This first feature directed by Robert Benton sets the tone for all the good work he followed it with. While there's little in common between this darkly funny western, and say 'Kramer vs. Kramer' on a story level, the underlying style and themes – a genuine appreciation of the complexity of human nature, a refusal to judge characters in simplistic terms, a sense of humor off-setting even heart rending situations, a subtle visual strength that never overwhelms the story, but always strengthens and feeds it – are all already in place. Here he creates a western not quite like any other, as a rag-tag group of young boys, most on the run from conscription in the Civil War (clearly a Vietnam-era reference) try to make it on their own as 'outlaws', or at least their romantic notion of such, The main conflict is between Brian Brown's straight arrow Christian boy, aping the ideals and notions taught him all his life, and the very young Jeff Bridges equally acting out his schoolboy idea of a tough guy. Along the way, as they encounter a series of real adults, dangerous, hardened, seemingly with no ideals left, both young men are slowly forced by circumstance to examine and change their own self-image. There are a few cheats here or there on a story level, and not every episode is as good as the next in this episodic tale, but this is a unique, creative and terrific use of the 'old west' to explore modern morality with wit, humanity and complexity.

Like many westerns released in the 1970s, "Bad Company" completely throws away the rule-book, director Robert Benton hitting us with a free-spirited flick that borrows less from the western genre than it does from road movies and the various coming of age tales, populated by young ruffians and rascals, of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.The film opens with young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), an upstanding kid with a prestigious upbringing, leaving home. The Civil War is raging and he's on the run from Union gangs. They want to draft him into the army, he has other plans. And so with his family's blessings, Drew skips town, promising to "always keep to the straight and narrow". Unfortunately he soon hooks up with Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges) and his band of outcasts and delinquents. Turns out they're also dodging conscription.Benton's film then develops along episodic lines, its tone ranging from the quirky, to the light-hearted, to the melancholic to the shockingly violent. Some of Benton's episodes involve the boys stealing, killing, skinning chickens or bartering with prostitutes, but for the most part each episode serves the same function: to show the eradication of the moral compass. Neither boys nor men, our heroes increasingly adopt manners that not only comport with their immature sense of masculinity, but push them further into corruption. Indeed, part of the fun of the film is our continual uncertainty as to exactly how far our cast has fallen.Like most westerns released during this period (see "The Culpepper Cattle Company" and "Hombre"), "Bad Company" is attuned to the Vietnam war. The word "company" itself has militaristic connotations, and the film's awash with scenes involving draft dodging, kids being corrupted by violence, hardened by the wild, abandoned by society or derailed from paths of righteousness and civility.Aesthetically the film looks gorgeous, filmed in naturalistic earth tones by Gordon Willis, the acclaimed cinematographer of "The Godfather". The score by Harvey Schmidt manages to be both jaunty and haunting. Young Jeff Bridges turns in an infectious performance.8.5/10 – Makes a good companion piece to "Wild Bill", another underrated Jeff Bridges western. Worth one viewing.

In this American homage to Oliver Twist, young Oliver is Barry Brown a god fearing church going youth from Ohio who would like very much to be not taken by Mr. Lincoln's draft in the Civil War. He runs away from Ohio to head out of the Union to the western territories, but of course runs into some Bad Company.The Bad Company is Jeff Bridges from Pennsylvania an incorrigible Artful Dodger type and he's got himself as good a ragamuffin gang that ever cut a purse in London around the same time. A lot of what went west could be described today as white trash and this crowd definitely fits the bill. They do what they can to survive in and around the Missouri border area, but they also want to head west, just haven't the means. A gang who's only lacking a Fagin.Bad Company as a film works because of the good chemistry between Bridges and Brown. As the two get to know each other, strengths and weaknesses both, they form a bond that enables them to survive the frontier. Of course its Brown who winds up doing things his Methodist upbringing told him were unthinkable.Such great character actors as John Quade, David Huddleston, Ed Lauter, and Jim Davis are all in Bad Company. As this came out during the Vietnam War the film did get a sympathetic audience from younger viewers and not just because of its young stars.Bad Company is a fun western for its time, still quite enjoyable today.

"Bad Company" qualifies as a modest, offbeat, revisionist western. No, this unconventional oater about youth in revolt with Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown doesn't celebrate the golden opportunities that awaited settlers out west as the typical John Ford horse opera might herald. Instead, everybody complains about the lack of hospitality and the terrible ordeals that the pioneers weathered on the rugged frontier.Our protagonists are a Union Army draft dodger from Ohio on the lam and an ill-bred ruffian who preys on the unsuspecting. "Bonnie and Clyde" scenarist Robert Benton teams up again with co-scribe David Newman, but Benton is calling the shots now rather than somebody else. Benton depicts crime on the prairie as neither glamorous nor simple. Moreover, he presents violence as impersonal, arbitrary, and without a shred of sentiment. For example, a young thief steals a pie cooling off on the window ledge of a farm house. As he scampers out with the pie, the back of the head erupts with a splash of blood as a bullet hurls him headlong into the dirt. Benton stages an impressive hanging scene without the usual ostentation. A small group gathers around the man to be hanged. They seat him on the horse, and a deputy leads the horse away without warning so that the criminal sways briefly with a kick or two. Everything about the hanging takes place in such a matter-of-fact way that the punishment itself lacks any impact. Altogether, "Bad Company" deals in irony, and our two anti-heroic leads dabble with little success in crime until the last scene when they emerge as bank robbers. In a sense, the end is the beginning for them as criminals. Most of the action occurs in the wilderness, and the wilderness here is drab, overgrown with foliage, and never scenic. Mountains don't crouch ominously on the horizons. Despite the lackluster setting, Benton's low-budget oater is blessed by the cinematography of "Godfather" lenser Gordon Willis. Willis imparts a sense of muted beauty to this Spartan tale. "Bad Company" isn't a traditional western and only one important character sports a Stetson. Nobody looks like the usual cowboy, though the sets have a western flavor.As "Bad Company" unfolds, the Union Army is rounding up young men who have tried to avoid enlisting in the military. An Ohio youth, Drew Dixon (Barry Brown of "Halls of Anger") evades the Union troopers when they search his house and then his parents pack his belongs, give him some dough, and send him on to Fort Jefferson where he plans to catch a wagon train west to Virginia City. When he arrives in Fort Jefferson, Drew falls in with the unprepossessing likes of roguish Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges of "Rancho Deluxe") who leads him down a side alley and clubs him. Drew has a wad of cash stashed in his shoe, but Jake walks off with less than ten dollars. Later, Drew looks for a Methodist woman. Jakes' cohorts rob her, but he returns her purse and breaks into her house without realizing that Drew is waiting for her return. Drew and Jake tangle in a knock-down, drag-out brawl and Jake is so impressed with Drew's tenacity that he takes a liking to him. The Methodist woman returns to her home and screams at the sight of destruction, prompting Jake and Drew to exit before they are caught on the premises. Whereas Jake is a cheerful thief, Drew tries to stick to the straight and narrow. For example, Jake and his gang coerce Drew into proving his mettle by robbing a storekeeper. Drew takes money from his shoe and smashes up his fist to prove that he dealt with resistance from the storekeeper. Jake and company take him in as one of their own. They are all teenagers and they dress like the children of settlers. Nobody wears traditional western gear.The theme of the West as a land of woes rather than promise is played out in two important scenes. Benton has an amusing incident happen when the boys encounter a farmer with his wife on a wagon in the middle of the prairie. The farmer warns them the nothing good can come of the west. They tried to till the land, but Mother Nature threw one obstacle after another in their way. Finally, the farmer, Zeb (Ted Gehring of "The Thomas Crown Affair") strikes a bargain with the boys that they can have intercourse with his wife, Min (Monika Henreid of "The Omega Man"), for eight dollars. Of course, Jake is the first one to mount her and he finishes up in lightning fast time. Zeb comments about Jake's celerity, and Jake is proud that he came so rapidly, not realizing the onus attached to swift sex. Later, our heroes are caught off-guard by an older gang of outlaws led by Big Joe (David Huddleston of "McQ") who laments the day that he went west. Big Joe and his minions rob the boys, but they leave them their horses. Inevitably, Jake's gang begins to fragment, especially after the encounter with Big Joe and his outlaws. They dine with a farmer who keeps them covered with a shotgun. At one point, they steal chickens from another farm and one of them dies stealing a pie. Before long, Jake and Drew are set afoot when their friends betray them. Jake and Drew turn on each other and Drew joins a posse led by a marshal (Jim Davis of "The Honkers") and he catches up with Jake, but he cannot stand to see Jake swing."Bad Company" is an above-average movie, probably more sophisticated than it needed to be. Newman and Benton has written an interesting tale of initiation, but the stakes here are pretty low and the filmmakers are more prone to poking fun—subtle fun—at the genre than delivering slam-bang shoot-outs, hard-riding chases, and bar room brawls.