Le territoire sans loi

One of the other reviewers was right--this film was horribly edited--as if by a blind guy on crack! I assume this was NOT how the film was originally released--as even for a low-budget B-movie it was pretty shabby. In addition, some knuckle-heads at Fox-Lorber decided to 'improve' this public domain film by adding a new musical track--a musical track that was just god-awful. The instruments are new and very electronic, the music was used indiscriminately (and often inappropriately) and it was the exact same track used in many John Wayne B-westerns--exactly the same! It was just dreadful but you can't blame the people at Lone Star Pictures who made the film.

"The Lawless Frontier" was a below average Wayne outing--mostly due to the terribly dumb Sheriff--no one can be that dumb or incompetent! An outlaw named Zanti is posing as a Mexican--why, I have no idea. The main problem with catching him is that the local Sheriff is an idiot and seems to have no desire to do anything. Naturally, Wayne will save the day.

The only pluses for this film are the wonderful stunts--even better than you'd normally see in these Wayne B-films. A few of the stunts were just stunning and you have to see them to believe them. But, a dumb villain and Sheriff, a stabbing that somehow leaves Gabby feeling a-o.k. and some choppy elements to the film make this very tough to watch. If you do want to see it, download it from IMDb for free--it's much better than seeing the yecchy version by Fox-Lorber shown on the Encore Channel.

You have to be a diehard John Wayne fan to watch some of these lonestar productions he did early in his career. Some are actually pretty good and others not so much.

In this one it's difficult to tell what's going on most of the time and it's laugh out loud funny as they keep riding back and forth on their horses about the last 15 minutes of the film. Twice would have been suffice but it felt like they cut back and forth to them riding on their horses about a million times (which they do a lot in Wayne's Lonestar production films, but it seems the most in this one)

John Wayne and Gabby Hayes team up to take on bandit and (for some unexplained reason) fake Mexican, Pandro Zanti. What a name. Anyway, Wayne is out for revenge because Zanti killed his parents in the film's opening scene. Gabby Hayes also has a pretty daughter, played by Sheila Terry. Zanti's eyes bulge out when he first sees her so you can assume what that means. Hayes and Terry live in a ramshackle old place yet they manage to have a secret passageway behind a cabinet. There's also a deeply stupid sheriff to complicate things for our hero. Pretty corny stuff, for the most part. As with most of the B westerns Wayne did for Lone Star around this time, the highlight is the stuntwork of Yakima Canutt. Animal lovers prepare yourselves there's some rough-looking stunts for the horses in this one.

The most die-hard worshippers of John Wayne will cringe when they watch The Lawless Frontier. Even for a poverty row studio, this one is one stinkeroo.

Unusual for a western we have a criminal who is a sex crime perpetrator. Earl Dwire plays a halfbreed white and Indian who for reasons that are not explained, pretends he's a Mexican, hokey accent and all. Dwire sounds like the Frito Bandito of advertising fame back in the day.

He and his gang happen upon Gabby Hayes and his daughter Sheila Terry. They really don't have anything worth robbing, but Dwire just wants an excuse to kidnap Terry and have his way with her. She hears the dastardly fate she has in store and she and Hayes flee the ranch.

Where they happen to meet John Wayne who's on the trail of the bandits. They also run into one very stupid sheriff who believes Wayne is one of the bandits. Again for reasons I can't quite fathom.

It was a tough way to earn a living grinding out horse operas like these for the Duke. Fortunately better things were on the way.

John's parents are killed by a renegade bandit, played to the hilt by perennial bad guy, Earl Dwire. Dwire injures Hayes, who joins with John to bring him and his gang to justice.

The local sheriff, Jack Rockwell, is convinced that John's one of the gang, and when Hayes is shot, arrests John for the shooting.

There are the usual chases, gun battles, and fights that hallmark these "B" Westerns. There is one extended walking scene where you can see the Duke perfecting his special walk that became a trademark.

An excellent stunt has John riding a log down a large drainage ditch. Pretty amazing, and not without danger to the actor.

Beware though, the DVD copy looks as if they took the print from an Extended Play (EP) VHS copy. Very disappointing, but, a classic from John Wayne.