Law of the Lawless

A passable Lyles Western that gently eases its ageing cast through an intriguing plot. Paramount producer A.C. Lyles made several westerns with well known Hollywood stars in support roles. As producer Lyles financed thirteen westerns movies made in the mid-Sixties, all of them realized in short budget and with similar tarnished stars of the 40s and 50s.It is just one of many second feature Westerns produced by A.C. Lyles at Paramount in the 1960's. These Westerns were of certain interest when they were shown at the local cinemas as they always had many veteran actors in supporting roles. For example take a look at the credits for "Law of the Lawles¨ and you will watch quite an impressive cast for a second feature western!!. It deals with Clem Rogers (Dale Robertson), known as" the Hanging Judge "has come to Stone Junction, Kansas in 1889 to preside over the murder trial of hothead Pete Stone (John Agar) who has been arrested for the murder of George Stapleton (Jody McCrea), son of town ruler" Big Tom "Stone (Barton McLane). Things are made more difficult and get worst when Rogers to be aware that Joe Rile (Bruce Cabot), the gunslinger who murdered his deaceased dad, is working for Stone and is wanting to kill him. Later on, a hoodlum called Tim (Lon Chaney Jr) leaves the unconscious, beaten and half-dressed Ellie Irish (Yvonne De Carlo) in his hotel room. On the day of the trial the town slowly fills with strangers and the criminal court is presided by Rogers (Dale Robertson), all in black and all hired to be filled the courtroom while the prosecutor is the sheriff/preacher Ed Tanner (William Bendix) and the tough defender is the expert lawyer Rand McDonald (Kent Taylor). Along the way, Ellie Irish (Yvonne De Carlo) is proposed as a witness but she is discredited for his job as a Saloon girl. Stone Senior (Barton McLane) tells that everyone is related to Rogers has been hanged and defies Rogers to send his son to the gallows. The" Hanging Judge "had come to the moment of decision!

This is a pleasantly average actioner, but an acceptable Western with thrills, shootouts, typical scenes in the coutroom and violent confrontation near a hardware that is the highlight of the movie when the starring is attacked and taking place violent deaths. The film is well scripted - indeed this is the best screenplay of all Lyle's Westerns - and imaginatively directed by William F. Claxton, especially at the climax developed at the filled courtroom. It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters and decent plot. This short runtime tale is almost ordinary, a judge comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get awry. Although made in low budget by the producer A.C. Lyles, it has its good moments here and there. The highlight has to be the fight between Dale Robertson, and deputy Rod Lauren against nasty bounty hunters and one of them is killed in cold blood.

Medium/low budget film produced by Lyles, a former publicist, who became a producer of Paramount B-westerns starring ageing Hollywood actors. Lyles produced a lot of Western in short or average budget such as ¨Black spurs¨(1965), ¨Apache uprising¨(1966); ¨Johnny Reno¨, ¨Waco¨, ¨Red Tomahawk ¨and ¨Hostile guns¨(67), among others; many of them directed by R.G. Springsteen or Lesley Selander or William F Claxton. He was even awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California for his Westerns. As during the 1960s, he produced over a dozen low-budget Westerns starring former A-list actors including Dana Andrews and mature actresses, being usually played by the always sex-pot Jane Russell and Yvonne de Carlo as veteran Saloon women in their Forties. Of interest for star-watching only, as here shows up known secondaries in fact I always used to sit up and pay attention when the words "An A.C. Lyles Production" came up on the TV screen, this time with the appearance the following old glories: Yvonne De Carlo, William Bendix, Lon Chaney Jr., Bruce Cabot, Barton MacLane, John Agar, Kent Taylor, Bill Williams, Richard Arlen, among others.

It contains a lousy cinematography in Techniscope by Lester Shorr and atmospheric musical score by Paul Dunlap. This horse opera was realized in low-budget by producer A.C. Lyles and distributed by Paramount Pictures and was middlingly directed by William F. Claxton. This filmmaker made several Westerns since the forties as Cinema as Television. He realized B Westerns as Stagecoach to Fury, The quiet gun, Tucson, Stagecoach to Thunder Rock, Young Jesse James and various Western TV series as Tales of Wells Fargo, The High Chaparral, Gunsmoke, Rifle man, Law of the Plainsman, Yancy Derringer, Bonanza, Rawhide, Black Saddle, among others. Rating: 6/10.