A lawman from Bannock arrives in Sabbath to arrest all the cattlemen whose wild celebration the year before resulted in the accidental death of an old man.
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Title: Lawman (1971)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Burt Lancaster | ... | ||
| Robert Ryan | ... | ||
| Lee J. Cobb | ... | ||
| Robert Duvall | ... | ||
| Sheree North | ... | ||
| Albert Salmi | ... | ||
| Richard Jordan | ... | ||
| John McGiver | ... | ||
| Ralph Waite | ... | ||
| John Beck | ... | ||
 |
William Watson | ... |
Choctaw Lee
(as William C. Watson)
|
|
|
Walter Brooke | ... | |
| Robert Emhardt | ... | ||
| Charles Tyner | ... | ||
| J.D. Cannon | ... | ||
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
While passing through the town of Bannock, a bunch of drunken, trail-weary cattlemen go overboard with their celebrating and accidentally kill an old man with a stray shot. They return home to Sabbath unaware of his death. Bannock lawman Jered Maddox later arrives there to arrest everyone involved on a charge of murder. Sabbath is run by land baron Vince Bronson, a benevolent despot, who, upon hearing of the death, offers restitution for the incident. Maddox, however, will not compromise even though small ranchers like Vern Adams are not in a position to desert their responsibilities for a long and protracted trial. Sabbath's marshal, Cotton Ryan, is an aging lawman whose tough reputation rests on a single incident that occurred years before. Ryan admits to being only a shadow of what he once was and incapable of stopping Maddox. Maddox confides to Ryan that Bannock's judicial system is weak and corrupt, and while he's doubtful that anyone he brings back will suffer more than the ... Written by duke1029@aol.com
Taglines:
He gave the West justice right up to its neck... then rammed more down its throat.Genres:
WesternParents Guide:
View content advisory »
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
4 August 1971 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
The Law Man See more »Box Office
Gross:
SEK 530,187 (Sweden)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Crowe Wheelwright: Yeah, well, I really am. And I aim to prove it, too.
Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan: It makes a great epitaph. You may be faster, Crowe. You may be better with a gun, but Maddox will kill you... and that's a fact. You'll be staring up at nothing before your gun ever got clear. I know what I'm talking about, Crowe. You may not rate me very high, but I know men like Maddox.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
In 1971, United Artists distributed this film on a double bill with The Organization (1971) starring Sidney Poitier. See more »Goofs
One of the characters uses the word "gunsel", a word generally acknowledged to have been coined by Dashiell Hammett in 1929. See more »Quotes
Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan: In every town Maddox has worked, the ground is full of men who were faster.Crowe Wheelwright: Yeah, well, I really am. And I aim to prove it, too.
Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan: It makes a great epitaph. You may be faster, Crowe. You may be better with a gun, but Maddox will kill you... and that's a fact. You'll be staring up at nothing before your gun ever got clear. I know what I'm talking about, Crowe. You may not rate me very high, but I know men like Maddox.
See more »
This movie stands out as one of the best of a subgenre that doesn't have a lot of great movies representing it. The Post-Western Westerns starting coming out in the mid-sixties until Westerns were hard to come by during the mid-seventies.
These "modern" westerns are distinguished by turning the "white hat good guy" and "black hat bad guy" on their ear. The good guys are not only not perfect, but ruefully flawed, and the bad guys are often people who made mistakes along the way and would not be a threat to society if they were left alone. Examples of other "modern" westerns are Unforgiven (The Clint Eastwood movie), Hang 'Em High (notice a pattern- another Eastwood movie), and Dances With Wolves.
Lancaster's Marshall Maddox is doing his job, but at this stage in his career, he is a walking, talking, killing machine who is ready to kill anyone who gets in his way, and some people who want very much to get out of his way. He is typical of the modern western. Where older westerns emphasized clear moral and ethical boundaries, modern westerns portray a world much less certain and easy to navigate. A world full of shadows and lots of gray ambiguities.
This is a perfect representation of how people felt in 1971. This is a very good film.