Law of the Lawless

A judge rides into a Kansas town (Dale Robertson) to arbitrate a murder trial involving the son of the formidable mogul (John Agar and Barton MacLane). Yvonne De Carlo plays a saloon girl, Lon Chaney Jr. A friend of the accused and Bruce Cabot a hired gun.

"Law of the Lawless" (1964) is an A. C. Lyles Western, who produced over a dozen 'second-feature' Westerns in the mid-60s, which all featured former A-list actors and were shot in 10-14 days. The teams Lyles gathered together for his productions always knew what they were doing and did it competently and efficiently.

As such, there's little artistic merit to this Western, but it effectively gets the job done if you're in the mode for traditional town-bound Western. De Carlo was certainly a beauty and this was her last film before focusing on The Munsters for the next few years.

The movie runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot at Iverson Ranch & Paramount Studios, Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-/C+

Producer A.C. Lyles is chiefly remembered today for the series of 13 B-Westerns done for Paramount from late 1963-late 1967. A former publicist for the studio, Lyles knew many of Hollywood's greatest stars, and got his start as a film producer after James Cagney agreed to direct 1957's "Short Cut to Hell." In 1963, he began a series of Westerns generally shot in 10-14 days, often back to back then issued months apart, with "Law of the Lawless," successful enough as a second feature to spawn a dozen more. Like all those that followed, the veteran cast provides the greatest interest, in both major and minor roles, a spate of stories where the good guys win out over the bad in the end, no longer viable by the next decade, the nihilistic 70s. "Law of the Lawless" makes for a decent start, with Dale Robertson (TALES OF WELLS FARGO) as Judge Clem Rogers, whose latest assignment in Stone Junction Kansas has him deciding the fate of old friend Pete Stone (John Agar), whose father Big Tom (Barton MacLane) wields great power among the townsfolk, and believes his son was involved in a fair shootout. The old pros were as happy to get the work as Lyles was to have them: still sexy Yvonne De Carlo as the saloon girl sweet on the judge, William Bendix as the wounded sheriff, Bruce Cabot as hired gunman Joe Rile, Richard Arlen as Bartender Ben, Kent Taylor as Pete's Kansas City defense attorney, Bill Williams as a wheelchair-bound witness to the alleged crime (the last half hour takes place in the courtroom). Special billing as 'Tiny' goes to veteran Western heavy Lon Chaney, in typical form as Pete Stone's main henchman, assaulting poor Yvonne as he tries to persuade her to implicate the high and mighty Judge in a seamy scandal; and just like his character in his earliest Lyles production, "Albuquerque" (Randolph Scott), never loses the cigarette dangling from his lips! Leonard Maltin disparagingly referred to the series in general as being only 'for buffs who want to play spot the star,' but they still endure in the 21st Century, even as the Old West recedes further into the past.

Nothing special in this dusty western, belonging to the AC Lyles prod, specialized in the early sixties in recycling old timers on retirement, or not far, such as Richard Arlen , Bill Bendix, Yvonne de Carlo, Dale Robertson, Bruce Cabot and many other actors and actresses concerning other features of this kind. For die hard western fans only. It is cheap, lousy, even directed by good directors, who are not convinced at all by those predictable stories. Bill Claxton, Lesley Selander, RG Sprinsteen, were the main directors for thiese productions. Close to retirement directors too. Here, i have no strength to tell this already seen topic; this film made me half sleep. The only good point is that this movie is probably the best of all A C Lyles productions, maybe because of also being the first; the others will be more action oriented and the quality will also decline. They try to put some psychology here, more than anywhere else in AC Lyles films for Paramount. An excellent anti climax ending, that justifies the seven stars for rating.

A.C. Lyles gets together a cast of Hollywood veterans for another of his low budget westerns which vary in quality though the veteran players are always giving it their best shot. This one doesn't quite come off mainly because of the near saintliness of the lead, Dale Robertson.

Dale should have been put in for beatification. He plays a former fast gun who still straps his iron on the left side as he did in television's Tales Of Wells Fargo, but who has now studied law and become a judge. In his courtroom the unwritten law about shootouts is not enforced, you get hung. An old pal played by John Agar is awaiting trial for just such a shootout where he provoked a young man into a gunfight. Agar is truly a rat and when you learn the circumstances of the gunfight, you'll agree he ought to be hung.

However Barton MacLane who is Agar's father doesn't see it that way. He tests Robertson in a variety of ways with saloon girl Yvonne DeCarlo, when young deputy Rod Lauren is killed, and finally with imported fast gun Bruce Cabot who happens to be the man who outdrew Robertson's father. Robertson emerges with his halo intact.

William Bendix is in the cast as well as both sheriff and prosecutor and Kent Taylor is Agar's attorney. Law Of The Lawless is tight and compact and if Robertson's character was a little more human, this could have been one of A.C. Lyles best senior citizen westerns.

This goes down as a unique and well crafted storyline. Hats off to legendary producer A.C. Lyles who brought together a wonderful cast. They were able to bring this story home.

Clem Rogers, known as "the Hanging Judge" was played by film and television great, Dale Robertson. He is asked to come to town to try Pete Stone for Murder. Now Pete (John Agar) is the son of "Big Tom Stone (Barton MacLane), who for the most part, owns the town.

Big Tom hires the man who killed the Judges father as a tool in his pocket. If he can get Judge Rogers to react and take revenge, he will be shown as nothing more then a hypocrite.

But that's not all Big Tom has in his pocket. He also plans to set the Judge up by discrediting him. He orders one of his men to beat up the girl Rogers has taken a liking to, (Ellie) played by the wonderful Yvonne De Carlo, and leave her unconscious, and half dressed in his Hotel room.

The in's and out's of the trial will leave you on the edge of your seat. This is a wonderful Western. I highly recommend it.