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Year: Distributor: Director: Cast: 1955/ 2005 Columbia Tristar Home Video Joseph H. Lewis Randolph Scott: Marshal Calem Ware Angela Lansbury: Tally Dickinson more...

A young Angela Lansbury plays Randolph Scott's love interest in "A Lawless Street."

A lone cowboy rides into Medicine Bend seeking vengeance on the town marshal. So begins A Lawless Street, the 1955 color western starring Randolph Scott as Marshal Calem Ware. The marshal has a tenuous hold on lawfulness in this former mining town, with enemies from his peace-keeping past catching up with him to even the score. Though he longs to put the violence behind him, he continues to be forced to kill or be killed.

The lovely Tally Dickinson (Angela Lansbury) arrives with a traveling show, and performs a rather lively and eye-catching stage number. She sends a note to meet the marshal afterward and we soon learn that the two of them were married years ago when he was marshal of another town. She couldn't stand the stress of his life constantly in danger and its bloody consequences, so she fled. They still love each other, but nothing has seemingly changed. She tries one last time to persuade him to give up his life of upholding the law, but he just can't turn a blind eye to injustice.

And it's a good thing. Mayor Hamer Thorne (Warner Anderson) and business owner Cody Clark (John Emery) are scheming to rid the town of its earnest law-keeper, so they can put their greedy plan to reopen the mines into action. Thorne has done his part by carrying on an affair with the wife (Jean Parker) of wealthy land-owner Asaph Dean (James Bell) in an attempt to undermine his influence. Clark has done his part, too, by hiring gunslinger Harley Baskam (Michael Pate) to kill Marshal Ware.

The inevitable showdown occurs, and the good marshal is struck down by Baskam's bullet. The town doctor (Wallace Ford) immediately removes his body and, at the instigation of Clark and Thorne, the town descends into lawlessness. Tally, who's still stuck in town, witnesses the outbreak of debauchery and finally comes to understand why Calem expends so much energy maintaining the peace. If only she had realized this when he was still alive.

But the marshal isn't quite dead yet. As the doctor reveals to Tally, "he'll carry a permanent part in his hair, but by tomorrow he'll be walking down the streets of this town again." Indeed he does, and systematically restores order with the help of Asaph Dean and like-minded citizens who, until then, had been "sitting back and letting one man, just because he wears a badge, do a job single-handed that all of us should be doing."

At a brisk 77 minutes, this film suitably develops characters, though the conclusion is rather abrupt and perfunctory. Scott plays the aging marshal well, but doesn't develop much of a spark with Lansbury as his love interest. It's a highlight just to watch Lansbury in revealing wardrobe perform her stage show. The fight scenes and gun play aren't terribly convincing. Scott's character uses a metaphor for the town as a wild beast which effectively sets the scene of a wild western territory uneasily trying to be more civilized.

The movie is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the transfer appears clean. It is closed-captioned, as well as providing optional subtitles in English and Japanese. The packaging is about as sparse as can be. There is no booklet, and the disc is generically white with the title stamped in black. Apparently proofreading was optional, too, as the marshal is called "Coleen Wave" on the back cover blurb.

Previews: Silverado (Deluxe Edition), The Professionals, Major Dundee, Glory

Grade
Content: B-
Features: n/a