Lawman (1971)

[mrsl]

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I tuned in to this thinking it was a pilot movie to introduce the TV series (Lawman), but found it was a regular western starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan. Never a particular fan of either one, I'm still always ready to give credit to accomplished actors and this one deserved it. Made in 1971, they were no young chicks, Ryan at 62 and Burt at 58 gave rousing perforemances as two ex gunfighters, both sheriffs of small towns, who, although respecting each other, disagreed on how to spend those final years of serving the law. Ryan just wanted a comfy rocking chair on a shady porch where he could simply arrest a drunk occasionally, but Burt continued involving himself in any illegal occurrences. After celebrating a finalized cattle drive, 6 or 7 drovers came into Burt's town and got too liquored up and started wahooing on Main Street shooting one elderly shop keeper and scaring the other townspeople. So, Burt follows them to their own home town and plans to arrest all of them and take them back for trial. This, of course is where he meets Robert Ryan and they have a few heart to hearts discussing their futures. This could have been just another land baron vs. sheriff movie, but the talents of the two main stars, plus Lee J. Cobb as the land baron brings the whole movie up to a higher level on the bar. I guess thinking they were nearing the end of their own careers, they took this rather uninspiring little script to play with, but these guys can't do that. No matter what the reason, they give their 110%, and turn an insipid little film into a good movie. I cannot say great movie because the writing just isn't that spectacular, and the cameraman played just a little too much with shadows and hide 'n seek focus. But it is certainly better than the average bear, and you might like it if you check it out.'
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[RedRiver]

I did. It's not a great western. But it's respectable. The story is credible. The actors are good. (Were these two ever NOT good?) It's a simple, every day, decent cowboy movie. And it's taken seriously. There's respect for the material.

When the film came out, I thought, Wow! They still make westerns? I didn't mean it with disdain. My friend Gary wanted to see it! I merely recognized the shrinking market for the genre and hoped it didn't bomb. I suspect it did.

In a time that saw THE FRENCH CONNECTION, THE GODFATHER and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, this minor league player faced some tough competition. It's been lost in the shuffle ever since. It's worth digging out.

[mrsl]

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. . . . . "In a time that saw THE FRENCH CONNECTION, THE GODFATHER and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, this minor league player faced some tough competition. It's been lost in the shuffle ever since. It's worth digging out . . . . . "

Lost in the shuffle is true, but sad considering that this is an entirely different genre and deserved its own critique. Apples and oranges in the movies have always bothered me. Just as we all have our love 'em and hate 'em favorite actors, we also have our favorite genres and it's a shame that the western was filtered out because of an overkill from TV. But as Eastwood has shown us, the western can be revived. The big thing after the TV western was detective shows and look what is plastered on every channel last season and this one coming up.
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[RedRiver]

I wish I remembered this interesting movie a little better. My limited recall prevents extensive comment, but I'd love to hear the opinions of others. I like this thread, and others like it. Some movies are PRETTY GOOD. Worth watching. They can't all be THE SEARCHERS.

I love that my high school friend wanted to see this. (I wonder if he ever got around to it!) Everybody else was interested in the oscar winners, the latest sex and violence craze. Gary wanted to see LAWMAN! He was a big Burt Lancaster fan.

[movieman1957]

Revisited "Lawman" and it still is a good solid western. As you say, RedRiver, there is respect for the material and it is done with all the proper seriousness it deserves. One appealing part is that for 1971 there is not a "spaghetti western" frame about it.

For me it is the story of how three men see the law and how they work with it when an accidental murder sets all this in motion. Lancaster is determined that the law is paramount. Nothing else matters. Ryan has had enough and can't be bothered anymore. He's old, tired and paid for. Lee J. Cobb just finds it inconvenient. They all play their convictions until someone decides he just can't go with Lancaster. He draws on him and is killed for his trouble. The problem is that he was a dear friend of Cobb. Now Cobb has to have the law work for him. Never mind it was self defense his friend is dead and there has to be payment regardless of the law of it.

Ryan now plays mediator and adviser to both sides. Along the way an incident gives him his chance to reclaim his pride and self respect but that only goes so far.

Even Lancaster, after running over egos rekindles an old affair with the woman of one of the wanted men. She tells him there is nothing soft about him anymore. This must hit home because next day he is ready to head home. But in the world of "they can't leave well enough alone" Cobb and his crew have to do something about Lancaster. They can't just let him ride our of town. They have to be tougher, to be more right, to be more important. They just can't let it go. And in that moment they all go back. No one wins. No one just gets to go home.

Not great. Not too heavy on philosophy. Just a straight 50s style western. Good performances all around.

[MissGoddess]

What you say about how all the principals are affected by some change yet the end results seem inevitable and no different that they would have been from the outset is right on. I liked the contrast of the two kinds of lawmen. Ryan was unquestionably weaker, but more human and at least a part of the community he "served". Lancaster may be the more purely right in terms of executing the law to the letter, but he's like a machine. And he knows it like when he tells the young cowboy the difference between him and a man like Lancaster, a lawman. He says something about how being a lawman is simply being a man who's profession is to kill other men. He may be no more skilled at using a gun than the cowboy (who thinks he's a real hot shot) but he's willing to kill and the cowboy is just that, a cow hand with a gun. They even gave him a nickname, "the widow maker".

Ryan on the other hand, is always spoken of in the past tense by the townspeople and by Cobb ("in his day you couldn't walk in his sun" Cobb tells one of his hands). Evidently he was a hero in some military episode but it apparently gave Ryan a bellyfull of killing and so he went from town to town, always running. Ryan is just as honest about himself as Lancaster. It's a great character. The only thing I might have wished for was more interplay between him and Lancaster. They cross paths once or twice but Ryan mostly is on the sidelines.

I've seen several westerns lately that take a look at what lawmen had to be like in the old west, and how their communities felt about them.