Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Amazon.com

How can you go wrong with a movie featuring the great Harry Carey as a philosophical lawman named Wistful McClintock? Well sir (or ma'am), you can't, and this first production from John Wayne's personal unit at Republic is simply one of the loveliest Westerns anybody ever made. The producer-star plays gunslinger Quirt Evans who, wounded by his archrival Laredo Stevens (Bruce Cabot), is taken in and sheltered by a Quaker family--in particular, by the daughter of the household, a dark-eyed angel (Gail Russell) who could entice Satan himself to the path of virtue. Not that these good people get pushy about converting "Brother Evans." For his part, Marshal McClintock, who's amiably looked forward to hanging Quirt someday, keeps dropping by to see which happens first--Quirt's reformation, or Laredo's return to finish the job he started.

Entrusting the direction to screenwriter James Edward Grant, Wayne bolstered Grant's debut by tapping Yakima Canutt to handle the hard-riding second-unit stuff. The Duke also stole a few moves from a little project he'd been working on with Howard Hawks, Red River. Such larceny may have been superfluous. Grant wrote far and away the best script Wayne had ever had at Republic, creating a gallery of memorable characters (including comparative bystanders) and developing some very entertaining business for them--especially for such juicy character actors as Paul Hurst (the Quakers' mean-spirited neighbor), Olin Howlin (a braggadocious telegraph operator), and Hank Worden. The result was a minor classic deftly blending humor, romance, authentic sweetness, and just enough leathery menace to keep things on the generic up-and-up. This one's a real treat. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (110)

Superior Comedy Western -- Fine VHS, but POOR DVD!
John Wayne has never starred in a more entertaining, "soft-core" Western. A story line that includes saloon fights and smashing up of general stores, but spares us the senseless violence and gore of "serious" Westerns. Maureen O'Hara is wonderful as Wayne's estranged wife who, after a lengthy separation, falls back in love with him. This classic is a sure 5-star production.

WARNING: Don't make the mistake of purchasing the DVD version, because it's the worst transfer of such a fairly recent film I have seen. I can understand if an "early talkie" shows signs of wear and loss of luster, but a 1963 Technicolor production should not look and sound like a poorly maintained copy of a 1930s Nickelodeon show! To escape that sort of fiasco, treat yourself to the VHS version, which is as good as it gets! This is The Duke's finest hour and should be enjoyed in the superb quality in which it was intended. I highly recommend this movie!*****

The Best John Wayne Movie Ever
I watched the original once as a boy and loved every minute of it. Then for some reason the movie just simply disappeared. When the tape came out, I snatched it up. John Wayne shows he can not only be the rough and tough cowboy, but a real comedian also. The supporting cast, Maureen O' Hara, is a perfect opposite of the Duke and fills the screen with fire and sparks that only O' Hara and Wayne can produce. The only down side is the DVD edition. Extremely poor quality and cropped so badly that you miss very important parts of some scenes that are essential to the story line. I would say use the digitally mastered version to make a DVD and put it in letter box so you don't miss one single exciting moment of this unique treasure.

Great film. Awful DVD!
Somebody just please tell me why studio execs keep doing this? They take a great film that needs to be on DVD. But instead of actually taking the time to make it look good like the film deserves, they put out a very inferior production.
The movie on it's own is a classic. Amusing story. Great acting. But the DVD transfer looks like the master copy of this movie came from a tape that somebody picked off a 99 cents rack at Dollar General. Then they took the tape and recorded it off tv. The picture quality of this movie is petheticly awful. It is so grainy and ugly. I think I could record it off tv and get a better quality picture than this!
Also it looks like somebody tried to make the movie closed captioned or something. Because you will see somebody speaking who is almost off screen, but you do get to see their lips! Sad, so sad.......

Bottom Line:
Great movie. But unless you HAVE to have it on DVD, then I recommend not wasting your money. When will the studios get the point that putting a movie on DVD needs to have more done to it than a transfer!

Terrible quality
I am glad I came here to read the reviews. I thought my DVD of "McLintock" was bad or my eyes were worse than I thought. Terribe quality. This moive really needs to be in a wide-screen format and cleaned up. Other than that this is one of John Waynes best movies.

John Wayne's comical best! The DVD is another story.
I am quite intrigued at the popularity that "McLintock!" still has among John Wayne fans and everyone else, in general. This is a very funny story with the Duke and Maureen O'Hara as a bickering couple in a "Taming of the Shrew" story set in the good ol' west. It's one of John Wayne's more comical and lighter-toned films. I have the DVD version of this film, and I have the same opinion like the rest of you; it's quite a sloppy job. Some of the film looks all right; it's nice and sharp at times. You can tell the film is very dated and at times the image becomes blurry and distorted. I can't understand what's been done to such a good film. There have been so many complaints about this inferior release. Something needs to be done. A major movie studio should try to purchase the rights to this film and give "McLintock!" top feeding. Think of how this would sound. Double sided disc A: 2:35:1 Widescreen and B: 1:33:1 Standard: Modified to fit screen (but better pan and scan). Picture quality could have sharp clean frames, vibrant, true-to-life eye-popping colors making you want to be there. Audio: (1) English Dolby Digital Remixed and Remastered 5.1 Stereo Surround (2) English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (could be commentary) (3) Spanish (4) French (5) German. Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Chinese, Thai.
You could have it loaded with special features. How's that sound for a top notch DVD? Someday, that could happen. For now, we're stuck with this mediocre DVD release. An enjoyable film it is, still. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (110)

Superior Comedy Western -- Fine VHS, but POOR DVD!
John Wayne has never starred in a more entertaining, "soft-core" Western. A story line that includes saloon fights and smashing up of general stores, but spares us the senseless violence and gore of "serious" Westerns. Maureen O'Hara is wonderful as Wayne's estranged wife who, after a lengthy separation, falls back in love with him. This classic is a sure 5-star production.

WARNING: Don't make the mistake of purchasing the DVD version, because it's the worst transfer of such a fairly recent film I have seen. I can understand if an "early talkie" shows signs of wear and loss of luster, but a 1963 Technicolor production should not look and sound like a poorly maintained copy of a 1930s Nickelodeon show! To escape that sort of fiasco, treat yourself to the VHS version, which is as good as it gets! This is The Duke's finest hour and should be enjoyed in the superb quality in which it was intended. I highly recommend this movie!*****

The Best John Wayne Movie Ever
I watched the original once as a boy and loved every minute of it. Then for some reason the movie just simply disappeared. When the tape came out, I snatched it up. John Wayne shows he can not only be the rough and tough cowboy, but a real comedian also. The supporting cast, Maureen O' Hara, is a perfect opposite of the Duke and fills the screen with fire and sparks that only O' Hara and Wayne can produce. The only down side is the DVD edition. Extremely poor quality and cropped so badly that you miss very important parts of some scenes that are essential to the story line. I would say use the digitally mastered version to make a DVD and put it in letter box so you don't miss one single exciting moment of this unique treasure.

Great film. Awful DVD!
Somebody just please tell me why studio execs keep doing this? They take a great film that needs to be on DVD. But instead of actually taking the time to make it look good like the film deserves, they put out a very inferior production.
The movie on it's own is a classic. Amusing story. Great acting. But the DVD transfer looks like the master copy of this movie came from a tape that somebody picked off a 99 cents rack at Dollar General. Then they took the tape and recorded it off tv. The picture quality of this movie is petheticly awful. It is so grainy and ugly. I think I could record it off tv and get a better quality picture than this!
Also it looks like somebody tried to make the movie closed captioned or something. Because you will see somebody speaking who is almost off screen, but you do get to see their lips! Sad, so sad.......

Bottom Line:
Great movie. But unless you HAVE to have it on DVD, then I recommend not wasting your money. When will the studios get the point that putting a movie on DVD needs to have more done to it than a transfer!

Terrible quality
I am glad I came here to read the reviews. I thought my DVD of "McLintock" was bad or my eyes were worse than I thought. Terribe quality. This moive really needs to be in a wide-screen format and cleaned up. Other than that this is one of John Waynes best movies.

John Wayne's comical best! The DVD is another story.
I am quite intrigued at the popularity that "McLintock!" still has among John Wayne fans and everyone else, in general. This is a very funny story with the Duke and Maureen O'Hara as a bickering couple in a "Taming of the Shrew" story set in the good ol' west. It's one of John Wayne's more comical and lighter-toned films. I have the DVD version of this film, and I have the same opinion like the rest of you; it's quite a sloppy job. Some of the film looks all right; it's nice and sharp at times. You can tell the film is very dated and at times the image becomes blurry and distorted. I can't understand what's been done to such a good film. There have been so many complaints about this inferior release. Something needs to be done. A major movie studio should try to purchase the rights to this film and give "McLintock!" top feeding. Think of how this would sound. Double sided disc A: 2:35:1 Widescreen and B: 1:33:1 Standard: Modified to fit screen (but better pan and scan). Picture quality could have sharp clean frames, vibrant, true-to-life eye-popping colors making you want to be there. Audio: (1) English Dolby Digital Remixed and Remastered 5.1 Stereo Surround (2) English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (could be commentary) (3) Spanish (4) French (5) German. Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Chinese, Thai.
You could have it loaded with special features. How's that sound for a top notch DVD? Someday, that could happen. For now, we're stuck with this mediocre DVD release. An enjoyable film it is, still. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Classic western film from the master actor.
This is a classic film from the master actor. This can't be compared to the technical aspect of western films in this era, of course. It's an excitement to see a great film from the great actor like John Wayne. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good film, terrible DVD.
'Angel and the Badman' is a very good western. It is a very good western because it is character driven. The American west is simply the canvas on which its story is told.

The 'Lazerlight' DVD of this fine film is of very poor quality. DO NOT BUY IT. There are better DVD versions available. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent DVD release of 2 early John Wayne Republic movies
As these 2 and many other early John Wayne movies that he made for Republic are in the public domain,it often results in many DVD and VHS releases of the movies with some releases having excellent picture and sound quality, others not as fortunate usually from companies such as GoodTimes, Madacy, UAV Entertainment, Platinum Disc Corporation and oterhs. In this case, the picture and sound on this GoodTimes DVD release are excellent for these 2 movies in the public domain. Although there are no extras to note of aside from scene access, the picture and sound quality make up for it and for this low price and this is a dual sided, dual layer DVD so you get Angel and The Badman on 1 side and on the other side of the DVD, you get Winds of The Wasteland. You get the original B&W movies with their original mono sound in the original aspect ratio being full frame as there was no widescreen at the time. If you are a vintage western fan, a fan of classic movies, or a John Wayne fan, this dual sided, dual layer DVD is a must have, especially if you can find it in discount store (Wal-Mart, KMart, etc.)budget DVD bins for about .... I do have another DVD of Angel and The Badman on a Platinum Disc Great American Western series DVD which has apparently came from either a VHS tape dub complete with the "blips" in the imaging during 1 part of the movie. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A new side to Wayne, here the woman calls the shots!
I've always been a huge John Wayne fan but have only recently seen Angel and the Badman. It is now one of my favorite films! Wayne portrays a gambling, drinking, womanizing, gunslinger in the Old West. He meets a charming Quaker family that end up nursing him back to health after he's taken ill...and that's where the plot really starts. The beautiful daughter that has taken care of him finds herself smitten and when he awakens she has no reservations in telling him so. The highlight of this movie was her outright honesty about her feelings for Wayne, as a result we get to see him be the persuee for once! It's also exciting to see him struggle to decide how to make decisions in light of her passive beliefs. The most captivating thing about Angel and the Badman is that we get to see a whole new John Wayne, and wouldn't you know it, he's still as wonderful as ever!

Well Written, Well Acted, Well Done!
This is a great Wayne flick, and a great western to boot. I wasn't expecting much from a 1940's western, and the first 15 minutes or so seemed to prove my worst fears right. There is some terribly preachy philisophical dialog between Gail Russell's Quaker father and the local athiest doctor, arguing about the inherent good in all men vs the stupidity of living life by high-ideals alone, blah blah blah. It was spoken in that stilted voice that every bit actor of the time seemed to imitate, as if they were reading the news. I could just see the ending, with the hero dead and the philosophers saying something like "All men pay the price who..." blah blah blah

In comes John Wayne to save the day, with a wonderful freshness in his every manner and word. Young, cocky, Wayne's performance is totally deserving of his superstar status, and is only matched by Gail Russell, who is perhaps the best female lead of any Wayne film. Russell brings some real life to the peaceful ideals of the Quakers (which appear terribly naive given the setting), and you can't help but fall in love with her hope and beauty. The Duke matches her step for step, playing a wild boy who is only a few trigger-pulls away from a hanging. Wayne always obeys Russell's requests for non-violent, peaceful solutions to problems, yet he can't help but putting his own mischievious country-boy spin on everything.

In one short scene, we discover that a mean neighbor has damed the local water source. Russell and her family pray for his cold heart to melt while Wayne rides off and intimidates him into undamming it. When the Quakers shower the neighbor with food and kindness, his heart does melt, and he thanks Wayne for "asking" him to undam the water. The Duke is stunned. And moments like these litter this movie.

Watching the Duke's heart melt to Russell's charms is the best part of this movie. Their romance is perfectly paced and entirely believable. Wayne is at his romantic best, and Russell has enough ability and looks to match him. The ending is a little too neat and sudden, but I just wished I could watch another 2 hours. Great stuff.

The chased and the chaste
The first shot of a character in a movie often tells you quite a bit about them, and Gail Russell has a doozy of a first shot in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. While the title is running an unidentified cowboy is being chased and shot at by another group of cowboys. Although he evades them, his horse stumbles and he falls to the ground. Thomas Worth (John Halloran) and daughter Penelope (Gail Russell) are nearby. Thomas jumps off the cart they're riding and rushes to the fallen stranger. He calls to Penelope to come here, quick, and she whips the horses into a quick gallop.
The first center-framed image in the film is of Penelope in the cart, shot from far below, standing tall with a dark and troubled sky framing her ethereal beauty. There is something, this shot tells us, that is majestic and strong about her. It's a beautiful shot.
The injured cowboy is Quirt Evans (John Wayne), the Badman. This being Wayne, and this being a film from a different era, you'll have to take his Bad-ness with a grain of salt. When the Worth's announce they're going to tend to the injured cowboy, a bystander tells them he'd "as soon have a black powder bomb in my house."
The Worth's are Quakers, and the movie convincingly traces the developing love between Quirt and Penelope. Not so convincing is the interest the Law, Marshall Wistful McClintock (Harry Carey) and the Bad Guys show in Quirt. They have to be there, I guess, because Evans will have to renounce the gun or renounce the girl. They have to be there, but the sub-plots are half-cooked.
What would thee do if thee were pitching woo at a Quaker beauty? Probably pretty much the same thing Wayne did - bounce a baby in your arms, pick a few blackberries, and leave your guns behind at the worst possible times.
For an action movie this one is a little too wordy. The Marshall and the doctor (Tom Powers) are given pages and pages of script to read. What action there is - particularly the stampede and the cart chase - are well choreographed.
THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN is good clean fun, pleasant enough for all audiences.

A Pre-Review
The 3 stars above are on the strength of the movie itself. I'm waiting to see how good this transfer is.

I recently bought a different DVD edition of this movie (a "double feature" with a docu about Wayne's movie career as the other feature), and the transfer was literally the worst I've ever seen for any movie. It looked like it was done by pressing Silly Putty onto the film stock and then onto the DVD. Just wanted to give everyone a warning to avoid that edition.

Other reviews indicate this edition is a good transfer, so once I confirm that, I'll give it another star.

Banal and trite
A western film before the spaghetti time. John Wayne is equal to himself and the situation is very banal. A badman in the west escape the rope by falling in love with a quaker girl who moves him out of his weapons. He becomes a farmer. A rare case of conversion that succeeds. Apart from that the film is too moralistic to be really an image of the west anywhere and at any time.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Reviews (97)

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...
As a young child in the nineteen fi