''Lawman'' is a 1971 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Michael Winner and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and 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-yea ...

, Robert Ryan,

Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby; December 8, 1911February 11, 1976) was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectabl ...

and Robert Duvall.

Plot synopsis

Drunken cowhands from the town of Sabbath are shooting up the western town of Bannock.TCM on Lawman
/ref> Jared Maddox is Bannock's marshal. Days later he rides into Sabbath with the body of Marc Corman, one of the renegade cowhands shot that night in Bannock. Corman and five others were involved in the reckless killing of an old man, and Maddox has warrants for them. Maddox calls on Sabbath's sheriff, Cotton Ryan. He demands that the five surrender to him within 24 hours. Ryan tells Maddox the five work for Vincent Bronson, a wealthy cattle rancher, and that he should avoid a dangerous confrontation. Maddox is not moved. Ryan goes to Vincent Bronson's ranch to inform him of Marshal Maddox's arrival in Sabbath. Bronson, unaware of the killing in Bannock offers cash as compensation. Sheriff Ryan explains that Maddox will only accept surrender. Bronson's defiant foreman, Harv Stenbaugh, wants Maddox killed. Bronson refuses, insisting on negotiation. When that falls through, his men one by one confront Maddox and lose their lives, until the final showdown in the Sabbath town square, when Maddox is forced to kill Bronson's son Jason, then kills Hurd Price who ran, and finally Bronson kneeling next to his son's body takes his own life. Maddox rides away, back to Bannock, with justice served.

Cast

as Jared Maddox * Robert Ryan as Cotton Ryan *

as Vincent Bronson * Robert Duvall as Vernon Adams * Sheree North as Laura Shelby * Albert Salmi as Harvey Stenbaugh *

J. D. Cannon John Donovan Cannon (April 24, 1922 – May 20, 2005) was an American actor. An alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, he is best known for his co-starring role of Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford in the telev ...

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 William C. Watson (October 5, 1938 – November 5, 1997) was an American actor. Career Born in Chicago, Illinois, Watson appeared in many television series and films, '' In the Heat of the Night'' (1967), '' Lawman'' (1971), '' The Hunting ...

as Choctaw Lee * Walter Brooke as Luther Harris *

Robert Emhardt Robert Emhardt (July 24, 1914 – December 26, 1994) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film and on television. Emhardt was frequently cast as a villain, often a crooked businessman or corrupt politician. Early years Em ...

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. Wilson also wanted to say that "law and order is certainly not the only way to administer justice." In November 1969, it was reported Michael Winner was scouting locations in Durango and that Burt Lancaster would most likely star. Winner did not want to go to Spain - where many Westerns were shot - because he wanted "an American influence". The film wound up being made in Chupaderos. Winner says he managed to hire the village for filming just before

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." A v ...

tried to secure it for ''Rio Lobo''.Fastest gun in the west Crosby, John. The Observer 14 Dec 1969: 7. Filming began in April 1970. 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?" "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." 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.

Release dates

Alternative titles

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."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

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."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

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." '' 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." Kevin Thomas of the '' Los Angeles Times'' called it "a good solid western" with Cobb "a fine and worthy adversary" to Lancaster. Gary Arnold of '' The Washington Post'' stated that the film "smells of confused plotting, gratuitous brutality and a veritable outbreak of overripe dialogue."

John Pidgeon Sir John Allan Stewart Pidgeon (15 July 1926 – 2 June 2016) was an Australian contractor and property developer. He and his sister, Valmai Pidgeon, have been involved with the Queensland construction industry since joining their father's busin ...

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." The film holds a score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.

References

Notes

External links

Official site
* * *
Lawman
at Letterbox DVD {{Michael Winner 1971 films 1971 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films 1970s English-language films United Artists films Films directed by Michael Winner Films scored by Jerry Fielding United States Marshals Service in fiction Revisionist Western (genre) films Films produced by Michael Winner 1970s American films