The Bad Man [Two-Gun Cupid] ** (1941, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, Tom Conway) – Classic Movie Review 11,627

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1941 The Bad Man [Two-Gun Cupid] is a Western with a dash of comedy and romance about the bandit Lopez, an eccentric Mexico caballero (Wallace Beery, the Two-Gun Cupid of the amusing alternative title) who intervenes in Gil Jones‘s (Ronald Reagan’s) troubled courting of girlfriend Lucia (Laraine Day), while assisting an old buddy Uncle Henry Jones (Lionel Barrymore) in trouble.

Gil was happy until he meets Lucia’s husband Morgan (Tom Conway). Hardy (Nydia Westman) is about to foreclose on Gil’s ranch, but Morgan offers to buy it.

MGM thought this third filming, shot in sepia, of Porter Emerson Browne’s stage hit worthy of some of its big guns – Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, Chris-Pin Martin, Tom Conway, Chill Wills – and it paid off both in steady entertainment value and at the box-office. Its entertainment value is spearheaded by the outrageously scene-stealing performances of Beery and Barrymore, leaving the comparatively dull Reagan, Day and Conway in the shade.

Also featuring Nydia Westman, Charles Stevens, Joe Dominguez, Artie Ortego, and Daniel Rea.

It follows the silent movie version The Bad Man (director Edwin Carewe, 1923) with Holbrook Blinn, Jack Mulhall, Walter McGrail and Enid Bennett, and The Bad Man (director Clarence Badger, 1930), with Walter Huston and Dorothy Revier.

The Bad Man [Two-Gun Cupid] is directed by Richard Thorpe, runs 72 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Wells Root, is shot by Clyde de Vinna, is produced by J Walter Ruben, is scored by Franz Waxman.

The play opened in New York City on 30 August 1920 and had 342 performances.

It is Warner Bros actor Reagan’s first movie for MGM.

Henry O’Neill is listed as a cast member in MGM’s production list but does not appear.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,627

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com

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