Angel and the Badman is a 1947 American Western film written and directed by James Edward Grant and starring John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey and Bruce Cabot.[2] The film is about an injured gunfighter who is nursed back to health by a young Quaker woman and her family whose way of life influences him and his violent ways. Angel and the Badman was the first film Wayne produced as well as starred in, and was a departure for this genre at the time it was released.[3] Writer-director James Edward Grant was Wayne's frequent screenwriting collaborator.[2]
Wounded Quirt Evans horse collapses in front of Quaker Thomas Worth's homestead. Quirt says that he must get to the telegraph station. Thomas and his daughter Penelope offer to drive him into town in their wagon, to which Quirt agrees. After wiring a claim to the land recorder's office, Quirt passes out. The telegraph operator, Bradley, tells Penny that Quirt is a famous gunman, and a ladies' man. At the Worths', the doctor treats a delirious Quirt and warns the family it is dangerous to offer him shelter. Once Quirt has recovered consciousness, Penny explains the family's belief in non-violence.
Laredo Stevens and three associates ride into town looking for Quirt. Penny's younger brother Johnny warns Quirt, who prepares to leave. Penny, now smitten with Quirt, offers to run off with him. Quirt checks his gun and discovers that it has been emptied just as Stevens's gang arrives. Training his weapon on the doorway, Quirt calmly greets Laredo and his gang. Thinking that Quirt has the upper hand, Laredo offers to buy his claim. When Quirt sets the price at $20,000, Laredo hands over $5,000 in gold and challenges him to come for the balance when he is able.
Angel and the Badman (full movie, public domain)
Afterward, Quirt prepares to leave, but when Penny begs him to stay, he changes his mind. When Quirt learns that rancher Frederick Carson dammed the stream running through the valley, draining the Worths' irrigation ditches, he intimidates Carson into opening the dam.
Penny asks Quirt to accompany the family to a Quaker meeting. Before they leave, Marshal Wistful McClintock comes to question Quirt about a stagecoach robbery. The family swears that Quirt was with them at the time. McClintock asks Quirt why he resigned as Wyatt Earp's deputy and sold his ranch, soon after Laredo gunned down Walt Ennis in a saloon brawl. When Quirt refuses to answer, McClintock leaves. When Penny begs Quirt to steer clear of Laredo, he says he will. On the way to the meeting they meet Quirt's friend Randy McCall. At the meeting Randy tells Quirt that Laredo plans to rustle a herd of cattle and suggests that they then steal the herd from Laredo and let him take the blame. Thomas presents Quirt with a Bible in gratitude for his role in ending the water feud with Carson. Fearing that he will never be able to live up to Penny's expectations, Quirt abruptly leaves with Randy.
Quirt recovering under the care of the two women (from left to right: Rich, Russell, and Wayne)
Quirt and Randy steal the herd from the original rustlers. They then celebrate with showgirls Lila Neal and Christine Taylor. After a bar fight, Lila teases Quirt about his Bible, who gets angry and rides back to the Worth farm. Penny is pleased, but when McClintock arrives to question Quirt about the rustling, Quirt says that Lila can provide him with an alibi. Penny is hurt because she heard Quirt talk about Lila in his delirium, and thinks that Quirt prefers Lila. Quirt kisses her to show who he really prefers.
McClintock warns Quirt that he is the wrong man for Penny, but Quirt proposes to her anyway. Instead of replying, Penny takes Quirt to pick blackberries. When Penny asks how he came by his name, he says that Walt Ennis found and raised him, and that later Ennis was murdered in a saloon brawl. On their way home, they are ambushed and chased by Laredo and Hondo. Their wagon plunges over a cliff into the river. Penny develops a fever and when the doctor tells Quirt there is no hope for her, he straps on his pistol and rides into town. After Quirt leaves, Penny's fever suddenly breaks.
In town, Quirt sends Bradley to tell Laredo and Hondo that he is waiting for them in the street. The Worths arrive and Penny convinces Quirt to surrender his gun to her. As Laredo and Hondo draw their guns, McClintock shoots them both. Quirt, swearing off his former life of violence to McClintock, rides off in the wagon with Penny. McClintock picks up Quirt's discarded weapon and Bradley comments that Quirt may need it, but McClintock says, "Only a man who carries a gun ever needs one."
In 1993, Johnny Cash wrote and sang a song inspired by this film called "Angel and the Badman."
Reception
Upon the film's release, The New York Times reviewer wrote, "Mr. Wayne and company have sacrificed the usual roaring action to fashion a leisurely Western, which is different from and a notch or two superior to the normal sagebrush saga."[3] The reviewer continues:
James Edward Grant, who wrote and directed the story, has included the gun fights, slugging melées and scenic pursuits necessary to fill out the yarn. But, mainly, he has portrayed the change in Quirt Evans, a feared triggerman of the frontier southwest, who, when wounded, is not only nursed to health but subtly won over by Penelope Worth and her Quaker philosophy.[3]
The reviewer concludes, "John Wayne makes a grim and laconic, converted renegade, who is torn by love, a new faith and the desire for revenge on an arch enemy. Gail Russell, a stranger to Westerns, is convincing as the lady who makes him see the light."[3]
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Bruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933) and for his roles in films such as The Last of the Mohicans (1936), Fritz Lang's Fury (1936), and the Western Dodge City (1939). He was also known as one of "Wayne's Regulars", appearing in a number of John Wayne films beginning with Angel and the Badman (1947), and concluding with Big Jake (1971).
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James Edward Grant was an American short story writer, screenwriter and film director, who contributed to more than fifty films between 1935 and 1971. He collaborated with John Wayne on twelve projects, starting with Angel and the Badman in 1947 through Circus World in 1964. Support Your Local Gunfighter was released in 1971, five years after his death.
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↑ Lowry, Brian (July 1, 2009). "Angel and the Badman". Variety. Retrieved September 4, 2011. Hallmark gets maximum promotional hay out of casting Brendan Wayne—in what amounts to a cameo—in Angel and the Badman, this remake of his grandfather John Wayne's 1947 Western. Other than that footnote, alas, there's precious little reason to sit through this slow-moving oater, other than the camp allure of seeing Luke Perry snarling dialogue under an oversized eye patch.
↑ Kenny, Glenn (August 6, 1993). "Something Borrowed". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2011. Shared premise: A hardened man of action learns ways of peace when he is forced to enter a religious community.
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