband Harge: “Inside of me, there is life. But for the first time, I see it is different with you. I see you carry death.”
Harge Talbot, when one of his men come back with a kidnapped Elizabeth Garth: “I sent you after a man.”
Basset, one of his men: “Well, when you go fishin’, Harge, you can’t always catch what you want right off. The lines out, and the hooks ready, and you’re lookin’ at the live bait. She’s Judge Garth’s daughter.”
Kalig Talbot to kidnapped Judge Garth: “What a joke on the ants that looks up to you. Don’t they know you wear that halo because you can afford to? I mean, if you didn’t have that ranch, if you were a saddle tramp … you would revert to the savage that’s buried very deep inside of you.”
Lance Kerwin as young Kalig Talbot in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
James Drury as The Virginian, realizing his boss’s daughter has been kidnapped in The Meanest Men in the West (1974)
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