The Badlanders

Dad got on some kind of Alan Ladd kick. I don't have any strong feelings about him one way or another, but this has Ernest Borgnine in it, and he's usually entertaining.

Ladd's character, a former geologist and mine engineer everyone calls "The Dutchman" gets out of prison early for stopping Borgnine's character from attacking a prison guard. Borgnine gets out when his sentence is up because he didn't successfully attack the guard. Sure, why not?

The two end up in the same town, where things originally went wrong for both of them. Borgnine feels he was swindled out of his land by a now successful gold mining company, and Ladd was framed for stealing a payroll from the same company. But the Dutchman has a plan to get a little payback, as well as some back pay, and he wants Borgnine's help, since there are so few people in town he can trust.

Borgnine's not really up for it, but after he saves a Mexican woman, Anita (played by Katy Jurado) from being assaulted by three guys in broad daylight, they find they have some chemistry, and he decides he can use the money to start fresh somewhere else with her.

The attempt to steal gold from the mine right under everyone's noses doesn't really work out, in a variety of ways, but things mostly pan out. There are some things that are mentioned or hinted at that seem unresolved. The guy who runs the mine is married to the woman who actually owns it (who is described as unattractive, but I don't think we ever see her). He has a mistress, who is interested in the Dutchman, and the feeling is mutual. But nothing ever comes of the whole bit with the unseen wife.

Likewise, the Dutchman is adamant that the town marshal framed him by planting a gold bar in his room. The marshal doesn't really seem to deny it, and gives the Dutchman the old, "be out of town on the next stage" bit. I expected a bit more of a showdown between them, but I guess since the deputy marshal ends up working for the mine guy, the implication is he's the one who framed Dutchman. Although he seems like such a dim bulb it's difficult for me to buy him managing that without screwing it up. Good as a blunt instrument, but not much else.

I enjoy Borgnine's work here. He's a man full of anger at how he was wronged, but he tries to put it aside and pick up by a cowman the way he was before. Only to find no one will let him. And his frustration at being powerless seems to give him some perspective, the opportunity to let his better qualities show through.