Return of the Bad Men

Directed by Ray Enright

Runtime 90 minuets

(1948)

Summary:

Randolph Scott plays US marshal Vance, assigned to rid the Oklahoma Territory of outlaws. This proves to be quite a challenge, in as much as virtually every frontier bad guy has converged upon the territory. Led by the Sundance Kid (Robert Ryan), the Younger Brothers (Steve Brodie, Richard Powers, Robert Bray), the Daltons (Lex Barker, Walter Reed, Michael Harvey) and Billy the Kid (Dean White) follow to reap the benefits of the local banks which are of coarse loaded with money and bonds . The gang is met by Cheyenne (Anne Jeffreys) who takes part in the first robbery. She gets caught by Marshal Vance and has to fall in love with him even though he is already engaged to Madge Allen (Jacqueline White). The rest of the story follows with Marshal Vance desperate to kill Sundance. They end up meeting in the small center of town with the Marshal’s posse vs. every outlaw in the west.

Facts:

Billy the Kid was never in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). It is highly unlikely that the Sundance Kid was ever in Indian Territory as well. The Bill Doolin Gang with the Arkansas Kid are depicted fairly accurately as far as place is concerned. Doolin called his band of cutthroats "The Wild Bunch" so maybe the writers confused Doolin's gang with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. It is also true that the Dalton Gang rode with the Doolin Gang in Indian Territory (Bill Doolin began his outlaw career with the Dalton Gang). The Younger Brothers with Frank and Jesse James hid out in Indian Territory but did not venture as far west as Guthrie.

The time line is also out of sync. Billy the Kid was killed in 1881, Jesse in 1882. The 1890's was the time of the Doolin Gang's peak activity, joined by remnants of the Dalton Gang. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were active at the turn of the century. As the later classic western, "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" shows, Cassidy's version of the Wild Bunch was the last notorious outlaw band of the Old West.

The Oklahoma Land Rush that led to the founding of Guthrie, Oklahoma, took place in 1889, several years after Billy the Kid's death. The part of the film showing Guthrie growing overnight to 10,000 inhabitants is historically accurate.

As far as bunching all the outlaws together "Return of the Badmen" overdid it a bit, the concoction does make for an entertaining picture. The Sundance Kid is portrayed as a hothead who is more interested in killing the Marshal than in robbing banks. Ryan's concept of the Sundance Kid is quite different from Robert Redford's later incarnation. Redford's Kid is fun-loving, yet deadly when provoked. Ryan's Kid is dead serious, at heart a cold-blooded killer.

Ratings

IMDB.COM gives 5.8 out of 10

Yahoo users rate C+

I give entertainment a B

I give historical value a D

Cast overview by IMDB.com:
	Randolph Scott	....	Marshal Vance Cordell
	Robert Ryan	....	Sundance Kid
	Anne Jeffreys	....	Cheyenne (Jeanie McBride)
	George 'Gabby' Hayes	....	John J. Pettit (bank president)
	Jacqueline White	....	Madge Allen (Pettit's daughter/Cordell's fiancée)
	Steve Brodie	....	Cole Younger
	Tom Keene	....	Jim Younger (as Richard Powers)
	Robert Bray	....	John Younger
	Lex Barker	....	Emmett Dalton
	Walter Reed	....	Bob Dalton
	Michael Harvey	....	Grat Dalton
	Dean White	....	Billy the Kid
	Robert Armstrong	....	Wild Bill Doolin
	Tom Tyler	....	Wild Bill Yeager
	Lew Harvey	....	Arkansas Kid