Land of bandits

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Movie
German title Land of bandits
Original title Badman's Territory
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1946
length 97-98 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Tim Whelan
script Jack Natteford
Luci Ward
production Nat Holt
music Roy Webb
camera Robert de Grasse
cut Philip Martin Jr.
occupation

Land of the Bandits (Original title: Badman's Territory ) is an American western from 1946. Directed by Tim Whelan , Randolph Scott and Shirley Ann Richards play the leading roles in this story about a sincere sheriff who became involved in the gang mischief on the border around 1890 Texas declares war and has to deal with the arbitrariness of a US marshal.

action

“When the young American state was born, the Indians were given a piece of land as a reservation . Texas was annexed in 1845 , followed by New Mexico in 1850 . When these protected areas became independent states, a serious mistake was made. One area was overlooked and forgotten. There was neither law nor law there. This gradually created an ideal hiding place for all the light-shy elements that made the West unsafe at the time. No police officer dared to come here and this area was commonly called "The Land of Bandits". The capital was Quinto, a small town in the middle of the prairie. One day, in that long-forgotten time, a band of muggers set out on one of their usual raids. Ben Wade, the owner of the hotel and his rough helpers were extremely satisfied with the conditions in Quinto. But also the merchants, almost all of whom had also come into conflict with the law, looked benevolently after the advancing bandits. The successful raids meant good business for them. Even the wealthy Colonel Fairwell, chairman of the ranchers' union, and Tahlequah, chief of the tribes there, were pleased with these conditions. Quinto flourished and flourished and so nobody had anything against these strange citizens. With one exception: Henryetta Alcott. After her father's death, she was thrown into the Wild West and published the Quintoer Anzeiger. She had to watch bitterly how Quinto sank more and more to a bandit town. She decided to do something about it. In the meantime, the dubious heroes of the future headlines of the Quintoer Anzeiger rode unsuspectingly south to neighboring Texas. ”The next day the newspaper reads that an express train was robbed and robbed in broad daylight and that the perpetrators are probably about the James gang act.

US Marshal William Hampton and his accomplices take up the chase, as do Mark Rowley, the Texas County Sheriff where the robbery took place, who is en route with his brother Johnny, whom he has made his deputy. Hampton doesn't like that the Rowleys are after the James gang too. When Johnny Rowley, who has cayote from the gang of thieves with him, refuses to get involved in Hamptons hard way, the ambition-eaten Marshal shoots him cold in the back. More gang members join in, shoot the pistol out of Hampton's hand and take the wounded Johnny, who campaigned for Cayote, with him to their capital in Badman's territory called Quinto.

Mark, whose horse was stolen by the outlaw Frank McGee, meets Hampton on the way, who cheekily lies to him that Johnny shot him because he wanted to help the bandits, he then shot back in self-defense. But Mark is sure that it was different and that Hampton tried to snatch a prisoner from his brother. Then Mark Hampton explained in more that Johnny from today outlaws was. The sheriff has nothing but contempt for him. Mark now follows the trail of his brother to Quinto with the horse that he took from Hampton, where he watches from a distance as Johnny is treated by a dubious doctor. Despite having no rights in the city of outlaws , he decides to stay until Johnny recovers. There he befriends Henryetta Alcott, the British editor of the Quinto newspaper. Henryetta tries hard to bring law and order to Quinto and is therefore a thorn in the side of the hotel owner Ben Wade, and other business people who have settled down comfortably and benefit from the lawless situation and do prosperous business. Mark takes Henryetta's side.

He later sees that Belle Starr's horse, which most Indians have bet on, wins a race to bring peace to Quinto. But even the sneaky Hampton did not remain idle and had a poster printed that shows Mark and Johnny next to the Dalton brothers and suggests that both are now under their influence. The Dalton gang is already planning their next bank robbery in Kansas .

Colonel Fairwell, the unofficial mayor of Quinto, also acknowledges Mark's influence on the town. Henryetta tries to connect the Badman's Territory with Oklahoma and gets enough signatures for it. But again Hampton intervenes and spreads strife and then Mark discovers that Johnny has meanwhile sided with the Dalton gang, who are on their way to carry out a new attack in Coffeyville , Kansas. Together with the old Cayote he takes up the chase. However, everything turns out differently than it first appears.

Mark and Johnny's alleged involvement in the raids comes in handy for Hampton, who now has legal powers over Quinto and Badman's territory. Before Mark, Johnny and Cayote can reach Quinto, Johnny dies of the injuries he suffered from Hampton. Meanwhile, in town, Hampton announces that anyone who cooperates with an outlaw and refuses to help will be shot without further investigation. However, the population of the small town has withdrawn almost completely, as they do not want to be forced under the rule of the evil Marshall. Hampton proves just how bad he is by shooting old, unarmed Cayote without any qualms when he refuses to accuse Mark of complicity in the coffee robbery.

Horrified by Hamptons cold-bloodedness, Mark takes up his weapon and shoots the fleeing and firing Marshal. Mark is acquitted in a subsequent hearing and happily goes to the now quiet town of Quinto with Henryetta.

Production notes

The film was shot from mid-September to late October 1945. The production company was RKO Radio Pictures Inc. The film premiered on April 1, 1946 in the USA. In the Federal Republic of Germany it started on December 11, 1953, in Austria on February 24, 1950. There it was also called Das Land der Renegaten . In the West German television program, the film was also broadcast under the title Land ohne Gesetz .

The film is said to have net profits of $ 557,000 at the time of its first release and was one of the most successful films for RKO in 1946. From November 19, 1954, he is said to have earned another $ 4,000,000 with spending of $ 600,000, as the film magazine Hollywood Reporter reported.

criticism

The lexicon of international films assessed the film positively and wrote: "Solid, professionally made, not unappealing Western."

Dennis Schwartz stated that the film was indecisive and sometimes senseless storylines, so the last shooting was superfluous. In addition, the film goes in too many different directions and thereby breaks the plot over and over again. Tim Whelan's film is peppy, but also confused and never really makes much sense.

Others

In Germany, the film was shown under the title Land ohne Gesetz as part of the ZDF Western series Western von Yesterday , which was broadcast from May 1978 to July 1986. The series consists of westerns of the 1930s and 1940s, in which the films were divided into episodes of 25 minutes each or cut accordingly.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Badman's Territory Notes at TCM (English). Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  2. ↑ Land of the Bandits. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 26, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Dennis Schwartz: Badman's Territory In: Ozus World Movie Reviews (English). Retrieved August 10, 2015.