Review of Lawman

Another Burt Lancaster Western where he puts in a good performance in a movie that largely misses the mark.

Here's what I liked:

• Very nice use of ambiguity about who are really the good guys and the bad guys. In 1971, this qualifies the movie as a "Vietnam" Western, although this is very oblique reference.

• Great performance by Lancaster at his minimalist best.

• Very good supporting cast with Robert Ryan, Robert Duval, Lee J. Cobb, Joseph Wiseman and Sheree North. However, only Ryan and North have really good roles.

• Well done additional supporting roles by a variety of "bad guy" henchmen.

• It's difficult to weave Indian themes into "town" and "cattle baron" Westerns. This movie accomplished this deftly by having characters pass by an Indian burial and a later a couple of Indian traders. Nice touch.

• Same issue with landscape with movies of this Western sub-genre. Winner managed to get the story out into some very nice scenery. Good job.

Now here's what dragged the movie down:

• The basic theme of "the law is the law no matter what" was easy enough to grasp, yet the movie kept beating us over the head with over and over. The movie was too long to support the theme.

• Then, in the final minute, chaos breaks out as several surprise plot developments turn the theme on its head. Some seem to find this profound. I found it confusing and annoying.

• Especially shooting the coward in the back. This was a non-sequitur that undermined the entire movie.

• No comic relief. Relentlessly grim throughout. Too violent.