Lawman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Winner |
Written by | Gerry Wilson |
Produced by | Michael Winner |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert Paynter |
Edited by | Frederick Wilson |
Music by | Jerry Fielding |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million [1] |
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.
This article needs an improved plot summary.(March 2024) |
Drunken cowhands from the town of Sabbath are shooting up the western town of Bannock. An old man is accidentally shot dead. [2]
Jared Maddox is Bannock's marshal. On the trail of the shooters he 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 them.
Maddox calls on Sabbath's sheriff, Cotton Ryan. He demands that the five surrender to him within 24 hours. Ryan warns Maddox that the five work for Vincent Bronson, a wealthy cattle rancher who literally owns Sabbath. Maddox is not frightened and warns Ryan he will certainly kill these five men if they do not surrender.
Ryan goes to Bronson's ranch to inform him of Marshal Maddox'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 killed. 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 the Sabbath town square.
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]
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 |
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 |
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]
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 is 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 is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are low-budget cult films including some which are adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.
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 Pennsylvania's 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, which was until 1957 the definitive film of the gunfight story.
Vera Cruz is a 1954 American Western film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, featuring Denise Darcel, Sara Montiel, Cesar Romero, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and Jack Elam. Set during the Franco-Mexican War, the film centers on a group of American mercenaries tasked with transporting a large shipment of Imperial gold to the port of Veracruz, but begin to have second thoughts about their allegiances. It was produced by Hecht-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists on 25 December 1954.
Nickelodeon is a 1976 American comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and stars Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds and Tatum O'Neal. According to Bogdanovich, the film was based on true stories told to him by silent film directors Allan Dwan and Raoul Walsh. It was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Mechanic is a 1972 American action thriller film directed by Michael Winner from a screenplay by Lewis John Carlino. It stars Charles Bronson, in his second collaboration with Winner, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, and Jill Ireland.
Lawman is a term used in reference to an American law enforcement officer, usually a sheriff or a marshal.
This is a list of films directed or produced by Roger Corman.
Death Wish is a 1974 American vigilante action-thriller film loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same title by Brian Garfield. Directed by Michael Winner, the film stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, an architect who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter molested during a home invasion. It was the first film in the Death Wish film series. It was followed eight years later with Death Wish II and other similar films.
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), it was filmed in north-central Idaho.
Machine-Gun Kelly is a 1958 film noir directed by Roger Corman that chronicles the criminal activities of the real-life George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Despite its low budget, the film received positive critical reviews.
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings is a 1975 American comedy film directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Burt Reynolds, and written by Thomas Rickman. The 20th Century Fox film features the acting debut of Jerry Reed.
Naked Paradise is a 1957 drama film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Richard Denning and Beverly Garland.
The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent is a 1958 American action-adventure horror film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Abby Dalton, Susan Cabot and June Kenney.
St. Ives is a 1976 American crime thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson, John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset, and Maximilian Schell.