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This article is about the 1971 American film. For the 2011 Canadian film, see The Mountie (film).
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Lawman is a 1971 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Michael Winner and starring Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb and Robert Duvall.
Contents
- Plot synopsis
- Cast
- Production
- Release dates
- Alternative titles
- Reception
- Critical
- References
- Notes
- External links
Plot synopsis
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In the opening scenes drunken cowhands from the town of Sabbath are shooting up the western town of Bannock. An old man is accidentally killed. [2]
On the trail of the shooters Jared Maddox Bannock's marshal rides into the town of Sabbath with the body of Marc Corman. Corman and five others were involved in the reckless killing and Maddox has warrants for the remaining five.
Maddox calls on Sabbath's sheriff, Cotton Ryan, and demands that the men surrender to him within 24 hours. The sheriff warns Maddox that they work for Vincent Bronson, a wealthy cattle rancher who all but owns Sabbath. Maddox is not frightened and coolly warns Ryan he will "kill these men where they stand" if they do not surrender.
Ryan goes to Bronson's ranch to inform him of Marshal's arrival in Sabbath. Bronson is unaware of the killing in Bannock and offers cash as compensation. The Sheriff explains that Maddox cannot be bought.
Bronson's foreman, Harv Stenbaugh, wants Maddox dead but Bronson insists on negotiation. When that falls through, his men resolve to kill the marshal, an effort which leads to a dramatic gun fight in Sabbath's main street. There are no shiny guns and new boots in this movie, it's dusty and coarse the harshness of life in those times is captured in a manner unseen in today's westerns.
Burt Lancaster plays a no nonsense "killer of men" who betrays his own code of moral conduct in a way that seems unavoidable. The gunfights have palpable emotional significance and are not cheap theater. The characters belong to the country and the time in a way that is lost to modern western film making.
Cast
- Burt Lancaster as Jared Maddox
- Robert Ryan as Cotton Ryan
- Lee J. Cobb as Vincent Bronson
- Robert Duvall as Vernon Adams
- Sheree North as Laura Shelby
- Albert Salmi as Harvey Stenbaugh
- J. D. Cannon as Hurd Price
- Joseph Wiseman as Lucas
- Richard Jordan as Crowe Wheelwright
- John McGiver as Mayor Sam Bolden
- Ralph Waite as Jack Dekker
- John Beck as Jason Bronson
- William C. Watson as Choctaw Lee
- Walter Brooke as Luther Harris
- Robert Emhardt as Hersham
- Richard Bull as Dusaine
- John Hillerman as Totts
- Hugh McDermott as L.G. Moss
- Wilford Brimley as Marc Corman
Production
The film was based on an original script by Gerald Wilson who said he was inspired by an item he read in the journal of Charlie Siringo which said the only hired killers in the old West were the lawmen, and it was they who caused most of the violence. [3] Wilson also wanted to say that "law and order is certainly not the only way to administer justice." [4]
In November 1969, it was reported Michael Winner was scouting locations in Durango and that Burt Lancaster would most likely star. [5] Winner did not want to go to Spain - where many Westerns were shot - because he wanted "an American influence". The film ended up being shot in Chupadero, New Mexico. Winner says he managed to hire the village for filming just before Howard Hawks tried to secure it for Rio Lobo . [6]
Filming began in April 1970. [7] [8]
It was Winner's first Western. "The West is everybody's," he said. "Americans come to Britain to film English history. Why shouldn't an Englishman go west?" [9]
"The West is vulgar," he said. "The West is dirty. It's like a hippie colony. The problem with making a western is you get your priorities the wrong way around. You can't find anywhere to go to the toilet and yet you have to bring everything to a halt the minute one of the horses goes. And then wait to sweep up after it." [10]
Winner later said:
I’d never even done a Western before but I got very serious about it. I had American professors come up and look at locations and I wanted to get the details correct. I asked what they usually used for oil lamps and they said that they just used new ones and threw some dust on them. I told them that was ridiculous and that they could get authentic period oil lamps for 20 quid on the Portobello Road. So the crew were all coming over from England with these things crammed in their luggage. It was the most authentic Western ever made. Everything was real. We sold the set to John Wayne who was coming in and doing another movie on the set after us. [11]
Release dates
Country | Date |
---|---|
UK | 11 March 1971 (London premiere) |
Austria | April 1971 |
Finland | 2 April 1971 |
West Germany | 2 April 1971 |
Sweden | 5 April 1971 |
Norway | 10 June 1971 |
France | 21 July 1971 |
United States | 4 August 1971 |
Mexico | 16 September 1971 |
Alternative titles
Country | Title |
---|---|
Hungary | A törvény nevében |
Brazil, Portugal | O Homem da Lei |
Spain | En nombre de la ley |
Poland | Szeryf |
France | L'Homme de la loi |
Italy | Io sono la legge |
Sweden | Lagens män |
Finland | Lainvalvoja |
Mexico | Yo soy la ley |
Brazil | Mato em Nome da Lei |
Reception
Critical
Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film "a potent but curiously exasperating Western" with "a baffling, oblique arrogance about the central character, played well by Lancaster, that belies his seeming quest for justice ('the law is the law'), the point of the film. But he is also a cold, egocentric fish." [12]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four and called it "a Western with a lot of sides but no center. The bad guys are too monotonously bad to be interesting. The characters played by Lee J. Cobb and Robert Ryan are more interesting, but never get a proper chance to influence events. And the Lancaster character, as limited by Winner, seems driven by some unhealthy inner hang-up that causes the whole movie to go sour. Winner should have told us a lot more about his lawman, or a lot less." [13]
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "It's the opportunity to see some familiar faces that makes 'Lawman' an entertaining Western. It just has to be the faces, because the story is so depressing and poorly conceived." [14]
Variety described it as "a quite entertaining film that never hits many high spots but will amuse western addicts," adding, "Lancaster, as usual, is a highly convincing marshal, tough and taciturn. Ryan is also excellent as the faded, weak marshal with only memories. But it's Cobb who quietly steals the film as the local boss who, unlike many in such films, is no ruthless villain." [15]
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a good solid western" with Cobb "a fine and worthy adversary" to Lancaster. [16] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated that the film "smells of confused plotting, gratuitous brutality and a veritable outbreak of overripe dialogue." [17] John Pidgeon of The Monthly Film Bulletin called the story "utterly conventional" and concluded that "despite the acting, the theme—of the morality of taking life in the name of the law—is ill-served by Winner's fashionable attention to gore, not to mention his hotch-potch of styles, as tiresome as the frenetically zooming camera." [18]
The film holds a score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews. [19]
Related Research Articles
Burton Stephen Lancaster was an American actor and film producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in films and television series. He was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and he also won two BAFTA Awards and one Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Lee Marvin was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as the "heavy", he later gained prominence for portraying anti-heroes, such as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger on the television series M Squad (1957–1960). Marvin's notable roles in film included Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964), Rico Fardan in The Professionals (1966), Major John Reisman in The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ben Rumson in Paint Your Wagon (1969), Walker in Point Blank (1967), and the Sergeant in The Big Red One (1980).
Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
Charles Bronson was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. Bronson's father, a miner, died when Bronson was young. Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II. After his service, he joined a theatrical troupe and studied acting. During the 1950s, he played various supporting roles in motion pictures and television, including anthology drama TV series in which he would appear as the main character. Near the end of the decade, he had his first cinematic leading role in Machine-Gun Kelly (1958).
Robert Michael Winner was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several collaborations with actors Oliver Reed and Charles Bronson.
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film noir drama Crossfire (1947).
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, and loosely based on the actual event in 1881. The film was directed by John Sturges from a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris. It was a remake of the 1939 film Frontier Marshall starring Randolph Scott and of John Ford's 1946 film My Darling Clementine.
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John Lawrence Russell was an American film and television actor, most noted for his starring role as Marshal Dan Troop in the ABC Western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962 and his lead role as international adventurer Tim Kelly in the syndicated TV series Soldiers of Fortune from 1955 to 1957.
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Lawman is a term used in reference to an American law enforcement officer, usually a sheriff or a marshal.
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Yellowstone Kelly is a 1959 American Western film based upon a novel by Heck Allen with a screenplay by Burt Kennedy starring Clint Walker as Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly, and directed by Gordon Douglas. The film was originally supposed to be directed by John Ford with John Wayne in the Clint Walker role but Ford and Wayne opted to make The Horse Soldiers instead.
Breakheart Pass is a 1975 American Western film that stars Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, and Jill Ireland. Based on the 1974 novel of the same title by Scottish author Alistair MacLean (1922–1987), itwas filmed in north-central Idaho.
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Steve Carver was an American film director, producer, and photographer.
References
- ↑ Clinch p 136
- ↑ TCM on Lawman
- ↑ Mole sees the light: DEREK MALCOLM reviews new films and talks to Gerald Wilson who wrote the script for Scorpio Malcolm, Derek. The Guardian 25 Oct 1973: 14.
- ↑ Fishgall, Gary (1995). Against type: the biography of Burt Lancaster. Scribner. p.276. ISBN 0-684-80705-X. OCLC 845013893.
- ↑ Paramount Slates Move to Suite Los Angeles Times 17 Nov 1969: e25.
- ↑ Fastest gun in the west Crosby, John. The Observer 14 Dec 1969: 7.
- ↑ 'Frame a Figg' Costars Set Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times17 Mar 1970: e14.
- ↑ The streets of Durango SHIVAS, MARK. The Guardian 8 Aug 1970: 7.
- ↑ Clinchy p 136
- ↑ 'Lawman' Won a Shoot-out With 'Rio Lobo' on Location in Mexico SHIVAS, MARK. Los Angeles Times 28 June 1970: p26.
- ↑ Knight, James (September 2, 2009). "Michael Winner". Vice.
- ↑ Thompson, Howard (August 5, 1971). "A Shoot-'Em-Up 'Lawman' Bows". The New York Times . 25.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (August 31, 1971). "Lawman". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved May 26, 2019.
- ↑ Siskel, Gene (September 2, 1971). "Lawman". Chicago Tribune . Section 2, p. 15.
- ↑ "Film Reviews: Lawman". Variety . March 24, 1971.
- ↑ Thomas, Kevin (September 1, 1971). "Lancaster a Fast Gun in 'Lawman'". Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 11.
- ↑ Arnold, Gary (July 17, 1971). "Corrupted, Cliched 'Lawman'". The Washington Post . E7.
- ↑ Pidgeon, John (April 1971). "Lawman". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 38 (447): 78.
- ↑ "Lawman". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved June 13, 2021.
Notes
- Clinch, Minty (1986). Burt Lancaster. Stein and Day.
External links
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