Bad Company

Summary

“Just because we started off on the wrong foot, that doesn’t mean nothing.”

Fun City Editions revels in bringing forgotten American films from yesteryear to the Blu-ray format. I have been unabashed in my support for this label which is owned and curated by Jonathon Hertzberg, and I have been happy to see that their releases have gotten a lot of love from the film collecting community. The label has proven to be a great place to find some of Jeff Bridges’s lesser known films such as Rancho Deluxe, Cutter’s Way, and now, Bad Company. Bad Company was the directorial debut of screenwriter and filmmaker Robert Benton. Growing up, Nobody’s Fool was a very well loved film in my household. Paul Newman is exceptional in that film. Nobody’s Fool introduced me to Robert Benton as a director, and also introduced me to the works of Richard Russo who is now one of my favorite novelists. When I realized that Bad Company was a Western from that director, I was definitely excited to check it out. When I learned Bad Company was an acid western I was even more excited. I watched it the other night.

As the film begins, a horse drawn cage on wheels is brought in front of a house by a group of United States Army soldiers. They are snatching up young men that have tried to avoid enlisting. When the Army arrives at the home of the God-fearing Dixon family, they speak with Mrs. Dixon. She explains that her son Drew (Barry Brown) is not present, and that they have already lost one child to the war. The soldier explains to her that, “If I catch him, he goes into the Army. If someone else catches him, they’re liable to hang him.” The soldier leaves with his battalion. With the coast clear, Drew speaks with his father and mother. They give him a hundred dollars and tell him to get outside the Union as quickly as he can so that he can avoid the conflict. They recommend he head to St. Joseph, Missouri and then make his way west. Drew’s journal entry gives he date as September 30, 1863, as  Drew Dixon arrives in St. Joseph, Missouri with high hopes of avoiding enlistment. While looking for a Methodist Church, as he had been advised to do, Drew meets Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges.) They begin walking together after Drew is spooked by some soldiers in the town. While chatting with Drew, Jake leads him into an alley, hits him over the head with a gun, and robs him of the cash in his pockets. Lucky for Drew, most of his funds were in his boots. Drew makes his way to the local Methodist Church. A young kid in Jake’s ragtag gang robs the minister’s wife just before Drew arrives. Out in the forest, Jake and his small crew split up their take for the day. Jake hopes that he can return the purse to the minister’s wife for a reward. When he brings the purse back that the kids had stolen, Drew sees his attacker and springs to action. They fight one another, busting up a lot of the minister’s kitchen in the process. Jake bests Drew, but, exhausted, he offers to let Drew come with his crew as they make their way out West. In order to convince the gang he can make his way out West with them, he rips his suit slightly and comes back with some of the cash in his boot telling a story of robbing a general store. Drew attempts to keep his chastity and stay true to his Methodism as he faces temptations by the lot he has thrown in with. The gang is foolhardy and completely unprepared for the difficulties of traveling out West where there are many tough men and other dangers.

Bad Company is in line with other offbeat bittersweet feeling films of that era such as Harold and Maude or Bonnie and Clyde, but it also is an acid western like McCabe and Mrs. Miller or Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. There is a down and out sense of humor to the proceedings that will appeal to fans of Charles Portis’s novel True Grit, which makes sense given that Robert Benton and David Newman had written both Bonnie and Clyde and There Was a Crooked Man together. They had cowritten What’s Up Doc? with Buck Henry and David Newman before Robert Benton was given a chance to direct his own script. Cinematographer Gordon Willis was coming off of his work on Klute and was just about to film The Godfather. His work here is great – the daytime sequences will occasionally remind viewers of moments in Days of Heaven. Jeff Bridges had just been in both Fat City and The Last Picture Show. Barry Brown had just played in a number of small parts, so this was a big role for the young actor. The combination of the talents of those four people created a memorable picture. I love Westerns, and have been drawn to acid westerns in the last few years, so I found a lot I enjoyed about the film.

As I mentioned, the cinematography by Gordon Willis looks great. While nighttime scenes are so dark that at times they are almost inscrutable, the daytime sequences look fantastic. I also noted that Gordon was working with another exceptional cinematographer on the film, Michael Chapman, who served as a camera operator. Chapman would go on to make his name with Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and numerous brilliant films over the next fifty years. Robert Benton does a solid job of working with the cast which features some excellent character actors. David Huddleston (who is probably best known now for his role in The Big Lebowski) is given a great role as Big Joe, the leader of a gang of outlaws. Geoffrey Lewis and Ed Lauter are memorable as Big Joe’s associates. John Savage plays one of the outspoken and tougher member’s of Jake’s gang. I also appreciated Jim Davis’s brief role as a Marshal. The two leads of the film are very well cast. Jeff Bridges is so natural onscreen that he seems to easily take on roles of characters like Jake. The film definitely benefits from his presence. Barry Brown was a talented young man who played the pious Drew Dixon capably. Sadly he died just six years later at the age of 27. 

The screenplay by Robert Benton and David Newman stikes a good balance of lighthearted and rough material. It moves at a measured pace to a solid finale. The dialogue is very well considered. The only negative that I feel needs to be mentioned is that the piano driven score, which works for three quarters of the film, distracted me during a fantastic shootout sequence in the latter third of the film. The song choice in that sequence would have played better in a straight comedy, and felt out of place from everything else in the film.

Overall – Bad Company is another winner for Fun City Editions. Check it out!

Video

Bad Company arrives on Blu-ray from a brand new 4K transfer from its 35mm camera negative. Bad Company is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1080p. For the most part the grain is very well resolved and the film has been color timed appropriately. The cinematography by Gordon Willis is wonderful, but you can expect the nighttime sequences to be extremely dark. That darkness is intentional and a trademark of Willis’s style, but was worth noting for those unfamiliar with his work. Fans of the film should be ecstatic to see the way it looks.

Audio

Fun City Editions has provided a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track in English. The dialogue and score come through clearly. The track replicates the original theatrical experience well.

Supplements:

• Commentary – movie critic Walter Chaw weighs in on the picture.
• Radio Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Booklet – features a brand-new essay by Margaret Barton-Fumo and additional vintage film art.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Bad Company is the second acid western starring Jeff Bridges to be released by Fun City Editions. As a fan of that actor and genre, it was pretty much a no-brainer that I would enjoy this release. Written by Robert Benton and David Warner, who also wrote the screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde, Bad Company is an enjoyable journey into the American West of 1863. The cast of the film is full of wonderful character actors and also features Barry Brown in a lead role. Barry Brown sadly took his own life just seven years later. It’s a shame. The picture also benefits from great cinematography by Gordon Willis. Fun City Editions have done a great job on the Blu-ray release with a very good looking video presentation from a 4K scan and an enjoyable commentary by Walter Chaw. Recommended!