Review of Day of the Bad Man

DAY OF THE BADMAN (1958) is a taut, intriguing, atypical Western shoot-em-up that "borrows" heavily from it's more acclaimed and iconic predecessor High Noon. In this film, much like High Noon, a high ranking town figure is threatened by 4 villains who aim to kill him for revenge as the town refuses to help. In this case, the 4 bad guys are the brothers of a prisoner that was convicted of murder and the judge is going to sentence to death. Also, there is a love interest for the hero with a twist. In High Noon the hero was a Sheriff, but in this case, the protagonist is a judge played exceptionally well by the reliable Fred MacMurray, who is most famously known for his work as the father on the hit 60s TV series My Three Sons as well as having been in a couple of highly revered film classics Double Indemnity and The Caine Mutiny. MacMurray had a very effective, no-nonsense, matter-of-fact acting style and line delivery where he could be believable as both a villain (as he was in Indemnity and Mutiny) and hero (in this film). In actuality, MacMurray's Sheriff character Judge Jim Scott in this is very flawed yet brave as Scott exudes extreme confidence and hubris as he stands up to the 4 goons throughout the film. Much like the Sheriff had a new bride in High Noon, the judge here has a woman he intends to marry but the twist here is that she has been cheating on him with the town Sheriff, who is basically equivalent to the jealous and cowardly deputy from High Noon. There's also the supporting femme fatale character (played by film noir actress Marie Windsor) who used to have a relationship with the judge but is now the girlfriend of the convicted murderer, with the girlfriend being like the lady who used to date both the Sheriff and the bad guy from High Noon. The wild card in this piece is the widow of the murdered man, excellently played by Ann Doran. Also, one of the 4 bad guys is played by Lee Van Cleef, who was also one of the 4 baddies in High Noon. What distinguishes this film is the love triangle twist with the Judge, his fiancee, and the Sheriff. The triangle is deftly woven into the main plot. Day of the Badman really moves at a brisk pace and does a nice job of establishing several key dynamics and relationships and plays to a predictable yet satisfying conclusion.