The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)

Simply Perfect

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is one of many (comedy) Westerns directed by Burt Kennedy; it was written by Ronald M. Cohen and Dennis Shryack. Robert Mitchum stars as Marshal James Flagg (about whom there's a ballad that plays throughout the film, in the background), an aging lawman whose skills and service helped tame the wild west such that Mayor Randolph Wilker (Martin Balsam) and the residents of his town named Progress have forgotten what it was like in the "old days" when bandits robbed trains. Buddy Hackett appears briefly (uncredited) as a townsman.When Flagg hears from an old hermit friend of his named Grundy (Douglas Fowley) a description that makes him believe that train robber Big John McKay is in the area, he warns the mayor saying that he needs to organize a posse of men. But the mayor is up for reelection soon and he certainly doesn't want any furor to spoil things for him, so he gives Flagg a gold watch and retires him, leaving the deputy marshal he can better control, a big soft lug named Howard Boyle (Dick Peabody), in charge.But Flagg decides to follow-up on what Grundy had told him, and finds the outlaws camp near the river. He rousts their horses and sneaks up on McKay (George Kennedy). However, Deuce (John Davis Chandler) gets the drop on him and gang leader Waco (David Carradine) laughs at the too old coots. McKay, it seems, is along for the ride and NOT in charge. In fact, he too is aged and not respected like he once was. He stops Deuce from killing Flagg so Waco leaves McKay in charge of taking care of the lawman. Flagg and McKay brawl, which exhausts both of them and Grundy has to help them back to town, where the now former lawman interrupts the amorous advances of his mayor with another man's wife, Tina Louise as Mrs. Flannagan. Of course, the mayor doesn't take Flagg's warnings seriously this time either, so the lawman returns to the boarding house where he lives; the proprietor Mary (Lois Nettleton) and he are somewhat romantically engaged.Later in town, Grundy gets into a scuffle with Deuce over the attractive older saloon owner Polly (Marie Windsor), which leads the outlaw into shooting the hermit in the back. Before Boyle too gets shot, Waco intervenes to keep things quiet before the train arrives the next day. Upon learning of Grundy's murder, McKay decides to work with Flagg to stop Waco's gang from robbing the train. They decide to board it early and keep it from stopping in Progress; their efforts are hindered by an old train conductor (John Carradine) who recognizes outlaw McKay but not Marshal Flagg. So the two are arrested, temporarily, before they escape to take control of the train and run it through town and an automobile parked on the tracks. The outlaws give chase and then, encouraged by the mayor, so do the townsfolk in their back-firing automobiles and horse drawn carriages. It's a sight to see! Eventually, the train comes to a bridge that's out and it crashes down a hillside shortly after Flagg and McKay have jumped clear. There's a climactic shootout in which McKay has a showdown with Waco. Guess who wins? Then the mayor congratulations Flagg, who puts the cuffs back on McKay promising to take him in.

This is a very entertaining Burt Kennedy Western, very much in the mold of "The War Wagon", although it more often crosses the line into straight comedy. I gave it five stars in my IMDb ranking. I ended up classifying it as a comedy, which I don't rank in my all time great Westerns system (I haven't figured out yet why I don't, it just feels like comedies should be ranked against each other in their own category). Here's what I liked: Robert Mitchum and George Kennedy are very good in this as an aging lawman and outlaw who become "frenemies". Both of these guys are very underrated actors. I can't think of a movie Kennedy was in that I didn't enjoy. Martin Balsam practically steals the movie as the corrupt mayor. A really great comedic performance that was clearly the inspiration for Harvey Corman's governor character in "Blazing Saddles" a couple of years later. This movie really got me interested in Balsam. Looks like he was one of the early Actor's Studio guys like Eli Wallach. I only remember him from "Psycho" and "Hombre". Dude had some range. I'm going to make a point of watching some more of his work. Nice location filming in New Mexico. Some pretty good action set pieces with a locomotive. Story moves along nicely, it's easy to get involved in the characters, there are no gaping plot holes. Kennedy plays a notorious bank robber who everyone thinks was killed 10 or 15 earlier. In reality, he got married to a Quaker woman, went straight and was living in Canada. After she dies from fever, he leaves an 11 year old son behind to return to the U.S. and resume his career as a bank robber. Sound like someone we know? Hint: Clint Eastwood played the part. Here's what wasn't so great: Ridiculous title David Carridine has a part.

This movie was directed by Burt Kennedy, who also directed another great western in 65 called The Rounders, that had Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. This one is sort of different but they both had some comedy in them. This one stars Robert Mitchum as an old sheriff who is retired against his wishes by the mayor, played by Martin Balsam, who only cares about the election coming up. George Kennedy plays an outlaw who used to big in his day but now is the third wheel in a gang run by David Carradine. Both Mitchum and Kennedy, even though they used to be enemies, sort of team up together to stop Carradine from robbing the train even though they don't have too. This movie came out in 1969 the same year as The Wild Bunch, which Mitchum turned down but this movie is closer to Peckenpah's earlier film Ride The High Country.

Better than average fare with a good train chase sequence.Nothing wrong done in this movie but nothing great either.This movie will please most western fans.A better screenplay would have really taken it to a better level.Great performance by David Carradine which helped him in his carreer.....