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| Title: TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN Year: 1956 Rating: **1/2 |
"Don't you keel over on me you Pennsylvania egg-sucker!" And if you can survive that line from an overboard James Cagney, suffering from a bullet in his backside, simply let go and enjoy the ride that includes a May/October romance. an idealistic take on killing horse thieves without a trial, and a plain old shoot 'em up Western taking place in a lush valley belonging to Cagney's Rodock, who gets personal protests about his heated "hanging fever" from ex-barroom babe turned maid/pseudo girlfriend Irene Papa: although these two have zero chemistry, she seems the perfect fit for the young buried lead played by Don Dubbins as Steve Miller...
The picture begins with Miller helping Rodock fight off horse thieves, and then it's cut in two halves: The first being the sporadic search for the outlaws, who not only stole his horses but killed one of his men (off screen)...
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Vic Morrow in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN
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Vic Morrow turns in a small role as a dimwitted son of a poor rancher who's family is reluctantly harboring the outlaws, as the film's other portion deals with Cagney back at home, having drawn-out conversations with Papas's Jocasta Constantine and, although his character feels genuine, he seems to be reaching for a purpose and reason behind the story he's part of and/or stuck in...
The most interesting character, who gets Cagney on his toes, is called-out too soon: The Alpha Male of the worker's bunkhouse has Stephen McNally targeting the Spanish lass for his own needs, making for a three way triangle of sorts. So as a melodrama, TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN is interesting enough. But once the posse heads out for good, there's not enough action and too much pontificating dialogue to make this the kind of Western James Cagney could really sink his teeth into.
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| James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN |
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| James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN |
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James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN with Don Dubbins
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| James Cagney in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN |
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