Customer Reviews

The Man From the Badlands

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In The Man from the Badlands (1965), the plot revolves around water rights. Nominally, that's a bit dull, but Mr. Hale uses a dry issue (sorry) to make for an interesting conundrum. Stan Hale's land adjoins that of the Ward family. The Wards have better land for grazing, but their water comes downhill from Stan's property. So far, so good.

But our Stan's a bit shiftless. He showed up to make his fortune, but despite the help of the Wards, he's never really applied himself. It has been three years since he's seen his fiancée, and Stan... well... he has needs. In order to get rich quick, he enters a partnership with the sinister Bolivar Dunn. Stan dynamites the creek - drying out the Ward's land - in turn for $25,000 and a half interest in Dunn's cattle empire. Dunn is delighted. The Wards will have to move out. Following that, they can theoretically un-dynamite (magically) the water supply and take the land for themselves.

The result is a nasty little water war. The Wards only leased their land - never bought it - so if they pick up and move, even for a moment, the greedy Dunn will pounce. They're angry at Stan for being a weaselly little booger, but there's no legal recourse. John Ward and his son Jeff try a handful of tricks, but none of them work out. Dunn's wealth is a key factor. Even when both sides play by the rules, Dunn can afford to buy, rent, fence and work the land. The Wards can't.

Of course, if both sides played by the rules, this would be a fairly boring affair. Jeff Ward is set up for the murder of a deputy and has to flee into the badlands. In his absence, John and his loyal men are stuck in a losing battle with Stan Hale and Dunn's hired thugs. One by one, they're picked off, and things are looking dire indeed.

Into this mess rides the lovely Anne Weldon, Stan's bride to be. Her stagecoach, predictably, is held-up, but Anne is saved by a chance appearance by the outlaw Jeff Ward. Rescue aside, she's not bad at defying stereotypes. She's got no problem holding (and firing) guns at aggressors, she freely argues with the book's many alpha males and she certainly has a mind of her own. Sadly, Anne's also the only eligible young lady for miles around, so Dunn, Hale and Ward quickly become obsessed with her.

Still, Anne's presence is what breaks the deadlock. Jeff Ward sets out to prove that Stan and Dunn are corrupt - so he can win her heart. Stan rushes his plots to remove Ward from the picture - so he can keep her hand. And Dunn hurries up his plans to betray everyone - all so he can get into her pants. Everything resolves by the book. Sadly, there are no surprises left after Anne's arrival on the scene. Even Stan's inevitable redemption is predictable - ultimately, his motivations are selfish but un-eeeevil, as opposed to the corpulent, disgusting Dunn, who exudes cowardice and corruption.