Amazon.com Review: Burt Lancaster is excellent as the title character, a pitiless, unbending marshal out to arrest seven cowhands who left a dead man in the wake of a drunken tear, in this stoic, modern take on a classic Western theme. He confronts a rancher baron, trigger-happy gunmen, and the cowardly hypocrites of a frontier town: the usual bunch of Old West types sculpted into intriguing character by a crack cast. Robert Ryan brings a sad dignity to his former gunfighter tamed into a meek town marshal, and Lee J. Cobb is introspective and thoughtful as the aging cattleman weary of his life of violence: "It took guns to take this land, guns to keep it, and guns to make it grow.... Each time we bury the cost." Robert Duvall, Albert Salmi, and a young Richard Jordan (as an idealistic cowpoke whose sense of honor gets a workout in the complex conflicts) also star.
The first American feature by British director Michael Winner (who went on to make numerous tough Charles Bronson pictures, including the first three Death Wish movies) is lean and tough, with a streak of "passing of an era" melancholia, but surprisingly old-fashioned. The hard-edged, unsentimental violence, arid, austere look of the picture, and distracting overuse of zoom shots mark it as an unmistakable product of the early 1970s, but it's not so much cynical as sorrowful in its clash of ideals, and never less than clear-eyed in the presentation of harsh frontier realities. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Among his Best!
These oldies were really packed with action for those days so you can't really compare to Rambo,DieHard,Bourne Ultimatum et al, but they're still fun to watch.
Rating: - You buy the man above him
A wonderful, thinking man's, neo-traditional Western. Burt excels as the lawdog made of granite. He doesn't bend, he doesn't trade. He wavers for a brief moment, but the inexorable workings of the patterns of his life pull him back into line. The flickers that pass over his tired face are a masterful demonstration of cinema acting. Beautiful, intricate script to chew on. It's stuffed with strong dialogue, full of meat. Superb, relentless pacing. Stunning shoot-outs. Like a game of chess, there are rules. But it doesn't matter how good you are; you've got to have the killer instinct if you're going ... Read More
Rating: - A great Western but a criminal DVD transfer
If nothing else, Lawman proves that there is such a thing as a script so good that not even Michael Winner could screw it up, although having an excellent cast doesn't hurt. Burt Lancaster is the lawman of the title, determined to bring in several cattlemen (Robert Duvall among them) only to find that the local boss Lee J. Cobb owns the town and its once famous, now cowardly world-weary sheriff Robert Ryan, who all but steals the film. Curiously, Ryan far preferred this film to The Wild Bunch, though that may be down to Winner's deference to his stars compared with the thoroughly miserable time he had ... Read More
Rating: - The other side of the showdown...
Michael Winner's "The Lawman" reveals that a sheriff - traditional officer responsible for law and order, symbol of virtue and right - is 'not' always morally excellent and virtuous or that his prey thoroughly bad...
Burt Lancaster is cast as a merciless avenger, unmoved by love or pity, determined to one end: Exterminate the opposition...
The criminals here are, in fact, some law breakers, drunken cowboys - who by bad luck - have killed an old man during a rough enthusiastic drinking bout...
Lancaster - blind to his faults, unwilling to judge or to be less severe, ... Read More
Rating: - Lawman Remake
The original release of this film starring Burt Lancaster as the relentless alpha male and Sheree North as his attractive erstwhile lover contained an explicit bedroom scene which revealed more of the latter's earthy charms than seen in the recent remake. While the latter shows better on the screen--the original film is rough and worn through aging--the deleting of such racy images detracts from the film maker's artistic intent. Perhaps the new edition's editors expect to gain a broader audience by not offending puritancal tastes, but for me it's a disappointment. Specially since it's the only film I've ... Read More
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