''The Lawless'' is a 1950 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...

and features

Macdonald Carey Edward Macdonald Carey (March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member. ...

Gail Russell Gail Russell (born Betty Gale Russell; September 21, 1924 – August 26, 1961) was an American film and television actress. Early years Gail Russell was born to George and Gladys (Barnet) Russell in Chicago and then moved to the Los Angeles ...

and

Johnny Sands Johnny Sands (born Elbert Harp Jr., April 29, 1928 – December 30, 2003) was an American film and television actor. He worked in over a dozen films, and on television, before he retired from show business in 1971. He then worked as a real estat ...

. A newspaper editor in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

becomes concerned about the plight of the state's fruit pickers, mostly

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Film critic

Thom Andersen Thom Andersen (born 1943 in Chicago) is an American filmmaker, film critic, and teacher best known for his works of experimental film, including his 1975 film ''Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer'' and the 2003 essay film ''Los Angeles Plays Itse ...

identified ''The Lawless'' as one example of ''

film gris Film gris (, French language, French for "grey film"), a term coined by experimental filmmaker Thom Andersen, is a type of film noir which categorizes a unique series of films that were released between 1947 and 1951. They came in the context of th ...

'', a more cynical variety of ''film noir'' with leftist themes. The film was also released as ''The Dividing Line''.

Plot

California fruit picker Paul Rodriguez hopes to someday have a farm of his own. When his friend Lopo Chavez has a car accident, he is insulted with a racial slur by Joe Ferguson, a passenger in the other car. Joe's father disapproves of this bigotry. Lopo visits his friend Sunny Garcia, whose family publishes a Spanish-language paper called ''La Luz''. At a dance, Sunny is introduced to Larry Wilder, editor of "The Union", who once was a big-city newspaper reporter. A racially heated fight breaks out at the dance. Paul accidentally strikes Peters, a policeman. Joe is also arrested. A reporter who works for Larry depicts the incident to a Stockton paper as a full-scale race riot. Reporter Jan Dawson arrives to pursue the story. Peters roughs up Paul in the back seat of the police car. His partner tries to intervene but crashes the car and dies. Paul flees. A dragnet for him begins. It intensifies when a teenage farm girl, Mildred, startled at seeing Paul, falls and is knocked unconscious, after which she blames Paul for what happened. Larry tries to defend Paul in a newspaper article, inciting more anger. Lopo is attacked and a lynch mob for Paul is organized. The newspaper office is destroyed. Larry considers leaving town for good, but he is in love with Sunny, so they decide to merge their newspapers and continue to fight for what's right.

Cast

as Larry Wilder *

as Sunny Garcia *

as Joe Ferguson * Lee Patrick as Jan Dawson *

John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his film and TV ...

as Ed Ferguson *

Lalo Rios Lalo may refer to: Places *Dale Lalo, Ethiopian district *Lalo Asabi, Ethiopian district *Lalo Bandai Pakistani district *Lalo, Benin, a town in Benin *Lalo Kile, Ethiopian district *Lalo, Tokelau, an island in the South Pacific *Lalo railway stati ...

as Paul Rodriguez *Maurice Jara as Lopo Chavez *

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 22, 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than b ...

as Jim Wilson *

Guy Anderson Guy Anderson (November 20, 1906 – April 30, 1998) was an American artist known primarily for his oil painting who lived most of his life in the Puget Sound region of the United States. His work is in the collections of numerous museums inc ...

as Jonas Creel *

Argentina Brunetti Argentina Brunetti (born Argentina Ferraù; August 31, 1907 – December 20, 2005) was an Argentinian stage and film actress and writer. Biography Brunetti was born Argentina Ferraù in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Italian parents; her moth ...

as Mrs Rodriguez * William Edmunds as Mr. Jensen *

Gloria Winters Gloria Winters (November 28, 1931 – August 14, 2010) was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered Nephew and niece, niece, Penny King, in the 1950s – 1960s United States, American Television show#Seasons/series, ...

as Mildred Jensen *John Davis as Harry Pawling *

Martha Hyer Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014) was an American actress who played Gwen French in ''Some Came Running'' (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, ''Finding My Way ...

as Caroline Tyler * Frank Fenton as Mr Prentiss *

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...

as Chief of Police Blake *

Felipe Turich Felipe Turich (December 5, 1898 - March 9, 1992) was a Mexican film and television actor. He appeared in numerous films and TV series throughout the 1930s to the 1980s. Biography Turich was born in Hidalgo, Mexico, in 1898. He started his acting ...

as Mr. Rodriguez *

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from a ...

as Al Peters *Noel Reyburn as Fred Jackson *

Tab Hunter Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018) was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of t ...

as Frank O'Brien (Hunter's film debut) *

Russ Conway Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number one ...

as Eldredge * Robert Williams as Boswell * James Bush as Anderson *

Julia Faye Julia Faye Maloney (September 24, 1892 – April 6, 1966), known professionally as Julia Faye, was an American actress of silent and sound films. She was known for her appearances in more than 30 Cecil B. DeMille productions. Her various roles ...

as Mrs. Jensen

Production

The film was known as ''Outrage''. Gail Russell had been on suspension by Paramount but got off it to make this film. The film was an attempt by

Pine-Thomas Productions Pine-Thomas Productions was a prolific B-picture unit of Paramount Pictures from 1940–1957, producing 81 films. Co-producers William H. Pine (February 15, 1896 – April 29, 1955) and William C. Thomas (August 11, 1903 – April 2, 1984) were kno ...

to make a more "significant" kind of film. Shooting took 18 days.

Reception

Critical response

Film critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

praised the film. He wrote, "Within the inevitable limits of the low-budget action film, which happens to be the type of product that these modest gentlemen produce, they have made an exciting picture on a good, solid, social theme—the cruelty of a community when inflamed by prejudice. And although their drama, ''The Lawless'', is no '' Fury'' or ''

Intruder in the Dust ''Intruder in the Dust '' is a 1948 crime novel written by American author William Faulkner. Taking place in Mississippi, it revolves around an African American farmer accused of murdering a Caucasian man. Overview The novel focuses on Lucas B ...

'', it is a startling account of mob violence in a northern California town. With merited optimism, it was presented at the Astor yesterday." The staff at ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine also gave the film a positive review. They wrote, "Racial tolerance gets a working over in ''The Lawless'', but the producers don’t soapbox the message, using it, instead, as a peg on which to produce a hard-hitting drama, equipped with action and fast pace ... Performances all stack up as topnotch, with several being standout."''Variety''
Staff film review, 1950. Accessed: August 16, 2013.

References

External links

* * * *

information site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images) * ("Race & Hollywood: Latino Images in Film") on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, The 1950 films 1950 drama films American political drama films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films Film noir Films based on American novels Films directed by Joseph Losey Paramount Pictures films 1950s political drama films 1950s American films