Day Of the Badman: 1958 Western movie about courageous and ethical judge resisting and fighting a convict's family of thugs who intimidate rest of town into submission

Day Of the Badman 1958 Western Fred MacMurray Joan Weldon John Ericson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C69rpZe5OdU ,  1 hr. 54 mins.

I enjoyed this movie even if the story line comes across as quite fictional and has too many angles (justice, condemned man, bullies, fear, romance triangle etc).

I liked the main theme of this Western genre movie which is the lonely road that a righteous judge has to take, at times. A man is tried and convicted for murder. Before the sentencing, the convict's relatives, who are notorious thugs themselves, come to town. The family head of this group (convict's relatives) threatens the judge, the jury foreman, cajoles the widow of the murdered man, and shows the sheriff of the town that he dare not try to take their guns. In the process, the family head uses some slick dialogues (Godfather Mafia boss style dialogues about being reasonable ...) and gets his henchmen to rough up and terrify those that they target.

Even the judge is beaten up, but the judge turns out to be a tough guy who is not intimidated by the thugs even after having got beaten up.

The romance triangle angle involves the judge, the sheriff and a lady. The judge has had a long engagement with the lady but was (mostly, I guess) out of town as a circuit judge for some years, before he comes back to town as a permanent judge for the town. During his absence the lady falls in love with the handsome young sheriff. The judge does not know about this romance and is planning to surprise the lady with a marriage proposal in a ranch that he has recently bought.

As the story develops, the thugs' family boss (great acting by this person) wants his relative, the convict, to be banished instead of being hanged. By the time the sentencing session starts, almost the whole town has got terrified of what the thugs' family will do if the convict is hanged, and so almost the whole town wants the judge to simply banish the convict rather than hang him.

A curious twist, which surely comes across as artificial and so very fictional, is that if the judge asks the convict to be banished, the judge will escape the fury of the thugs, but the sheriff will have to do the banishment of the convict bit, and so the sheriff will have to contend with the fury of the thugs' family. The widow of the murdered person is convinced by the thugs' family to ask the judge to only banish the convict, with the widow reasoning out that then the thugs will have a shootout with the sheriff when he tries to banish the convict, with the odds being high that the sheriff will be killed. The widow relishes the prospect of the sheriff being killed as the widow holds him responsible for not doing his job properly in protecting the town which led to the murder of her husband.

The judge tells the sheriff that he is going to sentence the convict to be hanged. The sheriff gets worried that he will have to walk the convict to the gallows, and will come under fire from the thugs' family. Eventually the sheriff indicates that he might resign the job (rather than walk the convict to the gallows after sentencing), at which time the judge and the judge's assistant say that if he does that they will spread the news across the territory (that the sheriff escaped out of doing his duty out of fear) and that he will "smell" and nobody will offer him another (lawman) job! The sheriff then drops the resignation idea!

Prior to sentencing, the judge comes to know of the romantic relationship between his fiancee and the sheriff, with the now ex-fiancee telling the judge that she has fallen in love with the sheriff (while the judge was away).

Another woman who is close to the convict and others in the thugs' family but now fears them, suggests to the judge that if he banishes the convict, the sheriff will have to do the banishment which may result in him getting killed by the thugs, after which the judge's ex-fiancee may reconsider matters and marry the judge!

The judge role is acted well. He seems to be swayed by the temptation to only banish the convict but overcomes that ethical weakness, and shows great Sathya & Dharma character & courage, by going with what he feels is the just sentence which is hanging the convict. He pronounces the sentence, adding that the hanging will be done in some other undisclosed town (for which a carriage has been arranged and is ready to take the convict and guards), and ensures that the thugs' family who are present in court are disarmed at gunpoint.

Afterwards the judge goes to his newly bought ranch where he awaits the thugs who get some other guns (as their earlier guns seem to have been confiscated in the court) and then engage in a prolonged gunfight with the judge, as the judge is in the ranch-house whereas they are outside.

Meanwhile the judge's assistant (an old man) asks the sheriff to go to the judge's ranch-house to protect the judge. The ex-fiancee of the judge and now lover of the sheriff is present. She too wants the sheriff to go and protect the judge. The young sheriff avoids the dangerous task. The judge's assistant calls him a "yellow belly" and goes to the judge's ranch house to help protect him.

The lady sees that the man she had loved is a "yellow belly" sheriff, and realizes her mistake.

Eventually the good guys win. The thugs are all killed in the gunfight with the judge's assistant contributing to that by killing one of the thugs. The judge, though injured, is still alive and gets re-united with the lady.

==================

Some of the great lines in the movie (I loved the dialogues in this movie).

Around 58:53, the judge asks his ex-fiancee why she did not tell him earlier about her love for the sheriff: "All you had to do was come to me. Am I that hard to talk to?"

The lady responds, "You always expect people to do the right (thing). Sometimes they just do the easy (thing)."

----------

At around 13:38, the thugs' family boss Charlie Hayes tells the judge, "But still an all-judge you got me in a terrible spot. You see I'm the oldest Hayes alive except grandpa. He don't count. [Laughs] Why, he can hardly chew his food, poor old coot. [Small laugh]"

Judge: "Charlie I'm not interested in your family."

Charlie Hayes: "I just can't tell you how upset all the Hazes is. Poor Rudy might get his neck stretched."

Judge: "Rudy's guilty of murder. The jury said so."

Charlie: "Of course he is. I won't argue. The thing is he can't hang. The whole family looks to me to see that he don't."

Judge: "Well, that's a shame. Because there's nothing you can do about it."

Charlie: "Oh yes, there is! [Charlie walks menacingly towards the judge and then continues:] You sentence to hang judge. We're gonna kill you sure." [Charlie spits.]

Judge: "All right. You've said it. Now get out of here."

... 

After an altercation, when Charlie Hayes has mounted his horse and is ready to leave the judge's (newly bought) ranch, Charlie Hayes says to the judge at around 16:27 : "Study on what I said judge. Be real smart and die an old man in bed."

----- 

Around 53:07, after saying that he does not have enough help to hang the convict, the sheriff says, "I can see me putting that rope around his neck all by myself. No thanks."

The judge responds, "Look Wiley (sheriff's name), you took the job when it was soft so you could play cock of the walk but you took it and you're going through with it."

Sheriff Wiley: "It's just that there's a limit to what a man can be asked to do. That's all. The town doesn't care about Rudy (the convict) anymore so why should I?" [As most of the townsfolk who earlier wanted to see justice served by Rudy being hanged, have now been intimidated by the thugs' family and are now terrified of what will happen if Rudy is hanged. They just want to do what the thugs want so that the thugs will not bother them anymore.]

The judge: "Because you wear a star. You quit now and you'll smell all over the territory."

The judge's assistant: "And I'll be glad to spread the word."

The judge: "Looks like we're stuck with each other. So straighten up. I promise you help and whatever happens you'll get it."

----

Around 54:04, the judge's assistant says to the judge: "Jim (the judge's name) (even?) Wiley was right about one thing. Nobody in town cares anymore. Why should you stick your neck out?"

The judge responds: "No Sam (his assistant's name). Let's just say I made a mistake in not being a rancher." [My understanding of these words are that the judge is saying that as he is a judge he cannot do what his assistant is suggesting. But if he were a rancher he could have done it! If my understanding is right, then these words show how the burden of being an ethical/righteous judge is so much more than of being a rancher (or being in some other non-judicial/non-law-enforcement business/occupation).

The judge also shows some kind of regret in having become a judge instead of a rancher.]