Return of the Bad Men *** (1948, Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie) – Classic Movie Review 5305

There are lots and lots of gunsmoke in director Ray Enright’s 1948 follow-up to Badman’s Territory (1946). There are lots and lots of good star actors too, including Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes and Lex Barker.

The RKO Radio Pictures studio put Oklahoma sheriff Vance (Randolph Scott) up against every badman they could think of – from the Sundance Kid (Robert Ryan) via Cole Younger (Steve Brodie) and Billy the Kid (Dean White) to Emmett Dalton (Lex Barker).

Though the admirable actors have to fight a fairly routine script (by Charles O’Neal, Jack Natteford and Luci Ward), they come out smelling of roses in this pretty strong Western.

Also in the cast are Tom Keene and Robert Bray as Jim and John Younger, Walter Reed and Michael Harvey as Bob and Grat Dalton, Robert Armstrong as Wild Bill Doolin, Tom Tyler as Wild Bill Yeager, Lew Harvey as the Arkansas Kid, Minna Gombell, Walter Baldwin, Warren Jackson, Harry Shannon, Charles McAvoy, ‘Snub’ Pollard, Cyril Ring, Ida Moore, Earle Hodgins, John Hamilton, Lane Chandler, Eddie Borden, Hank Bell, Ernie Adams, Jason Robards Sr, Robert Clarke, Gary Gray, Harry Tenbrook, and Dorothy Vernon.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5305

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