a5c7b9f00b The Younger brothers, Cole (<a href=">Dennis Morgan), Bob (<a href=">Wayne Morris) and Jim (<a href=">Arthur Kennedy), return to Missouri after the Civil War with intent to avenge the misdeeds of William Merrick (<a href=">Victor Jory), a crooked banker who has been buying up warrants on back-taxes and dispossessing the farmers. Henry Younger (<a href=">Russell Simpson), their father, has been killed by a Merrick henchman and, then, Cole is framed on a murder rap. The brothers escape and then begin a series of bank and train robberies, primarily stealing from Merrick and turning the loot over to the farmers. Jim, in love with Mary Hathaway (<a href=">Jane Wyman), is lured into Harrisonville and jailed. Cole and Bob ride to rescue him. Don't know exactly why but this is one of my favorite all time westerns. Remember seeing it on TV many years ago but I don't think it has been on TV in a long, long time. Turner Classic Movies has the film in it's vault. Story concerns the Younger brothers returning from the civil war to their small Missouri town only to find out the carpetbaggers have taken over and are running out all the peaceable, old folks, taking over their farms and property with delinquent tax deeds. The people cannot pay their tax bills because confederate money is considered worthless. Victor Jory, one of the best villains ever in the movies, plays a ruthless carpetbagger who shows no signs of pity on the poor, hapless farmers. Throw in the evil, sinister, looking Howard DaSilva as a crooked sheriff and you've got a mean mix of villains. The Younger brothers fight back after the murder of their father by Jory and his cutthroats…..they decide to take justice into their own hands and start robbing banks…in turn they give the loot back to the farmers and downtrodden to pay off their tax bills. Sort of like a Robin Hood of the west. A very young Jane Wyman as a love interest of Arthur Kennedy, one of the Younger brothers. Check out the hapless, bumbling Walter Catlett as a goofy middle man transporting Jory's money to a bank only to have the Younger brothers take it away from him. In the end the Younger brothers are all wounded from gunfights and lay in hospital beds while a movement is started by the Missouri downtrodden to get them pardons from the governor. Pretty good western for it's time…..only problem is the film is fairly short…only about an hour and fifteen minutes long….could have been a little longer for my tastes. Ray Enright was a good director for westerns , they all have a special quality. Enright went back to the same theme again (Jesse James and the Youngers) in 1950 with "Kansas Raiders". "Bad Men" is an entertaining film with a trio of excellent actors: Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris and Arthur Kennedy. It also has Jane Wyman. The story is about the Younger brothers and how after the war their land was taken away, and they became outlaws, Robin Hood style. They eventually join up with Jesse James. This film does not seem to have been made such long ago as 1941, it looks surprisingly modern.
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376 weeks ago