City of Bad Men

City of Bad Men is a 1953 American Western film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Jeanne Crain and Dale Robertson.

City of Bad Men
Hugh Sanders (left) & Dale Robertson in City of Bad Men
Directed by	Harmon Jones
Written by	George W. George George F. Slavin
Produced by	Leonard Goldstein
Starring	Jeanne Crain Dale Robertson
Cinematography	Charles G. Clarke
Edited by	George A. Gittens
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	20th Century-Fox
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	September 11, 1953 (1953-09-11)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$740,000.

Plot

A heavyweight championship fight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons is coming to Carson City, Nevada at exactly the same time outlaw Brett Stanton and brother Gar return to town. Away for six years in Mexico, Brett has alienated his former love, Linda Culligan, who is now involved with Jim London, the fight's promoter. London's sister, Cynthia Castle, tries to attract Brett's interest, but he only has eyes for Linda.

Because the bout could sell as much as $100,000 in tickets, law-breakers like Johnny Ringo are also milling around, keeping Sheriff Bill Gifford on his toes. He plays a strategy where he asks Ringo, another outlaw, and Brett, to be deputies just for the week of the fight. Gifford's idea is that this will offer incentive to the men to keep their respective gangs in order and keep the peace in town, so everyone might enjoy the festivities. The three agree to do this but soon Brett is the only one still on board. He is actually scheming to steal the fight's proceeds. .

A match-day decision by Linda to end her engagement to Jim changes Brett's plans; he decides to go straight. However, his brother Gar betrays him to Ringo, who goes through with the daring robbery. Brett has to exchange gunfire with Ringo and face down Gar - whom Ringo has mortally wounded. When it is all over, Linda and Brett are finally reconciled.

Cast

• Jeanne Crain as Linda Culligan
• Dale Robertson as Brett Stanton
• Richard Boone as Johnny Ringo
• Lloyd Bridges as Gar Stanton
• Carole Mathews as Cynthia Castle
• Carl Betz as Deputy Phil Ryan
• Whitfield Connor as Jim London
• Hugh Sanders as Sheriff Bill Gifford
• Rodolfo Acosta as Mendoza
• Pascual García Peña as Pig
• John Doucette as Cinch
• Leo Gordon as Russell
• James Best as Deputy Gig
• Don Haggerty as Bob Thrailkill
• Frank Ferguson as Easterner at Training Camp
• John Daheim as James J. Corbett
• Gil Perkins as Bob Fitzsimmons

Home media

City of Bad Men was released in 2014 as a "publish on demand" DVD in the United States.

In popular culture

In episode five of the first season of the USA network series Graceland, the main character Mike (who is an undercover FBI agent) has a conversation with one of his targets, the ruthless Nigerian crime lord "Bello" (played by actor Gbenga Akinnagbe), where at one point the film is mentioned after Mike quotes a line from it. Bello is impressed by Mike’s knowledge of the film and says he himself is a fan of it. He even shows Mike a copy of the film on DVD in a video store later on in the episode.

Historical errors about fight

The actual Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight took place in an outdoor venue, the Racetrack Arena in Carson City. The movie has the fight being held in an indoor arena under artificial lights. In the movie, Bob Fitzsimmons is shown competing in tights that ran down the length of his legs. In reality, Fitzsimmons wore short trunks.

Further reading

• Roan, Toby (February 15, 2014). "DVD Review: City of Bad Men (1953)". 50 Westerns From The 50s. A rare, recent review of the film by a blogger who is working on a book about 1950s western films.

External links

• City of Bad Men at IMDb
• City of Bad Men at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• City of Bad Men at the TCM Movie Database