Fonda plays a cowardly mayor who lets a outlaw rape, kill and burn down his town. He stays to rebuild the town. He pseudo marries a saloon girl the badman raped and traumatized then happily refuses to even pretend to prepare to protect her. When the outlaw returns, he delays action until the badman rapes and kills another saloon girl before he burns down the saloon and kills the town sheriff. When the mass murderer runs out of bullets, Fonda shoots and injures him. Then Fonda arrogantly carries the badman to safety in his wife's home yelling at her for wanting the man who raped her and killed others dead. The injured badman then grabs his wife who calls to their adopted son for help. When the son attempts to shoot this mass murderer who also killed his father, Fonda knocks the boy down to protect the badman causing the boy to shoot and kill his mother. Is Fonda the villain and the boy devastated after killing his mother? No! We learn the town is saved by the payroll and Fonda and his adopted son live happily ever after. Fonda and the other characters performed well. The writers definition of heroism left much to be desired.
Review of Welcome to Hard Times
