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Bad Company
1972 93 min United States of America PG 12+
★7.2
Western, Drama
Director: Robert Benton
Trailers
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Description
After Drew Dixon, an upright young man, is sent west by his religious family to avoid being drafted into the Civil War, he drifts across the land with a loose confederation of young vagrants.
Starring
Jeff Bridges
Actor
Barry Brown
Actor
Jim Davis
Actor
Awards
1 nomination
Key opinion
Bad Company is a quintessential 1970s revisionist Western that strips away romanticized tropes to reveal a gritty, morally ambiguous reality. Through the lens of draft-dodging youths, it explores the erosion of virtue and the harsh transition into a cynical, lawless frontier.
| Cinematography | The cinematography by Gordon Willis uses a naturalistic, autumnal Technicolor palette to reinforce the film's sombre and grounded atmosphere. | |
| Theme | The film acts as a bleak subversion of traditional Western heroism, depicting the collapse of moral idealism under the pressures of survival. | |
| Humor | The narrative effectively blends instances of dark, sardonic humor with inevitable, harsh violence. | |
| Acting | The character arcs of Jake and Drew highlight a narrowing divide between the pious and the opportunistic, challenging the viewer to distinguish between them as the plot progresses. |