I gotta agree with Trombonehead -- this movie is funny. I suggest fast forwarding through the first 20 minutes and then jumping in when Wallace Beery comes in. He and Barrymore have a hoot playing off of each other. I love both these actors, and I just kept envisioning this two old hams going, "The hell with it. The script is awful. Reagan's a doofus. Let's have fun." I just had to laugh at all of Beery's silliness. I thought I'd hate this movie and almost turned it off. I'm glad I stuck with it, just to see these two old veteran actors have a good time. And, though it's all a bad cliché, I did think that the Mexican Bandito thing was played for humor and a joke on every bad cowboy movie with a Mexican. And Beery just pulled out all the stops with it. Of course, it isn't realistic -- the movie was already bad. The old farts just took the opportunity to make it so bad it's great.

Here's another little gem noteworthy for its headliners and how truly bad it is. Other reviewers have already mentioned that it is confused and not really sure of its direction or purpose and that is certainly the case. There's comedy, crime, romance and much more but it all seems just thrown in there, a hodgepodge of vignettes with barely a hint of continuity other than the central theme of a ranch in danger of foreclosure. So as I sat watching it I kept asking myself the same question: What were the producers and writers thinking? What were the headliners thinking? Both Beery and Barrymore were seasoned actors with many hits to their credits. Why would either agree to do this film? It's hard to know for sure but judging from their gusto I'd say they did it just for the fun of it. And they are fun to watch. Scene-stealers the both of them, and damn good at it. Whenever either Beery or Barrymore appeared the energy level went up and so did the fun quotient. As for the rest of the cast they had their moments but overall they were just trying to keep up. So even though my score is rather low I suggest you don't miss this funny atrocity. And just wait for the last scene. It's a doozy!

The Bad Man is a showcase for the talents of two of the biggest scene stealers in the history of film, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore. With those two around the rest of the cast didn't have a chance.This is the fourth remake of this story, including both a silent film and the plot relocated to revolutionary China for a version starring Boris Karloff. Since we haven't seen another version for almost seventy years, I think we can assume this will be the last one.Lionel Barrymore and his nephew Ronald Reagan are trying to make a go of a broken down border ranch which if they're not dealing with raids by Mexican bandit Wallace Beery, they've got a skinflint banker in Henry Travers who's holding the mortgage and wants it paid in full. He's got a notion there's oil on the property and is looking for oil man Tom Conway to develop it. Complicating matters is Conway's wife Laraine Day who really loves Reagan.Everything gets changed in their lives when Beery comes a calling. He even gets Nydia Westman together with cowhand Chill Wills, mainly to keep her away from him. The film is tailor made for the personalities of Beery and Barrymore. Beery simply dusted off the persona of Pancho Villa from seven years earlier and went to town. Barrymore's played old coots like this, lovable and not so lovable, a gazillion times in the film. While Ronald Reagan was at Warner Brothers, this was the only film that Jack Warner lent him to another studio for. I remember when Reagan was president saying something like if he could handle Wallace Beery stealing scenes, he was ready for Brezhnev. Personally I think he was better dealing with Brezhnev.The Bad Man is an easy to take film, very amusing in spots, but it helps to be a fan of either Wallace Beery or Lionel Barrymore.

A curious, inconsistent hodgepodge from the start, this picture appears for a time to be an altogether conventional, cliche-ridden Western, despite its "A" cast. What drama exists in the story is compounded by the late arrival of the film's nominal star (top billing), Wallace Beery, reprising his Pancho Villa characterization under a different name. At first a danger and a menace to the good folks, the character gradually - but none too subtly - becomes a caricature, a mercurial buffoon difficult to take seriously. After the plot is resolved by a familiar turn or two, the picture ends with a ludicrous scene of Lionel Barrymore in a wheelchair being towed at considerable speed across the prairie by Beery on horseback. As a Western, the picture is totally undistinguished. Its comic elements, such as they are, generate exceedingly feeble humor. Among the few positives: Ronald Reagan gives a winning low-key performance as a gentle cowhand, Lionel Barrymore chews every bit of scenery in sight, and Nydia Westman is impressive in a quirky minor role. But when all is said and done, it is not easy to figure out exactly what kind of picture this was supposed to be - or, for that matter, why it was made.