BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

ma-cortes Thrilling story about a group of young people who join forces to be robbers , as they rob their way west but with unexpected consequences . This first-rate Western draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as adventure and action . Good and enjoyable western with a great casting and two sensational starring , a very young Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown in a coming-of-age story . This exciting film packs Western action , go riding , thrills , emotion , shoot-outs and results to be quite entertaining . It contains a magnificent main cast as Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown facing off bandits (David Huddleston , Geoffey Lewis , Ed Lauer , among others) a tough sheriff(Jim Davis) and deputies ; in addition , a top-drawer support cast . This is a nice flick containing a little bit of charming humor about naively juvenile , friendship , violence and sense of comradeship among people . It's a sympathetic western , with a beautiful cinematography , attractive scenery from meadows and great soundtrack by piano . It deals with a god-fearing Ohio boy called Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) dodging the Civil War draft arrives in Jefferson City where he joins up with a hardscrabble group of like runaways heading west , being led by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges) , a street-wise rebel . Both of them have wildly differing temperaments . Soon after, though, the drifter young finds out existence on the West is neither what he expected nor what he's been wishing . As the dangerous journey that turns out to be worst than expected , suffering attacks , hard-working activities , robbing , gun-play and many other things . Formidable as well as intriguing Western full of action , fascinating drama , crossfire and fabulous performances . It's a wonderful adventure film format "western" itinerant, filled with entertaining events , danger and life lessons . This exciting film packs good feeling as friendship , faithfulness , companionship and violence as well as touching scenes on the final . The screenplay , by David Newman , Robert Benton , is plain and simple but intelligent , with a conventional plot , but ultimately gets overcome . The picture belongs to Western sub-genre of the seventies about juvenile people , starred by teens or little boys such as ¨The Spikes gang¨ , ¨Marshal Cahill¨ , ¨The cowboys¨ and ¨The Culpepper Cattle Co¨. Gorgeous outdoors with decent production design by Paul Sylbert . Filmmaker gets to remain the Western emotion , moving scenes and suspense until the ending . The young starring player Barry Brown is very good , his role as an ingenuous and cultured young is top-notch , he performed similar character as a naive cowboy in other films however , he virtually disappeared without much trace until his suicide , as he shot himself to death . He was especially known for Daisy Miller (1974) , Piranha (1978) and this Bad company (1972). Sympathetic Jeff Bridges as gang leader , he steals the show as likable as well as two-fisted young gunslinger . According to Jeff Bridges the gunfight in the forest had to be completely re shot after the film was ruined in the lab . Secondary cast is extraordinary such as John Savage , David Huddleston , Jerry Houser , Jim Davis , Geoffrey Lewis , Jean Allison , Ed Lauter , John Quade and Charles Tyner . Cool cinematographer Gordon Willis prowls his camera splendidly through some wonderfully seedy , deserted landscapes . Evocative and atmospheric musical score composed by means of piano played by Harvey Schmidt. This Sleeper Western was well produced by Stanley R Jaffe and stunningly directed by Robert Benton , recreating compellingly this thrilling story ; being debut of Benton and whose most popular movie resulted to be ¨Kramer vs Kramer¨ . He is a writer and director, known for Kramer vs Kramer (1979), Nadine (1987) , Billy Bathgate (1991) , Nobody's Fool (1994) , Twilight (1998) , The human stain (2003), Feast of Love (2007) and wrote Superman (1978) and Bonnie y Clyde (1967). This much underrated Civil War era Western is rated above average ; being essential and indispensable watching for Western genre fans . Enjoyable scenarios , interesting script , nice performances and gorgeous outdoors make this well worth seeing .

kenjha A young man dodging the Civil War draft falls in with a group of runaways heading west. This is a Western in name only. It has little of the elements that one associates with the genre. Making his directorial debut, future Oscar winner Benton does little to enliven this comedy-drama. The script is too rambling to hold one's interest. The characters are not compelling enough to care what happens to them. The attempts at humor are somewhat forced. The shift between comedy and brutal violence is jarring. Bridges does OK in what was his first starring role. It is sad watching Brown, a talented actor who committed suicide six year later at the age of 27.

runamokprods This first feature directed by Robert Benton sets the tone for all the good work he followed it with. While there's little in common between this darkly funny western, and say 'Kramer vs. Kramer' on a story level, the underlying style and themes – a genuine appreciation of the complexity of human nature, a refusal to judge characters in simplistic terms, a sense of humor off-setting even heart rending situations, a subtle visual strength that never overwhelms the story, but always strengthens and feeds it – are all already in place. Here he creates a western not quite like any other, as a rag-tag group of young boys, most on the run from conscription in the Civil War (clearly a Vietnam-era reference) try to make it on their own as 'outlaws', or at least their romantic notion of such, The main conflict is between Brian Brown's straight arrow Christian boy, aping the ideals and notions taught him all his life, and the very young Jeff Bridges equally acting out his schoolboy idea of a tough guy. Along the way, as they encounter a series of real adults, dangerous, hardened, seemingly with no ideals left, both young men are slowly forced by circumstance to examine and change their own self-image. There are a few cheats here or there on a story level, and not every episode is as good as the next in this episodic tale, but this is a unique, creative and terrific use of the 'old west' to explore modern morality with wit, humanity and complexity.

rsternesq I love westerns and I love Jeff Bridges. After seeing A Door in the Floor again I remain mystified as to why he doesn't have a shelf full of Oscars. That said, Bad Company is not a terrible movie but it surely isn't great. It is a stretch to call it uneven because it is evenly ordinary. It lacks the lyric quality of McCabe and Mrs. Miller or the iconic quality of The Searchers. As a matter of fact, it is not really comparable to any of the great westerns because it is inherently small and my bottom line is that to the extent that it is worth watching, it is because it was a sincere effort but that is the best I can do and it is faint praise indeed. I don't think that it is a neglected masterpiece but think it is neglected precisely because it is not a masterpiece.