Bad Company – Fun City Editions (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1972
Director: Robert Benton
Writers: David Newman, Robert Benton
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown, Jim Davis, David Huddleston, John Savage, Jerry Houser, Damon Douglas, Joshua Hill Lewis, Geoffrey Lewis, Ed Lauter, John Quade

Release Date: August 20th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 46 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: PG
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"This tale of friendship and survival set during the days of the 1860s focuses on a roguish group of runaways living by their wits and natural instincts. Two of them in particular are complimentary opposites: Drew (Barry Brown, Daisy Miller) is a good boy from God-fearing stock in Ohio, out west to evade the draft. Jake (Jeff Bridges, Rancho Deluxe) is a scruffy scoundrel--a saddle tramp not above a little larceny here and there. Along the trail they encounter a variety of varmints and renegades. And eventually, they find themselves--older and wiser for the journey and friendship." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "New 4K Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative."

Bad Company comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 27.5 GB

Feature: 26.5 GB

The source looks excellent; fleshy tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity, black levels are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH subtitles. The source is in excellent shape; dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Also, ambient sounds and the score are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), 3 radio spots (1 minute 56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Walter Chaw, reversible cover art, and a 12-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with an essay titled Go West, Young Men: Robert Benton’s Bad Company written by Margaret Barton-Fumo, and cast & crew information.

Summary:

Bad Company was co-written and directed by Robert Benton, whose other notable films are Kramer vs. Kramer, Nobody’s Fool, and Twilight.

The narrative revolves around a god-fearing young man from Ohio who heads west to avoid the Civil War draft. Along the way, he crosses paths with and joins a group of criminals his age. From there, things don’t go as planned as they encounter more ruthless criminals than they are.

Though since cinema’s early days there have been westerns that did not follow the more traditional mythologizing of the old west. By the late 1960s, the western genre was going through major changes; the revisionist western that demythologized the American West would finally overtake the more traditional good and evil western. Case in point: Bad Company, a textbook example of the revisionist western with its exploration of men whose choices are forced upon them because of circumstance instead of the more traditional romanticized view of the old west.

Set during the Civil War, Bad Company is an unflinching look at the old West and what it was like in a country torn apart by war. In the opening moments, there is a sequence where soldiers are rounding up young men of fighting age who are trying to avoid the draft by dressing like girls. Though this sequence sets in motion the fateful encounter between two strangers who will become inseparable friends. Once the characters leave for the western frontier, the Civil War aspect of the story almost becomes an afterthought. With the narrative shifting its focus to the young men trying to survive in a wild west inhabited by thieves and murderers.

Being that Bad Company is a character-driven film, it should not come as a surprise that the performances are all around excellent. With the heart and soul being Barry Brown (Daisy Miller) in the role of Drew Dixon, the god-fearing young man from Ohio, and Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) in the role of Jake Rumsey, the ringleader of a group of young thieves. These two actors have a tremendous amount of chemistry, and how their characters' personalities are polar opposites is a driving force of the narrative. Where Jake is immoral and there is nothing he won’t do to survive, Drew does everything he can not to break the law.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Bad Company is lacking. Though the narrative moves at a deliberate pace, it does a fantastic job building and maintaining momentum. Not to be overlooked is the beautiful cinematography, and the piano score does a phenomenal job capturing the mood. And when it comes to moments of violence, Bad Company delivers in spades. Ultimately, Bad Company is an unpredictable film that goes outside the western genre norms and finds a perfect balance between its bleak and whimsical moments.

Fun City Editions gives Bad Company an exceptional release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and an insightful audio commentary, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer