For a 90 minute movie Bad Company ended too soon. Just as I’m invested in the relationship of the two leads, the film ends. And it is a good ending. This film trotted by without recognition. Makes you wonder why it isn’t as big as other western epics. I reckon it would be the run time, give this an extra 30 minutes, you got yourself a fuller story expanding beyond the prairies. I recommend blowing the dust off this ol’ gem if you like journies without an end, the point of boy to man, and moseying westerns.
Bad Company is an American movie. One of the most American movies I have seen. It renders my imagination what the U. S. of A. forefathers were doing. Serving the blue coats. Gray coats. Living off the land. Contemporary mentalities. Interesting to think what it was like during this historical chapter. Many changes were happening: natives were being forced off their land; immigrants were trying to make a living in the new world; slavery and runaways; then the civil war. The youth who were able bodied were being drafted into serving during the civil war. Some got away, looking for a freer world.
Bad Company focuses on a hand full of youth who decide to run from an ever changing world and its challenges. While escaping one reality they are found with the pleasures and tribulations of another. Freedom was sought after by everyone during this time and to this youthful lot, freedom was riding horseback among the prairies against the wind, away from law and a call to arms. The nature of the story is very human. Considering what you have learned, your strengths, our differences, and how far we’re willing to go to trust each other. Some themes spoken here and ideas are still relevant today.
It’s like the film holds a frame up in time, capturing what it’s like before America became fifty states. The music even fits the time period, with a classic piano sounds contemporary for the time as it cascades through your speakers (sounds almost like Snoopy is going to exit his dog hut). Bad Company just feels real. In the way it handles consequences, youth curiosity and the coming of age. The sequence of events that lead to the end wrap up very nicely. I carry only my imagination on how our leads continue their journey because I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet.
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