This western, "Lawman", features the theme that law, and its upholding, is the paramount virtue in a community. Burt Lancaster embodies that idea, and he has come to a small town called Sabbath to arrest and take back to his town a few of its upright citizens. It appears that these good men had come through his town of Bannock following a cattle drive, had gotten drunk, done some careless shooting in their celebration, and accidently killed an innocent bystander. Now, the law has come to take them back and have them stand trial. Of course, they're not willing to go peacefully, and Lancaster has to face a potential gun battle with each of them. Eventually, he comes to grips with this notion, tries to ride out, but his mission catches up with him in the dusty street of Sabbath.
The cast is a fairly good list of name players; Robert Ryan gives a good account as the marshal of Sabbath who wishes Lancaster to ease back, Lee J. Cobb heads the group of cattlemen that Lancaster is after, and he is ably backed up by Albert Salmi, Robert Duvall, and others. Richard Jordan appears as a hired hand of Cobb's ranch torn between his loyalty to his friends and what is right.
A tough film that makes very little effort to compromise western law.
The cast is a fairly good list of name players; Robert Ryan gives a good account as the marshal of Sabbath who wishes Lancaster to ease back, Lee J. Cobb heads the group of cattlemen that Lancaster is after, and he is ably backed up by Albert Salmi, Robert Duvall, and others. Richard Jordan appears as a hired hand of Cobb's ranch torn between his loyalty to his friends and what is right.
A tough film that makes very little effort to compromise western law.