Angel of Death: Lawman

“A man has to be what he is. You can’t break the mold.” Shane

This review is dedicated to Stephen_Murray, my fellow film reviewer, who seems to like action films as much as I do.

Burt Lancaster plays a single-minded Lawman who is just a bit less user-friendly than Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti phase “Man With No Name” in this 1970 western by Michael Winner.

The prologue shows a herd of cowpokes on a drunken spree shooting out the windows of a town we later learn is called “Bannock.” The trail boss comes outside and they mount up and hightail it out of town. The camera shows what the cowboys didn’t see: a stray bullet has killed a townsman. Over the credits we see a lean, hard man wearing a tin star and leading a pack horse as he rides through the territory. As he reaches his destination, the town of “Sabbath,” we realize that the pack horse is carrying a dead man, belly down over the saddle. The lawman ties his horses and removes his few possessions. He enters the sheriff’s office as the townsfolk swarm like flies to gape at the corpse. It is one of their own…

The lawman produces a list of names and tells the sheriff he wants them in by noon tomorrow, ready to travel to Bannock. The sheriff, a whipped dog of a man named Cotton Ryan (Robert Ryan), tells him, “Bronson owns this town. Those men stand in his shadow.” The lawman says, “Those men go back with me or I’ll kill them where they stand.” The dust on the lawman’s face makes his blue eyes all the more piercing. The next few days show how the different men react when they find they are on the lawman’s list.

Burt Lancaster is the Lawman, Jared Maddox, of the title. Those familiar with Burt’s work will find it an interesting performance for an actor who made a career out of trying challenging characters in addition to the normal swashbuckling parts Hollywood tried to confine him to. Burt’s physical presence, poise, and confidence ring all too true as “a man that doesn’t bend and doesn’t trade.” His cold, businesslike performance as the man men call “The Widowmaker” puts the viewer off, however Burt has the skill to put a human face on the character by the time the final act plays out.

In addition to Lancaster, Lawman has a superb ensemble cast, including Robert Ryan (The Wild Bunch), Robert Duvall (True Grit, The Godfather), Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, The Brothers Karamazov, The Exorcist), Sheree North (The Shootist), Ralph Waite (Cool Hand Luke, Cliffhanger), Richard Jordan (Valdez is Coming, The Yakuza), J. D. Cannon (Cool Hand Luke, Scorpio), and Joseph Wiseman (Detective Story, The Prodigal). Familiar TV faces include Albert Salmi, John McGiver, and John Beck. All the cast members fit their roles to a T, however Lancaster dominates the screen whenever he appears, showing he is a star among stars.

Like several of Lancaster’s later westerns (Valdez is Coming, Ulzana’s Raid) Lawman has a well thought out story and an ironic ending. This screenplay is by Gerald Wilson, who also has credits for Scorpio and Chato’s Land.

Lawman was directed by Michael Winner (Scorpio, The Mechanic, Death Wish) who Stephen_Murray said in one of his reviews had an underdeveloped (or absent) visual sense. While I think this view has some basis, I still enjoyed the film despite Winner’s abbreviated directorial style. Most of the scenes have a few cuts and probably the fanciest move Winner uses is a quick zoom. Nonetheless, the storytelling is all there as repeated viewings reveal details missed earlier.

Sets and props are quite authentic compared to the old white hat/black hat westerns and Lawman has the enhanced level of violence familiar to viewers since The Wild Bunch broke the barriers to on-screen bloodletting. In addition, if you listen carefully, you will be treated to some of the best dialog I've heard in a western movie.

As icing on the cake, a superb Jerry Fielding score (The Wild Bunch, The Killer Elite, The Enforcer) accompanies the action.

The MGM DVD is presented in 1.85 :1 letterboxed format and, as is typical of MGM’s meager packaging, includes the theatrical trailer and two foreign language options as its sole extras. Fans of the many actors or a good western will want to see Lawman.

Good films that are similar to Lawman include Hang Em High, Valdez is Coming, and Ulzana's Raid.

Happy Viewing!