Angel and the Badman

John Wayne generally gave his finest performances under the direction of John Ford and Howard Hawks, but his turn in this 1947 Western also numbers among his best roles. Wayne plays gunfighter Quirt Evans, a wanted man who is wounded on a mission of revenge and nursed back to health by an innocent Quaker girl named Penelope (Gail Russell), who tries to redeem him. Written and directed by Wayne's buddy, James Edward Grant, in John Ford's backyard of Monument Valley, Angel and the Badman was the first motion picture to come from Wayne's own production company. Set in the frontier Quaker culture, this gentle and rich character study remains one of Wayne's sweetest and most touching dramas, and while it was a box-office disappointment at the time of its release, the film has aged well and become a favorite among Wayne fans. Like many independent productions of the era, this one fell into the public domain years ago and has been previously released on home video in editions created from poor film prints. Olive's new version on DVD and Blu-ray—remastered from a 35mm vault print—looks significantly better than earlier releases. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)