jacobs-greenwood Though ostensibly a version of The Asphalt Jungle (1950), I didn't see it, nor is it even half as captivating. It stars Alan Ladd, late in his career and looking it, and Ernest Borgnine as ex-convicts who, at least initially, don't want anything to do with one another but end up working together.The film opens in a Yuma prison camp where Ladd has 10 months left on his sentence, but Borgnine has only one more day to serve. Borgnine has just gotten out of solitary confinement, where he has served 4 of his 10 years, so he's a little grouchy. In fact, he is about to strike a guard, for beating another member of his chain gang, when Ladd wrestles him to the ground and stops him. Ladd, who has been a model prisoner, is then released later that same day, his sentence commuted for saving the guard. Incredibly, Borgnine is also released, suffering no penalty for almost striking the guard. Though Ladd offers a "job" to Borgnine, he had been burned before and is uninterested. After Borgnine leaves, the warden asks Ladd why he never acted like a prisoner when he was inside. He responds that he was innocent and that he'd been framed.Ladd takes the stagecoach to Prescott, pointing out the Lisbon mine to a couple of women passengers as they ride into town. It is clear he has some history in this town, and had a dispute with the mine's owner which led to his arrest. While trying to check into the hotel, he is told by the Marshall, who had sent him to Yuma those years ago, that he's not welcome. After promising him that he'll leave on the next stagecoach at 6 PM the next day, he is allowed to stay. However, his normal suite in the Bascom hotel is not available, so he is given a room across the hall. He meets a woman who is staying in the suite, Ada Winton (Claire Kelly), after helping her. She is a kept woman, who'd been locked in, by Cyril Lounsberry (Kent Smith), who's wife owns the Lisbon mine. An arrangement she tolerates because he has money.Later, he rides his (?) horse to the closed, south entrance of the mine. He enters the mine and, after moving some boards, goes straight to a rich gold vein, taking a sample. He then goes back into to town to see Sample (Robert Emhardt, a "fat" character actor most moviegoers would recognize). Leaving Sample's office is Comanche (Anthony Caruso). Both of these men work for Lounsberry and Ladd wants Sample to arrange a meeting for him with the big man. While Ladd is meeting with Sample, Borgnine comes in. Apparently he knows Sample too and asks him for a job because he eventually wants to become a rancher again. When Sample, now with the upper hand, prods him, he gets angry and leaves.Later, outside, Borgnine witnesses Comanche and some other roughnecks treating a Mexican woman Anita (Katy Jurado) badly and interrupts their fun. When one of them is about to shoot Borgnine, a deputy (Adam Williams) fires his gun to break it up. Borgnine and Anita then begin a relationship. Meanwhile, Ladd gets his meeting with Lounsberry and shows him the gold ore sample. Ladd says he needs cash and, since he doesn't have time to work the mine himself (given the Marshall's deadline), will bring $100,000 worth to Lounsberry the next afternoon if he'll give him the money. After Lounsberry questions him as to whether the mine in question is his wife's, Ladd lies, telling him it's not. So, the deal is made with Lounsberry spotting Ladd $10,000 for supplies et al.Ladd goes to Anita's to find Borgnine and offers for $1,000 now & $9,000 later if he'll help him get the ore out of the mine. Given that the amount would help him finance his cattle ranch, he agrees. They then go to see Vincente (the recognizable Nehemiah Pershoff), a Mexican and former acquaintance of Ladd's. He is a "power monkey", someone who knows how to work with explosives, who knows the mine and agrees to join them for $500. The plan is to set their explosives to blow at the same time of day (4 PM) that the regular mine workers explode their tunnel. While Borgnine returns to Anita and Ladd dallies a bit with Ada, Vincente has to get all the supplies and meet them at the designated time. On the way to the mine, they are seen by the deputy.There's not a lot of drama left in this film at this point, though there is a double cross (isn't there always?). Thought the film is rather short, under 90 minutes, it barely holds one's interest.

grantss Interesting story, clumsily told. Had the makings of a great western: the crime-caper, the double- crossings, the romance, and throw in some personal histories and racial and social issues. For the most part, it works well. Yet some scenes are cringe-worthy in their clumsiness. Just about any scene involving Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado, for example. There was absolutely no chemistry there (and this is more the script's fault, rather than their's), and their relationship just seem contrived. Some of the twists in the plot are also quite predictable.This said, the movie moves along at a good pace, the action scenes are good, and the ending wraps up the story nicely.Good performance by Alan Ladd in the lead role. Good support from Ernest Borgnine, Katy Jurado and Claire Kelly. I can't believe Claire Kelly didn't become a bigger star: she certainly had the looks, and was a decent actress.

dbdumonteil It's Delmer Daves' next to last western and it shows ;even if Ladd and Borgnine make a good pairing,we begin to feel in "badlanders " what will come next;the scenes between Borgnine and the always reliable Katy Jurado (the hooker with a big heart) are full of finer feelings and Daves seems more interested in filming them than the -suspenseful,however-sequences in the mine ;after "the hanging tree" ,an ultimate western which also contains elements of melodrama ,all his career will consist of pure melodramatic stuff ("Parish" and "Susan Slade " are good examples,and quite entertaining and they were heralded by "kings go forth" )"badlanders "holds his movie balanced ,particularly in the scene when the Mexicans intervene in favor of the two heroes ;it seems that Ladd's love affair was botched intentionally or else the western buffs would have been disappointed;you can prefer,nevertheless, works such as "broken arrow" "3:10 to Yuma" or "the last wagon".

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This is one of Delmer Daves' less ambitious westerns, but also one of his best. You would not see Alan Ladd playing more complex characters, like Richard Widmark, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford or James Stewart, which were in other Daves' westerns. But Daves was able to make the most out of it and Badlanders is an entertaining, fast paced western, about two men who have been cheated out of what belonged to them, and decide to rob a mine. They would get rich and also revenge themselves. Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado give the best performances of the film, both play people who have had a terrible life but find hope in each other's arms. Claire Kelly has a small, but significant role, as the mistress of the mine's owner. Badlanders deserves to be released in DVD with widescreen in order to take full advantage of the fact that it was filmed in Cinemascope.