Lawman (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Lawman |
| Original title | Lawman |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1971 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Michael Winner |
| script | Gerry Wilson |
| production | Michael Winner |
| music | Jerry Fielding |
| camera | Robert Paynter |
| cut | Frederick Wilson |
| occupation | |
| |
Lawman is an American feature film by Michael Winner from the year 1971 . The western filmed in Durango, Mexico, was the British director's only moderately successful Hollywood debut.
action
The coworkers and friends of the powerful cattle baron Vincent Bronson (Cobb) hold a binge drinking in the neighboring commune of Bannock; when they are forced to leave, they unintentionally kill an old man by their wild shooting. The city's marshal, Jered Maddox (Lancaster) then pursues the suspects with the aim of bringing them to justice. On the way to Sabbath, the home of the wanted, he has to kill the cowboy Marc Corman ( Wilford Brimley ); he brings the body to the marshal (Ryan) there and expects the other suspects - Harvey Stenbaugh (Salmi), Vernon Adams (Duvall), Choctaw Lee ( William Watson ), Jack Dekker (Waite) and Hurd Price (Cannon) - put voluntarily. Quite a ludicrous request, since all of these men work more or less directly for Bronson. Marshal Ryan also fears a conflict, but initially tries to mediate.
After Ryan's visit to the ranch, the men discuss what to do. While most of the people asked want to follow the boss's advice, Bronson's foreman Stenbaugh doesn't want to do a lot of reading with the foreign marshal and kill him; after all, it was just a mistake in Bannock. Bronson is in the knowledge that something like this can cause much more trouble, against the idea and prefers to argue with money: compensation for the victim's relatives and, if necessary, an offer to bribe Maddox. Of course, he has other things in mind and also swarms ex-lover Laura Shelby (North) in his hotel room, who, after brief flattery, begs for mercy for her current husband Price. Stenbaugh is sent to the city with the young Crowe Wheelwright (Jordan) to investigate the situation and initially yells at Ryan for not doing anything against Maddox; then he challenges the marshal from Bannock on the street - the revolver duel ends fatally for him.
A number of city notables, led by shopkeeper Luther Harris ( Walter Brooke ), want to force Maddox to leave the city immediately, fearing escalation of violence; The latter remains unaffected by the suggestion made as a threat, but a little later escapes an attack, committed from a window of the local brothel, whose owner Lucas ( Joseph Wiseman ) is an old friend of Maddox. The two marshals, cooperating for the first time, arrest the shooter Dekker, but then Ryan joins the whining about Maddox's presence again. He stays calm and rides out of town the following day, followed by Crowe, who wants to assert his absence in Bannock. On his further ride, the law enforcement officer is spotted by Price and Adams who want to flee; an attempted murder fails, and Maddox instead wounds Adams, whom he then takes to Laura's ranch dwelling. The following night she tries to renew her old love; if he gave up the Tin Star post, she would even follow him to Bannock.
The next day he turns Adams over to the Marshal of Sabbath and, to everyone's surprise, announces that he is leaving the city. But then he did the math without Bronson, who after the funeral of Stenbaugh himself only thought of revenge and arrives at Sabbath that same morning with his remaining followers. They too look a bit puzzled when Maddox stows away the rifle, mounts his horse and wants to ride on towards Laura, who is waiting at the end of "main street". The still not too reassuring Harris wants to use a short stop of the marshal to be eliminated from the ambush, but Lucas has observed this and shoots the evil businessman. In the moment of confusion, Choctaw Lee sees himself at an advantage, but his attempt at killing also fails. Then Bronson's son Jason (Beck) pulls the revolver, and he too ends up dead in the dust. After Maddox kills Price, old Bronson sits down next to his dead junior and shoots himself out of desperation. Then Maddox rides away ...
criticism
"The film was directed by Michael Winner, a British director of mediocre talent but consistent style (...) What we're left with is a Western with a lot of sides but no center."
"Not uninteresting westerns that stand out from the average both cinematically and thematically."
Web links
- Lawman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Lawman in the online film database
- Lawman at TCM (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Lawman. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .