Badman’s Territory

Through an administrative oversight, Badman’s Territory lies outside any official law-enforcement jurisdiction. When Sheriff Scott rides into town, he finds a community much like any other, except that most of the inhabitants are genial and long-settled outlaws. He’s not after trouble however, pals around with the James boys and the Daltons (with improbable cowboy Tierney as Jesse), flirts with Belle Starr, and is obviously destined for the strident lady newspaper editor, inevitably unpopular in her demands for a local police force. The crooked marshal from back in Texas stays conveniently out of the way, and things meander gently until his final-reel return initiates an unremarkable conclusion. Aimless but good-natured.

d Tim Whelan p Nat Holt sc Jack Natteford, Luci Ward ph Robert de Grasse ed Philip Martin Jr. ad Albert D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller m Roy Webb cast Randolph Scott, George “Gabby” Hayes, Ann Richards, Ray Collins, James Warren, Morgan Conway, Lawrence Tierney, Steve Brodie, Isabell Jewell
(1946, USA, 97min, b/w)