A Lawless Street (1955)

Director:

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers:

Kenneth Gamet (screenplay)
Brad Ward (story)

Release Date:

15 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A Marshal must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.

Plot Keywords:

U.S. Marshal | Violence | Lawman | Horse | Spurs

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Marshal Calem Ware
Angela Lansbury	...	Tally Dickenson
Warner Anderson	...	Hamer Thorne
Jean Parker	...	Cora Dean
Wallace Ford	...	Dr. Amos Wynn
John Emery	...	Cody Clark
James Bell	...	Asaph Dean
Ruth Donnelly	...	Molly Higgins
Michael Pate	...	Harley Baskam
Don Megowan	...	Dooley Brion
Jeanette Nolan	...	Mrs. Dingo Brion
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Victor Adamson	...	Saloon Waiter (uncredited)
Harry Antrim	...	Mayor Kent (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	Rancher (uncredited)
Barry Brooks	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Bob Burns	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Don Carlos	...	Juan Tobrez (uncredited)
John L. Cason	...	Dean Ranch Hand (uncredited)
Edwin Chandler	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
G. Pat Collins	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Hal K. Dawson	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
George DeNormand	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Frank Ferguson	...	Abe Deland (uncredited)
Duke Fishman	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Leonard P. Geer	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Augie Gomez	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Dingo Brion (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Spectator in Opera Box (uncredited)
Reed Howes	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Jack Kenny	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Jay Lawrence	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Kermit Maynard	...	Townsman at Stage Coach (uncredited)
Philo McCullough	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Fight Spectator (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Townsman in Front Row (uncredited)
Artie Ortego	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Peter Ortiz	...	Hiram Hayes (uncredited)
Jack Parker	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Jack Perrin	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Jerry Schumacher	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Guy Teague	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Jack Tornek	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Tony Cabillo - Barber (uncredited)
Wally West	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Charles Williams	...	Mr. Willis (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph H. Lewis

Writing credits
Kenneth Gamet		(screenplay)
Brad Ward		(story)

Produced by
Harry Joe Brown	....	producer
Randolph Scott	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Paul Sawtell

Cinematography by
Ray Rennahan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Gene Havlick

Art Direction by
George Brooks

Set Decoration by
Frank Tuttle

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Abby Singer	....	assistant director (as Abner E. Singer)

Sound Department
Frank Goodwin	....	sound
John P. Livadary	....	recording supervisor (as John Livadary)
John P. Livadary	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Stunts
George DeNormand	....	stunts (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)
Mike Lally	....	stunts (uncredited)
Guy Teague	....	stunt double: Randolph Scott (uncredited)
Wally West	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Paul Sawtell	....	conductor

Other crew
Jerry Antes	....	choreographer
David Breen	....	assistant to producer
Henri Jaffa	....	technicolor color consultant

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)
• Producers Artists (uncredited)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films (1955) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films (1955) (Belize) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film Aktiebolag (1955) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film Aktieselskap (1955) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• Kamera Film Aktieselskap (1955) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Consorzio Cinematografico (1955) (India) (theatrical)
• Christiaan van der Ree (1955) (Venezuela) (theatrical)
• Medal Fim Exchange (1955) (Puerto Rico) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Proprietary (1955) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1956) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Comet Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Comet Video (2007) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Marshal of Medicine Bend" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 (nf) | Spain:T | UK:U (original rating) (passed with cuts) | USA:Approved (certificate #17621) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

French Ranch, Hidden Valley Road, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: When bad guy Harley Baskam is preparing to face the marshal for the second time, from a rear view he has on both gloves, when the camera cut to his front, one glove is off his right hand.

Quotes:

Marshal Calem Ware:Men, Cody Clark is buying drinks. He won all bets.
Cody Clark:That's right. Drinks are on the house...and everybody is welcomed!
Marshal Calem Ware:You can also take up a collection for burying Dingo. Add this
[money]
Marshal Calem Ware:to it.
Cody Clark:That's right nice of you Calem. Funny how a man softens to another when once he's killed him.
Marshal Calem Ware:I don't know about that. I'd do as much if it were your funeral.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (1993)

More Routine than Anything Else

The story is simplicity itself. Scott is the marshall keeping the town (referred to several times as a wild beast) peaceful despite the efforts of two corrupt businessmen to take it over and run it on their terms. They hire a gunman (Pate) to come in and knock off Scott. At about the same time Scott's showgirl wife (Lansbury) shows up. They've separated because she doesn't want him using guns to earn a living. Or something like that. (Where have we seen this before?) Pate shoots Scott, who recovers later and shoots Pate. The businessmen are subdued by the rest of the townspeople who have come to their senses and acquired ethics. Scott hands over his badge because the beast has been tamed and the town no longer needs his kind of marshall. He rides off into the sunset with his wife and a carriage full of luggage and mulligan stew. The end.

Angela Lansbury is a first-rate actress. She wows the audience in pieces as different as "The Manchurian Candidate," "Death on the Nile," and "Sweeney Todd" on Broadway. But she's given practically nothing to do here. Warner Anderson's acting is flat and matter-of-fact but he's okay. The other villainous businessmen are less than interesting, which is too bad because movies like this depend as much on the character of their heavies as they do on the star. Wally Ford is in the Thomas Mitchell/ Edgar Buchanan part. The movie's score blossoms during the overture to Lansbury's stage appearance. Elsewhere the score is overblown and sounds hastily assembled with comic notes where none are called for.

The second half of the movie deteriorates. I cannot imagine why the rich ranchers and the rest of the townspeople (the wild beasts) have a sudden and entirely unmotivated change of heart and rally to Scott's side. Also, Scott gets to beat hell out of a human being the size of Man Mountain Dean, without using a gun. The two men have a lengthy and brutal fistfight and wind up with their shirts torn to shreds but not a drop of blood is spilled. But the first third of the movie gives Scott some scenes and dialogue that are outstanding for him, considering his usual persona. He shoots a man in self defense and is, if not ashamed of having done it, at least remorseful. The victim's widow has some sensible and believable lines too, and not favorable to Scott. Scott doesn't go on about his sadness -- he never goes on about anything. But we can sense the writers and the director giving him a chance to play something more than a heroic marble statue. It would have been nice had the rest of the movie been so played.