Law of the Lash (1947) User Reviews

Lash Of The Law

[boblipton · 5/10 · 5 January 2021]

U.S. Marshall Lash Larue cleans up a town consisting of a dozen henchman and one drunk -- Jack Evans plays the drunk -- using his whip and Al St. John. Director Ray Taylor has a couple of sequences of Larue riding which go on for quite a while.

Larue, real name Alfred, came to Hollywood hoping that his uncanny resemblance to Humphrey Bogart would yield a career. It did, also comments from Hollywood players. Actress Sarah Padden asked him if his mother had ever met Bogart. When his PRC stardom ended, he continued on with supporting roles in TV. He trained Harrison Ford in handling a whip for Indiana Jones, and was featured in a popular comic. He died in 1996, age 78.

Routine yet lively b-western

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 9 March 2021]

The man in black Lash LaRue cracks his whip again in this lively addition to his filmography which has a leisurely feel with a nice enough plot. It's a simple story but engaging enough. Could have had a bit more action, though. Fuzzy knight co stars again as Lash's sidekick.

Typical PRC Cheapie a Fun Nostalgia Trip

[GordJackson · 3/10 · 30 November 2013]

As a kid, seeing dusters like this made my day. I loved them then and I still do now. A staple lower half or 'kiddie' matinée fixture, they were churned out on an assembly line, probably in pre-production for three or four weeks, shot in three or four days, and then wound up with another three/four weeks of post production prior to release. They looked cheap and they were cheap, especially when cranked through the PRC sausage factory. Making matters even worse, the Alpha Video transfer of this cheapie Poverty Row opus is grainy and at times bleached, making a bad situation even worse. Still, it's fun watching our boy crack the whip as he herds another gang of baddies towards their just desserts, toothless Fuzzy Knight along for comic relief.

Storywise, there is nothing much original about this one that pits your garden variety robber/town terrorizer against the skills and determination of incognito lawman Larue and sidekick Knight. What is a little more original is the higher quality acting one gets from our two heroes, definitely a cut above the usual phoned-in nonsense one usually finds in these sagebrush programmers. Indeed, Larue's most notable rival at the time, Monogram's incredibly wooden Whip Wilson could only watch in envy.

'B' programmers like "Law of the Lash" may not be high art, but they are entertaining and that's all that counts. It's just too bad the look of this one is so decrepit. Otherwise, it might have at least merited a five instead of the three it got.

Grade A 'B' western

[morrisonhimself · 10/10 · 18 August 2010]

When I found a free download of "Law of the Lash" I was happy. I had watched a movie of that title many years ago at a film festival in San Diego, and it was one of the most exciting movies I had ever seen.

There was lots of action, especially of Lash and his whip.

Watching it today, I discovered this film was not the same one. It has far less whip action, but there is an attention to detail by both director Ray Taylor and writer William L. Nolte that merits a very high rating.

Sound effects are also very good.

Al St. John was a great cowboy and probably the best of the intendedly funny side-kicks. Be sure to watch for him scratching his foot in this movie. His last scene, though, could have been edited out.

Lash LaRue actually could act, and he shows it here.

Perhaps most fascinating of all, everybody's favorite villain, Charles King, gets to play a good guy, a sheriff even!

So it's not "Gone With the Wind," it's a great 'B' western.

graceful

[Cristi_Ciopron · 9/10 · 7 November 2016]

'Law of the Lash' holds at least a double primacy: for being my favorite PRC movie ever, and for being my favorite B western; it is craftily directed, it has a reasonable and smooth storytelling, it is graceful and lively, and its lead was the wonder of this humblest genre.

The legendary St John was not so much LaRue's sidekick, as a 2nd lead, and as a player he was able of a consummate self-emptying in the humbling delivery of lowbrow slapstick, but this movie seizes the decency of his job. And each of them has been given room to display his craft. LaRue was cool also in his acting style, and he possessed one.

Ray Taylor and his two players crafted this exquisite, ideal B western. It means a staple of masterful storytelling, my idea of how a graceful western should be; it may seem ordinary, but it's flawless. Perhaps it was almost the twilight of the unpretentious B westerns, as they were about to be replaced, not dethroned, but given a new chance by the TV. Some quirkier TV westerns of the late '50s and early '60s are anticipated here.

The director was a toiler who never became famous enough to gain a bad name, or a derisive moniker, like some of his colleagues.

If to some such movies are primarily childhood memories, to me they are a grownup's leisure. I have grown up with westerns from the '50s-'70s, and these earlier movies are new to me.

Perhaps by the time this movie has been shot, the pressure of both silliness and didactic-ism had decreased, the carelessness and sloppiness of the '30s, hence the freshness. Yet 'Law of the Lash' is far better than more famous westerns of the '40s, and it means to the B westerns what some action movies from the '80s mean to their genre.

Lash doesn't come off to best advantage in this movie

[wrbtu · 17 January 2000]

Most critics pick other Lash LaRue movies as his best; I picked this one to watch mostly because the title appealed to me. Lash is a decent actor, & so is his sidekick, Al "Fuzzy" St. John, whose acting credits go back to the Fatty Arbuckle period. I want to like Lash, because he looks & sounds like my favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart, but Lash doesn't come off to best advantage in this movie. He looks downright silly running around with a bullwhip in his hand, chasing down bad guys with guns! No matter how much noise he makes, he always seems to be able to sneak up on the bad guys before they can accurately fire their guns. I like Fuzzy's character, because he provides some comedy without being too moronic, & he does have credibility as a western character (he can ride & shoot well). If you'd like to see Lash in a better film, try "In Old Wyoming," a film he "stole" from its star (Eddie Dean). Lash is much more enjoyable there, also playing the Cheyenne Kid.

Whip it good

[frank4122 · 10/10 · 5 March 2021]

La Rue tells Fuzzy St. John, "Your letters always start the same way, 6 plugs of chewin tobacco." In this one, a henchman gets a major role for a change as Lee Roberts plays Henchman Lefty. Roberts makes the best of it as the outlaw caught between La Rue and his boss Jack 'Blackjack' O'Shea. Mary Scott is the fetching leading lady standing up to Lefty which causes the first fisticuff with La Rue. Sheriff Rand (Charles King) is hot on the trail of the Decker gang and has an opening when Lefty exposes some key evidence at Dad Hilton's (John Elliot) store. Some great fight scenes with La Rue whipping things up as usual and a great 'telegaram' scene where Fuzzy tries to connect the wires with his tongue. Plenty of action, laughs and a good storyline with a wonderful cast.

Inferior Western B-Movie

[zardoz-13 · 21 July 2011]

This routine Poverty Row outlaw western with Lash LaRue as an undercover lawman working to flush out a gang of stagecoach robbers does nothing new. Basically, the evil Decker gang hold up a stagecoach and one of the outlaws, Lefty, takes some rings and other jewelry from a woman passenger. Our hero runs afoul of this scoundrel at the General Store when he tries to buy ammo for his six-gun. He spots the rings and cameo and targets Lefty. Lefty decides that he cannot run the risk of letting the stranger in black live, so he tries to kill him. Cheyenne wields his whip at 26 minutes into this trim 53-minute oater and brings in Lefty. Cheyenne sidekick Fuzzy stands guard over him and later Cheyenne relieves him so Fuzzy can take Lefty's horse into the town of Tecemula where the outlaws have ridden roughshod over the town. The storekeeper closes down shop but later returns. Cheyenne and Fuzzy round up the gang and the chief adversary makes a break for it. Cheyenne wields his trusty bull whip and knocks the gun out of Decker's fist. There are no surprises in this thoroughly uninspired oater. Only hardcore Lash Larue fans will find "The Law of the Lash" tolerable fare. Fuzzy St. John is the best thing about this inferior sagebrusher.