Strong Arm of the Law: Lawman

Following on the heels of the successful spaghetti western era, Englishman Michael Winter's tense, bloody, 1971 western, Lawman, combines many of the elements of that genre, with the story of an uncompromising lawman, seeking justice at all costs. Bert Lancaster stars as a cold, merciless, gunman, who justifies his lawful violence, by never drawing his gun first, but leaving behind a trail of blood violence, and a reputation as "the widowmaker," that eventually results in a showdown in the town of Sabbath, where he tries to bring to justice a gang of rowdy, drunken, cowhands who accidentally kill an old man in his neighboring town of Bannock.

Marshal Jared Maddox (Bert Lancaster) arrives in Sabbath, where he confronts the local Sheriff, Cotton Ryan, (Robert Ryan) with the shooting of the old man in his town. However, Ryan refuses to get involved since the killers work for a wealthy local cattle baron, Vincent Bronson, (Lee J. Cobb) who owns everything in the territory, including Ryan. Maddox sets out alone, to bring the killers to justice, as the citizens of Sabbath band together in an effort to rid their town of Maddox, before he can complete his mission. Just when the previously unyielding Maddox, decides to give up on his crusade for justice and leave town, Bronson and his men show up for a final showdown, with tragic consequences.

Contrary to the majority of the westerns in the 1960's and early '70's, Lawman is primarily a tense, character driven, drama that is short on action and adventure and long on dialog and violence. Although the characterizations are well drawn, they are for the most part stock characters; with Maddox leading the way as the icy, methodical, marshal, who sees the law as totally black and white, with Bronson as the ruthless and corrupt cattle baron, and Ryan, whose loyalty to Bronson has left him ineffectual and conflicted.

Despite the stock characters, Lancaster and Cobb deliver strong performances in their roles, as the the cattle baron, weary of the violence, it has taken to establish his empire, and Lancaster as the relentless lawman who is losing his taste for the pursuit of justice, simply for justice's sake. Sheree North, serves as welcomed contrast to the film's macho, male, dominated, tone as Maddox' sometimes lover, Laura, who loves the man, but is repulsed by his single minded thirst for unremitting vengeance. A young Robert Duvall adds a strong supporting role as one of Bronson's henchman.

Due to it's unrelenting violence and emphasis on the psychological aspects of it's characters, some have compared this film to Clint Eastwood's Academy Award winning revisionist western, Unforgiven. I, personally, think that it has more in common with the spaghetti western genre. The filming techniques, that rely largely on close-ups and zoom-in shots, chillingly evocative musical score, muted colors, and character driven script, have more in common with the works of Sergio Leone, than Eastwood.

I found Lawman to be an extremely slow paced film, that seems much longer than it's 99 minute run time. Despite the suspenseful tone, and strong lead performances, I felt the ending was unnecessarily violent, and anti-climactic. For those reason, I do not consider it worthy of being ranked among the true classics of the western genre.

My rating **1/2