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Lawman
Movie poster
Directed by	Michael Winner
Produced by	Michael Winner
Written by	Gerald Wilson
Starring	Burt Lancaster Robert Ryan Lee J. Cobb Robert Duvall
Music by	Jerry Fielding
Cinematography	Robert Paynter
Editing by	Frederick Wilson
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	March 11, 1971
Running time	99 mins
Country	United States
Language	English language
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Lawman is a 1971 western movie with Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb, and Robert Duvall. The film is about the quest of a lone lawman, marshal Jered Maddox played by Burt Lancaster, to bring five men to justice and was written by Gerald Wilson and directed by Michael Winner. Its main characteristic is that the hero appears flawed and the motives and purpose of the other characters are not as defined or clear-cut as in other westerns such as the Good the Bad and the Ugly and even earlier American ones that preceded it. The suspects' crime is not as heinous as in other westerns and their credentials as villains not as certain. Even the town's strongman Vincent Bronson, played by Lee J. Cobb, is portrayed as an eager negotiator trying to avoid bloodshed at every turn. Despite all these factors the marshal and the guilty men come to a series of deadly confrontations that claim many lives. The lawman is portrayed, as the plot progresses, as having increasing doubts about his mission and being disillusioned about his job. In the end, Burt Lancaster's Maddox becomes an anti-hero troubled by his demons, quite unlike the self-assured Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name. The atmosphere of the film captures the questioning of authority and self-doubt of the 70s.

Contents 1 Tagline 2 Synopsis 3 Trivia 4 Cast 5 Release dates 6 Alternative titles 7 External links

He gave the West justice right up to its neck...then rammed more down its throat.

The film starts with the classic scene, common to many westerns, of cowboys in a drunken state riding all over town and wreaking havoc. The rowdies are from the town of Sabbath and they are visiting the town of Bannock for some recreation that went out of hand. A few months later, Jered Maddox, Bannock's Marshall, played by Burt Lancaster is coming to Sabbath and he is not alone. He also brings along the body of Marc Corman, a resident of Sabbath and one of the unruly cowhands during the recent drunken spree in Bannock, carrying it on the back of a horse; a crude but effective reminder to all that the law is finally coming for a payback visit. It turns out that Marc Corman along with five others were involved in the accidental killing of an old man during their visit to Bannock and Maddox is looking for them. The remaining five are Vernon Adams, Choctaw Lee, Jack Dekker, Harvey Stenbaugh and Hurd Price, all hired hands at Vincent Bronson's ranch. Vincent Bronson is the local strongman who happens to own most of the town.

Jered Maddox follows proper law and order protocol and visits Sabbath's sheriff Cotton Ryan played by Robert Ryan and promptly demands that the five surrender to him within twenty four hours. Ryan is a sheriff whose career had seen better days and he tries to reason with Maddox to avoid a confrontation with Bronson. Maddox, however, insists on his harsh terms despite acknowledging that the suspects are likely to get light sentences due to the accidental nature of their crime and the fact that the justice system of Bannock is compromised and can easily be influenced by bribes, resulting in even lighter sentences for the accused. Ryan, not having the strength to argue further with the marshal, goes to Bronson's ranch to inform him about Maddox's demands.

When Ryan arrives at Bronson's ranch and informs him about the situation, Bronson, unaware about the killing in Bannock up to that point, tries to negotiate with Maddox by offering compensation to the victim's family and even to Maddox. Ryan, however, tells Bronson that Maddox will not agree to anything other than an unconditional surrender of all suspects. One of the suspects, Stenbaugh, played by Albert Salmi, who is also Bronson's foreman wants some action and tries to persuade Bronson to try and kill Maddox. Despite his violent past Bronson, played by veteran actor Lee J. Cobb, is now tired of death and violence and refuses Stenbaugh's suggestion, insisting on further negotiations.

Meanwhile back in Sabbath, Laura Selby, played by Sheree North, one of Maddox's romantic interests of the past, tries to negotiate on behalf of Price, one of the suspects, played by J. D. Cannon, who also happens to be her husband. Maddox is unmoved, despite Laura's pleas for mercy. At the same time Bronson seeing Maddox's intransigence gives up hopes of negotiating with him and suggests to the five that surrender is the only option under the circumstances. Adams, played by Robert Duvall, refuses to surrender claiming that he would go bankrupt if arrested. Retired gunfighter Choctaw, played by William C. Watson is used to fighting and offers to join forces with Stenbaugh to try to kill Maddox, while Price seems undecided. In the face of such opposition Bronson offers to compensate his men for any financial losses while at the same time trying to negotiate with Maddox some form of agreement other than total surrender. Following up on his plan Bronson sends Stenbaugh and young Crowe Wheelwright, played by Richard Jordan in his film debut, to check on Maddox. Despite Bronson's best advice to his men about avoiding confrontation, Stenbaugh draws Maddox out of the hotel and in a shootout he gets killed although he drew his gun first. Young Crowe decides not to further confront Maddox after a brief discussion with him.

Back at the ranch, Bronson upon hearing of Stenbaugh's death, grieves and is comforted by his son Jason, played by John Beck. Maddox remains at the hotel, where his breakfast is interrupted by local businessman Luther Harris, played by Walter Brooke, leading a delegation of concerned citizens armed with shotguns trying to inform him that his attitude is creating a lot of problems for them and that he had better leave town as soon as possible. Not a man to be intimidated by a group of unskilled gunmen Maddox browbeats them and they quickly flee the hotel. Maddox then leaves the hotel in search of sheriff Ryan but is confronted again by Crowe. Maddox again persuades Crowe not to pursue the confrontation any further only to be shot at by another gunman hiding at the local cabaret. It turns out that Dekker, played by Ralph Waite, one of the five original suspects, was the shooter. Maddox arrests Dekker with the aid of Lucas, the cabaret owner played by Joseph Wiseman, and sends him to jail to be supervised by Ryan. Ryan nonetheless also advises Maddox to leave town as the violence seems to be spiralling out of control. Maddox reiterates his position that a lawman never compromises and that he has a code of honor which prevents him from drawing first in a gunfight. He then sets forth to round up the rest of the suspects.

Price tries to escape Maddox by leaving town. Around the same time young Crowe meets with Maddox and has a conversation with him trying to explain his motives and assures him that he did not set him up in the shooting incident with Dekker. In a revealing moment, during the conversation, Maddox betrays his disillusionment with his job and admits to Crowe that in the final analysis even lawmen are nothing more than killers. Price, while fleeing from his home, joins Adams and they both ride to Bronson's ranch. On the way there they spot Maddox and Adams opens fire but Maddox escapes unharmed. In the ensuing gunfight Maddox shoots and injures Adams while Price escapes. The marshal then captures Adams and takes him to Laura's home where she informs him that Price is going to Bronson's. After helping Laura treat the injured Adams, Maddox restrains him and has a discussion with Laura about their past. During a romantic interlude together they discover that they still care for each other but Maddox shows his hard edge by refusing to compromise on his mission. However this exchange with Laura had some effect on him because he asks her to come with him, betraying for the first time some genuine human emotion. She offers to do so under the condition that he resigns as Marshall. He leaves without giving her an answer. In turn she follows him to the town from afar.

As Maddox rides to town with Adams he surrenders him to sheriff Ryan and announces that his mission is ended and that he intends to leave town to start a new life. However Bronson and his posse, including Price, come looking for Maddox without realising he is a changed man. Bronson and his men are surprised when they realise Maddox is leaving town and don't act immediately. When businessman Harris, who was waiting on the sidelines, opens fire at Maddox, Lucas, the cabaret owner and a friend of Maddox, shoots back at him and causes him to miss. Taking advantage of this diversion, Choctaw enters the fray and fires at Maddox but does not succeed and gets killed. Maddox then tells Bronson that he seeks no further trouble. Jason, Bronson's son, is not satisfied with the peace offer and seeks revenge but gets killed by the marshall. Price then panics and tries to escape. As he runs toward Laura, Maddox kills him by shooting him in the back, in violation of his honor code. Seeing his son Jason dead, a grief stricken Bronson kills himself while Maddox finally rides out of town.

• According to a recent TCM airing the original pre-title credit run so incensed Burt Lancaster after the filming, that he threatened to sue to have it changed. Apparently, Lancaster had a contract stipulation that no more than four names preceded the title. Michael Winner's name was originally included, bringing the total to five.

Actor	Role
Burt Lancaster	Jered Maddox
Robert Ryan	Cotton Ryan
Lee J. Cobb	Vincent Bronson
Robert Duvall	Vernon Adams
Sheree North	Laura Shelby
Richard Jordan	Crowe Wheelwright
Ralph Waite	Jack Dekker
Albert Salmi	Harvey Stenbaugh
J. D. Cannon	Hurd Price
John McGiver	Mayor Sam Bolden
Ralph Waite	Jack Dekker
John Beck	Jason Bronson
William C. Watson	Choctaw Lee
Walter Brooke	Luther Harris
Joseph Wiseman	Lucas

Country	Date
UK	11 March 1971 (London premiere)
Austria	April 1971
Finland	2 April 1971
West Germany	2 April 1971
Sweden	5 April 1971
Norway	10 June 1971
France	21 July 1971
USA	4 August 1971
Mexico	16 September 1971

Country	Title
Brazil, Portugal	O Homem da Lei
Austria, West Germany	Lawman
Spain	En nombre de la ley
France	L'Homme de la loi
Italy	Io sono la legge
Sweden	Lagens män
Finland	Lainvalvoja
Mexico	Yo soy la ley
Brazil	Mato em Nome da Lei

• Official site
• Lawaman at the Internet Movie Database